Holy smokes this blew me away and completely took my by surprise. I’m so thankful that I received the ARC for this book. Absolutely stunning prose, new interesting voice in fantasy, excellent horror elements, themes of motherhood, racism, etc. Cannot recommend this enough.

I expectes so so so sooooo much more from this book and I was incredibly excited to read it. However, I lost the interest within the first few pages and it was hard to finish it. I don't know if it is because I expected so much or because the writing style was hard to follow for me, but I didn't enjoy this AT ALL

I wasn’t expecting what I got with this book. I *think* that’s a good thing. For some reason I wasn’t expecting it to be sci-fi fantasy but even if you’re like me and not a big fan, trust me and keep going.

If a book ever had a content warning, it would be this one. For me? The more warning the better. I love dark, disturbing books that sit with you because they make you think. They make you feel lucky to live in the world that you live in and be thankful as you turn the page that you are not in *that* one.

I imagine if a book went to the oscars, this one would win all the awards.

Sorrowland is a really intriguing and genre-defying read. This book has a lot of trigger warnings (racism, homophobia, body horror, child grooming/abuse, etc.) but if you are able to read this, I would totally recommend it. Solomon has such beautiful writing and they have so many nuanced things to say about race, sexuality, gender, religion, and family. I was absolutely sucked in from the first page and never saw the twists coming.

Holy hell. This was so good. The layers of trauma and mystery and horror and relationships Solomon was able to create is incredible. I personally have a hard time with body gore, so it took me a long time to get through this book because I had to take a lot of breaks, but it was so worth it.

I've previously read Solomon's The Deep and I absolutely loved it so I went into Sorrowland with high expectations. The plot and story was well thought out but I think this book could have been edited down by around 50-80 pages. Parts of the book ran dry and became tedious to read.

Aptly titled Sorrowland, this book is one long, depressing, violent, constantly miserable book.

Vern, who at first I thought was early 20's but later find out is only 15, runs away from the commune she grew up in, and the much older husband she married. She gives birth to twins while hiding out in the woods. She refers to them both as he/him but when meeting other people, they refer to one of them as she/her, so I remained confused as to what was what. The names won't help you: Howling and Feral.

Things go determinedly downhill from there until the end of the book. Vern is surly, aggressive, mean, and all in all the most unlikeable character I've read in a while. She enjoys sex (nothing wrong with that, but she IS only 15) and self-harm (I have a big problem with that, as it is described as a matter-of-fact part of normal life). At first she would occasionally completely forget about the twins existence, while also having hallucinations of finding dead children's bodies. We are supposed to believe that, at 15 and with no experience whatsoever, she manages to birth the twins and raise them to the age of 4, all on her own, in a forest somewhere in the U.S., and is never is discovered by anyone, not hunters or campers or random tourists hiking.

She commits murder and mayhem as she mysteriously starts to change physically; becoming abnormally strong and growing a bone-like covering on her body. It finally starts to get a bit interesting, but then her life in the woods comes to a screeching halt as she decides its time to rejoin society and go looking for her first love (Lucy, who ran away from the commune when they were both 13). She finds an old friend of Lucy's, and the friends daughter, who is a doctor, They help Vern on her quest to find out what's happening to her mind and body, and to find the elusive Lucy.

Without giving too much away, it all boils down to a sci-fi ending you've read before. Nothing mystical or otherworldly is going on. Just the usual evil of mankind.

I kept waiting for a good character, someone I could root for. Someone I would be sad to see killed off. Never happened.

So much more could have been done with the themes the author sprinkled throughout the book, a little racisim, a little lesbianism, a little government overreach. But none of these topics were given any depth, just brought up every now and then to keep them in the front, but never digging deep into the meat of them.

I know others have heaped praise on this novel; I just can't be one of them.

I finished this book sometime in May. It was AMAZING. It was very dark and thought-provoking. Rivers Solomon was not afraid to go to some less-explored places. Lots of double-meaning and metaphor, and would be incredibly interesting for a full literary analysis. It starts out as a journey of a young black woman escaping a cult compound while pregnant, then raising her children in the woods, then there's a whole world of fungi / bugs introduced??? I have no idea how Rivers Solomon tied it all together but it was fantastic. 100% absolutely would recommend, but make sure you have something lighter lined up afterward. Caution: may make you depressed, but that's only because it's based in real shit and life rarely comes with a happy ending. Rivers Solomon nailed the gothic themes and LGBTQIA+ rep.

Sorrowland, Rivers Soloman

This is a harrowing tale of survival and the indomitable spirit of Vern, a young mother born and nurtured in and through chaos now a young mother trying whose escape is as much for her as it is for her children. While this is a work of fiction with undertones of fantasy and Gothic horror, the themes presented are relatable to the current landscape of unrest, brutality and oppression.

This is an extraordinary read along with being a heady and heavy book. Readers should be appraise of trigger warnings such as rape, abuse, self harm and violence. I myself had to read it in sections.

I am unsure what to say about this book, so let's start with the writing was excellent. Solomon crafts a story very well. The imagery alone makes this book one I would recommend.

However, I was never captivated by the plot. I found myself being distracted by the setting and not focusing on the characters or their plight. I think this may just be a case of "not the author for me." I could see how readers who crave a slow unfolding of the story would really love this book. Or, if said reader was a character-driven reader. I am neither of these.

All of the characters in this story are well developed and fun to read about. Yet, I didn't find myself engaging with the work.

I did finally land at a three star rating because even though the book did nothing for me, I could definitely see why others would like it.

Sorrowland is a haunting, powerful read, filled with strong characters and set in a fully-formed world. Some parts of this story may be uncomfortable to read, as this world, much like our own, is filled with ugliness and unkind characters. Yet there is also hope, and perseverance, in this strangely beautiful tale.

Multi-layered and mesmerizing, you may want to read this twice, to drink in details missed the first time around. This is a story that will stick with you, well after you've turned the last page.

Goodreads review:
Don’t want to rate it because it’s probably objectively a 5-star book that I want to give a 4-star due to personal mood.

Felt very similar in a lot of ways to Rivers Solomon’s other work especially “An Unkindness of Ghosts” but swap out the spaceship dystopia for a sort of Southern Gothic body horror dystopia. Unlike Unkindness with this one I had the problem I often have with really atmospheric speculative fiction where I’m confused and barely tracking for the first 20% or so of the book until the context and worldbuilding have had enough time to make themselves known and set up some of the stakes. The ending also felt a little rushed although not at all predictable in the way I thought it was going to be. Love the awkward messy queer romance too. (I will not be quoting the throwaway line about queer drama and astrology “waterworks queers” due to feeling personally attacked, lmao.)

Two pull quotes from near the end of the book that sum up the weird biopolitics of the whole thing:

<I>She wanted to end him right here, right now, but even more than that she wanted to understand what had gone so wrong with his upbringing. What turned babies, fragile and curious, into […] men who could not interact with a new thing without wanting to dominate it?</i>

*
<i>
“I like the woods,” she said. “In them, the possibilities seem endless. They are where wild things are, and I like to think the wild always wins. In the woods, it doesn’t matter that there is no patch of earth that has not known bone, known blood, known rot. It feeds from that. It grows the trees. The mushrooms. It turns sorrows into flowers.”</i>

If either of those sound intriguing you might like the book.

I went into this book knowing next to nothing about it, and after finishing the book I'm really glad I didn't look into a more in-depth synopsis first. A lot of what made this book so interesting to me is that I never knew exactly where the story was going to go. The developments in this book became more and more disturbing the further in I got, and for a while, I genuinely had no idea who could be trusted and who couldn't be. Despite how intense this story got at times, there were also a good number of peaceful moments mixed in so the story wasn't so overwhelming. Those moments made it that much easier to get attached to the various characters in the story. By the end, I couldn't help but root for them as they tried to fight against the main power responsible for the main events of the book.

In addition to the overall plot, I also enjoyed the way other themes rooted in reality were seamlessly incorporated into this world. Gender and sexuality were prominent in this book, and racist practices were at the forefront of this story, as well as much more social commentary, which made this story still feel very real despite the fantastical and horrific elements in it. I think that Rivers Solomon did a great job addressing these issues and used the fantasy elements in the book in a way that seriously shows how disturbing these issues actually are.

Sorrowland is a truly genre-bending book, and I recommend it to anybody who can handle the dark themes and at times truly disturbing imagery, even if only for the unique form of social commentary seen in the story.

3.5 stars

I found this hard to get into. The first half was very slow. I thought Vern was a really interesting character, very complex and you couldn't help but root for her. How gender was treated in the book was cool and quite normalising. It wasn't a big part of the plot but was just a factor included. It didn't feel out of place at all. The themes about the treatment of black people especially in the medical research area was really well done. There were no easy solutions in this book, there was always consequences and it often seemed unfair which is reflective of our society unfortunately.

I felt like the story ending quicker than I expected. There is a lot of questions over what happens to Vern after the end events. I'm sure its purposeful to have an open ending but it wasn't entirely satisfying in my opinion. I often like open endings but didn't love this one. I'm not sure why. Potentially its because it ended on a familial nice point but I can't see how the government isn't going to go after Vern and ruin everything.

I didn't absolutely love this book but I'm still looking forward to reading Rivers Solomon's other books.

This one was very spooky. I loved the details with race, gender, and sexism. The plot kept me on my feet at all times

Once again, Rivers Solomon has created an immersive, spooky, challenging book, with beautiful characters and strong themes throughout.

Vern is on the run- pregnant, she has escaped from the commune she was raised in and is trying to make her way to a new life for her and her children. Along the way, Vern discovers that she didn't escape everything about her old life when she ran. Haunted by supernatural visions and battling a metamorphosis she can neither stop nor control, Vern comes to the realization that she must face her past in order to exist in the future.

Part supernatural thriller, part cult exploration novel, part romance, and part ghost story, Sorrowland will make you think and keep you up all night checking for monsters in the forest.

I received a free copy of Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, so thank you NetGalley!

Sorrowland is a literary science fiction/horror about Vern, a black albino teenager who escapes a black power cult and gives birth to twins in the woods. She’s determined to keep herself and her children safe from the outside world, especially Cainland, but something is stalking her in the forest. And she can’t stop what’s happening to her own body… Sorrowland starts off as a survival novel, a young woman escaping from an abusive cult and an unwanted marriage and using all her considerable resilience and outdoor survival skills to build a home and hold out against recapture. But it almost immediately takes a sharp left into fantasy/horror as Vern experiences ‘hauntings’, mysterious and upsetting visions, alongside strange physical symptoms. Except the ‘hauntings’ and changes might have a scientific explanation and a link to Cainland, which is where the sci-fi comes in. And a hearty dose of social commentary.

I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but Sorrowland is a book that highlights historic and ongoing injustices, such as racist medical experimentation. Like The Underground Railroad, Kindred or Lakewood, it takes a fantasy/sci-fi/horror premise (in this case, hauntings, body horror) and uses it to explore real world racism and oppression. White supremacy is a big theme, as is corruption, homophobia and misogyny. But it’s not all bad! Sorrowland has some great LGBT representation, for example. Vern and her kids have a pretty relaxed approach to gender identity and Vern may be on the nonbinary spectrum. She definitely isn’t straight, anyway, and she gets to have a sweet f/f romance later in the book. The second third of the novel also introduces an awesome trans Lakota woman called Gogo who also brings up some points about colonisation and imported homophobia, not to mention the general marginalisation of Native American people. And Rivers’ writing is often very funny; there’s an edge of dark humour throughout and, despite the heavy content, Sorrowland is extremely readable; you can speed through it, or linger over and savour it. The ending is a little open-ended, but it’s mostly optimistic (thank goodness)!

In general, Sorrowland lays out the importance of knowing your history (including the awful, shameful parts) and shining a light on (and taking action against) injustice. Given the current backlash against (and white tears about) Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, and the teaching and memorialisation of history, Sorrowland feels urgent and timely. MAGA types will definitely hate it, which is probably the best endorsement anyone can get. For everyone else, it's a thought-provoking, chilling and superbly written read.

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon is quite possibly perfect. It is harrowing and ambitious. It's subversive and it has a lot to say and does so well, without ever compromising the plot. I can not wait to read more by this author.

Rivers Solomon is such a wonderful author and while I did not have time to read Sorrowland before it was archived, I cannot wait to get my hands on a library copy.

This is a hard book for me to rate. I'm a long-time fan of Solomon's other work, particularly AN UNKINDNESS OF GHOSTS, which I just tore through. But this was a slower read for me, and the ending felt less satisfying.

I also realize that, as a white reader, this book may not necessarily have been written for me. Main character Vern is also an unlikeable character, which is fine, but in this instance her portrayal made it hard for me to want to get invested in her. Her two children, on the other hand, I was enchanted by.

Ultimately, I found the back cover summary super interesting but the execution felt like it didn't live up to the promise of the premise. The first half of the novel is slow, and then the second half seems to veer off in a completely unexpected direction. But as always, Solomon's prose is beautiful.

3.5 rounded up to 4 for me on this one.