I had some difficulty connecting with this narrative. It is bleak and difficult to read at times, as the title should have clued me in on. The prose is top notch so I am not knocking it too many stars.

This was such an interesting read! This author always has creative and complex ideas and I love reading them. I’ve always been curious about cults and how people get sucked into them, so when I saw that cults were a part of this story I was interested.

There were some sections that seemed to go too quickly to follow but for the most part this was a great read and really made me think.

This book had so many things going for it. A fascinating concept, queerness, it's occasional imagery, anger. I really loved the concept, all of it. It's the tale of Vern, a young girl in a cult devoted to the God of Cain. It's ostensibly a Black Power movement, a total excoriation of anything deemed white. They grow their own food, partake of only Black media, and are almost completely insular. The down side is that they are also conservatively, religiously patriarchal. So Vern, being upset about the disappearance of her best friend and first love, and embittered at her forced marriage to the leader of the cult (because she needs a man to help control her deviant proclivities), decides--in her pregnant state--to run away. So she does one night, leaving behind her family and all she's ever known. She gives birth in the woods and is tracked by an unknown person who leaves threatening messages in the form of bloodied baby clothes. Vern spends nearly three years in the woods.

Vern is also albino and very nearly blind. She bears twins, one Black and one albino. Howling and Feral, respectively. She runs off one day and begins an affair with a strange white woman, which will haunt her throughout the novel.

Speaking of hauntings, she has those too. Nearly everyone in the cult has night terrors, but Vern starts seeing things at any given time of day. And some of them, as the book progresses, can see her right back.

Eventually, she tries to hunt down her friend Lucy, and she winds up in the family of Lakota woman Bridget and her niece Gogo, with whom Vern begins a relationship. As things come to a head, Vern learns about who she really is, what the cult really is, and what she will become.

So again, some great elements. Cults, government conspiracy, LGBT+ character representation, Indigenous characters of importance who--spoiler--don't DIE. This book has some great things going for it! Like, really great things.

So why three stars? Because the elements of semi-magical realism don't quite work for me. Nor did Vern, really. Her children are just a little too precocious and advanced for their years. They don't talk like the kids they should be throughout the book. I didn't believe them. And, once Vern is in the woods, I was boggled. This is strangely a book based somewhat in reality, but her years in the woods are like a strange fairy tale. She wasn't so very far from civilization, but she refuses to leave the woods and becomes sort of feral? For three years? I think if the book had had a more dreamy quality that would have worked for me, but it really doesn't. So I spent most of the book not believing the story. Which made me sad, because I wanted to be invested. I wanted to really love it. There are so many awesome things going on with this book, but the execution for me just fell a little flat, a little unfulfilled; the pacing a little unbalanced. Still, some of the things going on are truly cool, and I would have liked more exploration of those things.

When I got approved for this arc from Netgalley I screeched. Rivers Solomon is one of my favorite authors, and I just love their writing style so much. This has become one of my new all-time favorite books, and it was just so so good, from beginning to end.
I'm not kidding when I say that I cannot find a single thing I didn't like about this. The writing is amazing, the characters are amazing, the themes are amazing, and it's all just so unique and creative. I don't have much to add except I need a physical copy of this when it comes out. 10/5 stars, and I'll continue to read anything Solomon writes. ALSO, Vern is probably one of the most badass characters ever, and I wish I knew her in real life

In this intense novel, a young woman raised in a religious compound escapes, but not before she's been unknowingly subjected to experiments that will change her body in dramatic ways. This is a story of race and and conspiracies and survival and motherhood and desire that breaks the boundaries of genre: it's a thriller, a political commentary, and erotica all in one. Vern, 15 and pregnant by the leader of an all-Black religious community, flees into the woods, where she gives birth to twins and raises them for four years, her only encounters with others being rare, passionate trysts with a woman who seems to know the area a little too well. As her children grow, Vern decides to leave the forest to seek out a safe haven, but the journey is difficult and dangerous. Hunted by her former lover and physically changing day by day, Vern ultimately chooses to fight the powers that truly run the cult. This book and its intersectional foci would be an outstanding read for any discussion group.

Sorrowland follows Vern-a 15 year old who is seven months pregnant and desperate to flee the strict religious compound where she has grown up. She escapes to the shelter of the woods where she gives birth to twins, Howling and Feral. Though she tries to exist on her own terms, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes a brutality far beyond what is ordinary. Vern is changing, morphing into something stronger, something more connected. In order to understand these changes and to protect her family, Vern must face the past and future. She will have to uncover secrets of the compound and the America that allowed horrible things to happen.

There are some stories that remind a reader just how limitless an imagination can be. Our history is filled with horrors of what has been done to black bodies and this book is a poignant exploration of just that. This is a story of love, loss, sexuality, oppression, and so many other important issues but it is written in a way that allows the reader to read the bare truth in a beautiful way. There is no review that truly does this story justice.
I feel like Sorrowland is going to be a book that resonates with many regardless of race or religion. That is the mark of a great book.
I will be buying a physical copy of this book because it 100% deserves a ton of rereads and a spot on my shelf.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House Cornerstone for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I got a chance to review this through Net Galley and I am so glad I did. I really loved this book so much and found it hard to put it down. The characters stay with you long after you finish it. Highly recommend it!!

I had really enjoyed Rivers Solomon's previous novel, An Unkindness of Ghosts so I was excited to jump into this one. Sorrowland is a tremendous book. It's hard to adequately describe the feelings that Solomon's books portray - I often describe Becky Chamber's books as feeling like a warm hug, and perhaps the easiest way to describe both An Unkindness of Ghosts and Sorrowland is that they feel like the opposite. It's not that they are grimdark or whatever other buzzword you want to try to use - the problems that Solomon writes about, while written through a sci-fi lens, are rooted in reality.

"Sorrowland" was a very difficult book for me to read. I started and stopped several times. Then realized that, despite the talented writing, the story was too depressing for me to continue. Maybe it's because of the times we currently live in, or maybe it's just me., because I found the story too dark for me.

Sorrowland defies genres. Rivers Solomon does it again by bringing the impossible to life through their incredible world-building and beautiful prose. This absolutely needs to be on your to-read list for 2021, regardless of your favorite genre.

Sorrowland follows the life of 15-year-old Vern shortly after she escapes the all-black compound she has lived in her entire life, leaving behind an abusive older husband and a cult that never fit for her. The Blessed Acres of Cain started out as a group of Black Americans that wanted to create a society outside of the white world, teaching their members to survive and thrive on their own, to take back the autonomy that was taken from them centuries ago. However, the horizontal structure of leadership was upended when a member took over, calling himself a Reverend and enacting the strict rules and religion that Vern grew up in. You can't leave unless on a mission trip, there are no phones but the Reverend's office, and punishments for outbursts are severe.

Vern has always had a rebellious streak, wishing her best friend Lucy had taken her with when she escaped years ago. After being forced to marry the current Reverend after an escape attempt, she becomes pregnant with twins at just 15 and makes the split decision to escape one night after she finally breaks free of the restraints that keep her tied to her bed. She gives birth in the woods, knowing how to live off the land like she grew up learning, but she is being hunted. She finds dead animals with baby bonnets on their heads or pacifiers in their mouth, watches as her white pursuer tracks her through the woods like a wolf. But Vern does not back down and raises her children despite the target on her back, the knowledge that anyone from Cainland could come and drag her back.

Soon enough, strange things start to happen, ricocheting Vern and her children from a simple life in the forest to one of survival and nature-defying feats. Solomon blends magical realism with gothic horror in a terrifying mix that gets under your skin and into your bones. It's creepy, it's heartfelt, it's raw, and it's real. It will keep you on the edge of your seat, completely unable to put it down for fear of what may happen next.

Sorrowland is unapologetically queer, featuring intersex and wíŋkte main characters and lesbian relationships while tackling internalized homophobia and religious trauma. Solomon does not shy away from embracing the dark past of the United States' involvement in medical testing on Black Americans, in showing bare the realities of generational trauma, and the very-real threat of government infiltration. In particular, Solomon does a beautiful job with the creation and downfall of Cainland, first as a commune to reject white supremacy and culture, and then as a deeply broken cult sustained through religion and fear. Cainland has their own mythology based on stories of very real history, like Tuskegee and police brutality. It's an honest reflection and microcosm of what happens to Black people in the US every day and has for centuries, their spaces becoming infiltrated and poisoned by white colonization.

This is a book that will stay with you long after you've finished the last pages. What starts out as a tale of survival turns into something more as Vern herself becomes something more. Let it get under your bones and propagate there; something beautiful may grow from it yet.

This is my first story from this author and I was excited to read it as it seemed to have all the aspects I like in darker stories. However, it was extremely different (much darker) the I was expecting and that I read in the blurb and other reviews; and had triggers that I am uncomfortable reading. I had to skip a lot of this story and ended up marking this as a DNF because I personally could not read enough to write an informed review.

The story covers a lot of dark topics (most of the dark topics?), the difficult ones and for that there are a lot of triggers for many readers.

I would caution sensitive readers and younger audiences. I cannot do the story justice in this review, it is just impossible; but I will stay this is a story that might not be for all, but for those who get it will love it.
Trigger list: abuse (drug, alcohol, child, and animal), rape, drowning, torture, suicide, cult like talk and pedophilia, among others.

*I would like to note that just because this is not a story for me, does not mean that it is a “bad” story. I think there will be many readers who will enjoy this story and find it amazing.

I received an ARC via NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux MCD Publishing and I am leaving my honest review.

SORROWLAND: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is such a dark and twisted gothic fairy tale that I fell for every delish morsel Rivers Solomon dropped. Vern is a young woman who escapes from Cainland to save her babies and perhaps her own life.

It reminded me of that old HBO show, Carnivale, and that’s a good thing.

NOTE: I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks Netgalley!

4.5/5 stars

Trigger warnings include: animal cruelty, self harm, sexual abuse, homophobia, cults, transphobia, ableism, fatphobia, drug abuse, gaslighting, explicit sexual content, mutilation, human experimentation, racism, torture, cannibalism and manipulation. Please proceed with caution ♥

A harrowing, profound, raw read about the nature within, the trauma around and the strength of connections. Part gothic horror, part science fiction, part dystopian, this is the story of Vern, who fought for the autonomy of her body in a world that struggled to take it away and bloomed an armour around her, a shield from the cruelty. It is a story about the horrors some people endure, the beauty in the smallest things and the malice of the world, that sometimes can be driven away from the nature.

The way it was written had my breathless, and the characters carved a part in my heart. The horror this book explored and the need to breathe and expand away from it was so powerfully written that it made my teeth rattle. The fights, the love, the way the world waxed and waned around Vern, all of it was like living in a fever dream but also a dark reality, and I liked it a lot. There is not a lot to say about this tale without giving spoilers away, but keep in mind that it is first and foremost a story about survival, tenderness and strength mixed, community in its best and worst phases and most of all growth.

Overall, it was a story that heavily impacted me and will stay with me for years. I highly recommend this for fans of Mexican Gothic, the movie Get Out, dystopian fiction and stories about fighting with all you have until it transforms you ♥

Intriguing, interesting and different story. I liked this book because it was perfectly written with a great sci-fi twist. This is not my typical genre but Vern had my attention until the end. Very inclusive and diverse book!

Haunting and visceral, SORROWLAND is the story of a Black intersex teenage mother and her children after leaving a religious compound for the woods. It has a subtle kind of intensity where each passage is bearable, but any literal description of the plot tends toward a catalog of horrors.

This book has such a beautiful way with language. The words weave and roll; mesmerizing whether describing turning a deer’s sinew into bowstring, the ever-changing wonder of Vern’s children growing up, or the strange and monstrous changes taking over her body. Since it is a horror story about a mother, I’ll clarify that her relationship with her children is not a source of horror. The way the children are described is full of love, exasperation, and endearment, usually in equal parts, wrapped in the tension between protectiveness and fostering their growing autonomy. It’s about a person fostering their own sense of agency as they care for someone else, as they have people to protect.

The worldbuilding inhabits a strange space where many relevant facets of US history are alluded to or perhaps even briefly described, but because one character or another is hearing of them for the first time, the narrative gives space and understanding to pull the reader in if they are similarly unfamiliar. In many ways the true horror is how little of the book requires the speculative elements in order to be terrifying, for often the mundane details are the most grotesque.

CW for ableism, homophobia, transphobia, interphobia, kidnapping, medical content, sexual content, infertility, cancer (not depicted), blood, gore, violence, gun violence, emotional abuse, physical abuse, domestic abuse, adult/minor relationship, child abuse, self harm, body horror, animal death, suicide, parental death, child death, death.

TW for mention of AIDS (brief).

I was given a free advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This story throws you right into a crisis then slowly leads you through the backstory and set up of its universe. I was so intrigued (and sometimes infuriated) with Vern and her choices. The sci-if twist was well done, the plot was quick and engrossing. This gave me serious Michael Crichton vibes, especially as the mystery of the compound and Vern’s “passenger” are revealed.

If you are ready for an LGBT Gothic Science Fiction novel, then Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon will be ready for you on May 4, 2021. It is like no other book that I have read before, which is saying something. I have read a lot of books.

The book begins as Vern has just escaped from Cainland, a religious and political commune. People may call it a Black Nationalist commune with a focus on religion. I don’t know if the Black Panther Party would approve of this commune or the leaders. Many of the children at the commune are named after leaders of the Black Panthers. If I remember correctly, Vern was named after Vernon Johns, a civil rights leader.

At the beginning of the book, Vern has just given birth to twins, Howling and Feral. She is also on the run from someone that has been sent to bring Vern back to Cainland. Vern isn’t sure who the person is so she calls him or her “The Fiend.” Vern would rather live in the woods with two newborns than return to Cainland. She manages to fend off the fiend and the wolves for a long time. Finally, she decides it is time to find her friend, Lucy, who also escaped from Cainland. Vern travels with her children and finds Lucy’s family, Aunt Bridget and cousin, Gogo. Bridget and Gogo take in Vern and the children.

Vern has noticed that her body is changing in unusual ways. She’s becoming stronger and faster. Is she turning into a supernatural being? Although the children are young, they notice the changes in their mother.

Vern suspects that the leaders at Cainland are behind the changes. It’s possible isn’t it?!

Howling and Feral are interesting characters. I’m not sure if they are boys or girls. It doesn’t matter. They are both so smart and resourceful. They are growing so fast. I’m not sure if they are growing faster than usual or if it’s just the way the timeline works.

If you like science fiction or gothic fiction with nonbinary characters, then you might love this book as much as I did.

If you are not a fan of African-American history, social issues, or just a hater of people of color and the LBGT community, then you are not ready for this book yet.

The following excerpt is from Wikipedia. I highly recommend learning about the Black Panther Party.

The Black Panther Party first publicized its original “What We Want Now!” Ten-Point program on May 15, 1967, following the Sacramento action, in the second issue of The Black Panther newspaper.[55]

We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.
We want full employment for our people.
We want an end to the robbery by the Capitalists of our Black Community.
We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.
We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society.
We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.
We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people.
We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.
We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.
I received this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Obviously.

She be interesting ideas and premises here, but the overall work didn’t gel for me. Beginning with the feel of a fairy tale, this novel veers into science fiction and horror. There’s a lot going on here, but some plot points were not well developed.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sorrowland definitely followed the same path as The Deep with me. I was confused on so many things that were happening. I also had endless questions forming in my brain too. Some of the answers that I received at the end left a bittersweet feeling in my mouth. I was honestly really sad about some things towards the last couple of pages.. but it feels good to have answers at the same time.

In it, you will meet Vern. Now she is about 15 years old and about to give birth to some twins - which she later names Howling and Feral. They live in the woods and sort of follow one rule - always listen to Vern. The reason why is because she left this cult for a ton of reasons and is trying her very hardest to keep them all safe and sound.

Eventually things get weird and mysterious. Vern starts to see things and I honestly couldn't keep track of what was real or not. Which is probably why I devoured this book so freaking quickly. I had questions and I needed to find some answers pronto.

In the end, this book was magical in it's own way. It is definitely something that you will have to sit and digest at times but it was well worth it. So happy that I got the chance to dive into this and look forward to Rivers next book!

This was a truly devasting novel that should be a classic in both speculative and literary genres for decades to come. Rivers Solomon is a true treasure and fey should be on the top of everyone's list right now.