**3.5-stars**

Sister, Maiden, Monster is a wild, imaginative, bizarre, toe-curling, cringe-inducing story that is a conglomeration of many different genres. If I had to narrow it down, I would describe it as say, Cosmic Horror blended with Apocalyptic Pandemic Fiction, and I guess, a side of Transgressive Horror.

I read this in less than a day and it left my head spinning. I know I didn't understand it all and honestly, I can't even say that I 'enjoyed' it. Like it's not a jolly good time, but I am sort of gobsmacked by the entire thing.

I don't want to really go into the story at all, because I went into this knowing nothing about it, and I feel like that's the way to go. Be warned however, as I mentioned earlier, that this is Pandemic Fiction. I know a lot of people aren't ready for that yet, considering all we've been through over the last few years.

This story is broken into distinct sections and each one follows a different perspective. In a way, that arrangement made it seem a bit more like connected novellas, as opposed to one cohesive story. I wasn't crazy about that format, I think I would have preferred to switch back and forth between the different perspectives as the story progressed. However, that is 100% personal taste and the author should be free to tell the story any way they wish. For me though, I do think that had an effect on my experience with this story.

As far as the perspectives, I feel like my favorite was Erin. She is the first character we hear from and actually the one whose experience, with the pandemic unfolding, most closely relates to what we all experienced in early-2020. By the end of the story, I was still enjoying the characters I was meeting, but I had less of a grasp on what was actually happening to them. And Baby Gregory, don't even get me started! You'd have to read it to believe it.

I did really enjoy Snyder's writing style. I felt it was very smooth and engaging. They also explored some interesting themes and were able to successfully carry those themes throughout.

Overall, I think this is a compelling story with a lot to cringe at and consider regarding our world. I would recommend this to people who enjoy Bizzaro Fiction, or Cosmic Horror. You need to be prepared for wild events if you pick this up though. I'm just saying.

Also, I did listen to the audiobook and absolutely recommend that medium. The narration was fantastic. It pulled me into the story right away.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.
This is the first of Snyder's work that I have picked up, but I am definitely interested in reading more.

Thank you NetGalley for the advance audiobook review copy.

Wow, I am not sure what I just listened to. This story is so twisted and weird. The stranger it got the more I was intrigued. But at the end I felt like there was no closure. I was a bit dissapointed.

In a post-Covid world, a new virus has plagued humankind. We follow 3 women who have become infected. Each woman has a different horrific response to the virus.

This story is full of body horror and gore. It is not for the faint of heart.

There is so much going on in SISTER, MAIDEN, MONSTER, I have no idea where to start. Wild, imaginative and scary as hell, this read went directly to my favorites list!

This is mainly the story of three women: Erin, Savannah and Mareva. Through them the story of the lastest virus attacking humanity, PVG, is related. This virus has at least three types: Asymptomatic, type one, then types 2 and 3, which you will have to read about for yourself. I'll just say that this virus rips people apart, sometimes literally. Type twos and threes can expect lots of bodily changes, including their diet. Here, Lucy Snyder serves up some of the best body horror I've read in quite a while.

On top of these changes in their bodies, these women are also experiencing what it's like to live during a pandemic, and we all know a little about that, don't we? Experiencing the lock downs and eventually, the put-downs, (as you would a pet), the societal issues here are really in your face and you can't help but wonder how close this reality could have been... or still might be. Various other societal things come into play as well: fairness of and access to treatments, for instance. Who decides who gets what treatment and when? Is everyone treated the same? The answer is no, and if that's not realistic, I don't know what is. Realistic and scary AF.

This novel has everything. Body horror, viruses, mutations, social commentary, gore, old gods, eldritch horrors, violence, sex and women, in all of their feminine glory. Even though the 3 main characters were quite different from each other, I could relate to all of them, in one way or another. Societal views on the LGBTQ community aren't great as a whole to start with, but throw in a communicable virus and the whole thing just blows up.

I switched back and forth from reading to listening, as I was approved for both ARCS. The narrators here did a bang up job: Arielle Delisle, Katherine Littrell and Lindsey Dorcas. All three at the top of their game. I especially liked the narrator for Mareva and her accent. As all three women try to navigate their new world,(and their new bodies and diets), I imagine the narration was at times difficult, but all three pulled it off realistically and with empathy.

Fast paced, captivating, wildly imaginative and scary as all get out, and not just because of the virus. SISTER, MAIDEN, MONSTER captures these women and our society in a unique snapshot and the reader cannot help but wonder what might happen if such things really did occur. This a brave, bold book that holds a light up to our humanity and we have been found lacking.

Five OUTSTANDING stars for this wonder of the horror genre. My highest recommendation!

*Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Tor Nightfire and the author for the paperback and audio ARCS in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*

I received an audio ARC through Netgalley for an honest review

This is without a doubt the most grotesque book that I have read and I loved it. Filled with body horror and murder mixed with the writing style of the author, they were able to write a amazingly disturbing book that I could not stop listening to.

Summary:
A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces drive a small group of women together.

To survive, they must evolve.

A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces pull a small group of women together.

Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brains. Why does forbidden fruit taste so good?

Savannah, a professional BDSM switch, discovers a new turn-on: committing brutal murders for her eldritch masters.

Mareva, plagued with chronic tumors, is too horrified to acknowledge her divine role in the coming apocalypse, and as her growths multiply so too does her desperation.

My Thoughts: I’ve said it once and I will say it a million times more, I am obsessed with all things TOR, and Sister, Maiden, Monster is no exception. This book was weird in all that right ways. I love how the characters had their own parts and how there paths were all interconnected. I also loved the narration.

Oh my god oh my god oh my god.

That was basically the thought running through my mind throughout this book. Despite being quite adverse to body horror, I powered through this novel. First and foremost, I'd like to issue a thank you to my brain for not being imaginative enough to fully picture most of said body horror. A lot of it, especially Mareva's role, made me pretty queasy but I rallied.

I found this book to be fascinating. At first, I was slow to get into the story, but toward the end of Erin's story and then definitely with the shift to Savanah's POV, I became enraptured. Things I liked; how the idea of religion played into the story and throughout the characters. Erin wanting to embrace it but being too logical to believe, Savanah accepting it only when she discovered whatever new religion came with the Archivists. And finally, Mareva, the divine "Mother" of the future fully bucking her role in the new world. I think it says something for the title "Sister, Maiden, Monster," that it was hard to figure who was what or if they were all three. All were sisters. All maidens. All made to be monsters. By forced physicality, as with Erin, by choice/calling (Savanah), and finally violently forced to create as Mareva was.

There was something beautiful about the brutally honest way womanhood was captured by Snyder. Despite how icky it was and felt, the mix of religious bigotry/prophesizing, male violence, abandonment, lack of culpability, and ableism toward the violently sick community was so depicted in a truthful and full realized way.. The government over-control, violence, and ignorance were a clear mirror of how things have escalated under both Trump and the pandemic. What I thought was info-dumping at first, quickly seemed to mesh into the world. It showcased how ordinary society subjugates women and the disabled. How those in the minority have no choices or rights. Erin slowly losing all rights, then dating Betty in secret a la early-mid 20th century back door meetups. Savanah forced to violence by a lying, deceitful Gregory, then becoming a monster to forge an autonomous, "special" identity for herself. And Mareva being forced to incubate and create life despite being clearly asexual and wanting to live her life alone and at peace. Maybe I'm over-reading into things but I have to believe these were purposeful choices.

Sometimes I didn't like the info dumping. Especially with Erin's POV. It felt like everything was a bit over-explained, but it did later help to show how few options those left had. This was definitely one of those I-need-to-think-on-it books. I don't know if I've fully digested what I read just yet. My thoughts are quite fuzzy and unsure. But I appreciated the terrifying brutality, not of the Archivists, but of the government, of legislation, healthcare, of ignorant citizens and establishments. No one had clean hands.

This book was A LOT. However, I would recommend anyone who can stomach body horror and wants to read a better take on the subjugation of marginalized communities in SciFi/Horror/Fantasy. The treatment of the marginalized was not about subjugation or equality for the Archivists. They devoured equally, they combined without thoughts for ability or gender. The violence against the marginalized was coming from inside the house. It's already there. We feed it by continuing our own cycles of violence.

No matter how awful your experience of COVID-19 was, in Sister, Maiden, Monster, Lucy A. Snyder goes all out to speculate how it could have been so, so much worse.

Sister, Maiden, Monster follows the progress of a deadly pandemic, from the perspective of three different women. Erin, recently engaged to Gregory, is quarantined due to her illness, and finds a new relationship with a woman. She also develops an appetite for brains. Literally, she wants to chomp away on the old gray matter. If at this point, this seems like it’s too much, you might want to step away…

You’re still here? Good. So the next part follows Savannah, a sex worker, who gets off on brutally murdering people to appease her new gods. And then in the final part, we discover the true, horrific nature of the pandemic through Mareva, Erin’s quiet, former colleague. And oh man, Mareva has a hell of a role to fulfill in all this madness. This book has such a brutal ending, but the last line made me laugh out loud.

Sister, Maiden, Monster is absolutely not for the faint-hearted. It is disgusting (in a good way); Synder creates some incredibly messy images. The intensity really ramps up as the novel progresses.

I loved how the characters were interlinked, and came back around. Erin especially has an incredible story arc. In some respects, you have to suspend belief to fully immerse yourself in this novel, but at the same time certain things will seem disturbingly familiar.

For example, the first section made some really strong points in the first section concerning how birth control responsibility is placed on the women. Women who catch the disease are instructed to get an IUD to prevent conception, but Erin’s question whether male victims are given vasectomies is dismissed as ridiculous.

As is so often the case, I felt my reading experience was enhanced by fantastic audiobook narrators. Arielle DeLisle, Katherine Littrell, and Lindsey Dorcus all delivered great performances, and ensured that the story felt authentic, despite how ridiculous things became.

If you like weird, gory horror with a feminist bent and some twisted sapphic relationships, you will love Sister, Maiden, Monster. This book is not for the faint-hearted, and I loved it.

This book was wild. I had been rendered speechless by the end and when speech returned I simply uttered, “WTF?!” This was my first ‘splatterpunk horror’ book so, I have no frame of reference but oddly enough I enjoyed it.

The book follows 3 different women in their experiences following a new grotesque pandemic that occurs after Covid. And let me tell you, shit gets fucking weird. The ‘PVG’ pandemic is really this odd apocalypse. Thru this new virus some people are mutating into these grotesque creatures who believe themselves to be soldiers of the cosmic gods. I don’t want to say much else and spoil it but you better hope your chosen or you die…better yet, considering what the hell is happening, maybe it’s best you do die.

This was a story I could not put down. The narrators did an excellent job. I kept finding little tasks around the house just so I could keep listening. At first I couldn’t decide if I was enjoying it or just plain disgusted…I guess, I was both. 🤣 The ending had me all WTF, but left it with some weird sense of hope…? Anyway, 4 stars b/c I couldn’t put it down and it might have broke my brain. 😆

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a doozy!

I feel like its really hard to do a pandemic book.
Everyone is just so tired of hearing about it, or at least I am. It consumed me for soo many years. Lol.
That being said this book was a wild ride.

I enjoyed the horror in this, and the very much wtf moments. It was disturbing and just so "WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" I think sometimes to its detriment.

Just an all around crazy ride of a book.

I went into this book fairly blind. I haven’t had much experience with the kind of horror that this book explored, it heavily takes from the lovecraftian/cosmic horror. There is a good amount of body horror throughout the book, you have been warned, it can be quite disturbing at times. This book is told in 3 parts from 3 different characters, each character has their own unique voice and how they see the world. Listening to the audiobook, I think each of the readers did great for their parts. The beginning was pretty slow and I had the feeling that I wasn’t too sure where the book was going. After a certain point it picks up and it hooked me the entire time. I do feel that some choices made throughout the book were questionable but that may be just personal preference. Something that I loved about this book is that it stayed true to the roots of its genre, so much of what is happening, plot wise and to the characters are vague but also detailed at the same time. Part of what makes this book so unnerving at times is due to the detailed vagueness.
The concept of a time post covid with a newly emerging virus is interesting given the last effects of the new virus with an unknown origin and things get pretty wild. I also liked how the author used the horror and concept to explore womanhood in the modern world, the expectations and demonization that comes with it, literally due to the body horror included throughout.
Overall I highly recommend this book, just remember that it starts out slow but once it gets going it won’t let go of you until it’s done. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audiobook.

Delightful, gory, inventive, familiar. At times difficult to enjoy, the story slips between a chronically online narrative voice and a truly immersive narrative voice.

I received a free copy of the audiobook via NetGalley.

This story follows three different women who explain the different stages of a pandemic that is modeled after the coronavirus, but with a twist.

This is very different than I thought it would be from the blurb. I thought it would be a true apocalyptic tale that unfolds through the POV of three different women. It borrows elements of zombie horror and vampire horror, and some medical horror, without committing hard enough to any to be good.

I did enjoy the beginning as it felt as if it was building tension for a bigger buildup, but once we got there we switched POVs.

So little actually happens in this book. It’s mostly just explaining what viruses are and then complaining about privacy rights being taken away. Which could have been interesting but let’s be real, if you contracted a virus that made you violent enough to bash someone’s skull open and then eat their brains, you wouldn’t have to worry about data privacy rights because you wouldn’t be allowed back into the world.

Snyder’s prose is good, she writes horror so vividly you can almost feel it yourself. But only almost. I never felt any horror, only just a persistent ick. I think my main problem with horror is the same problem I have with other genre fiction, but in horror I don’t forgive it as easily. It uses psychopathy, abuse, and brutality as a cheap way to build tension and interest. Yes, all genre fiction has their own version of this (see the romance beats), but I hate, hate senseless brutality that ultimately doesn’t do anything for the narrative. Which was the majority of this book.

The second POV we get had the potential to explore generational trauma and personal beliefs, but but instead it was just a driveby of catchphrases and ickiness. The insensitive Dahmer reference is the perfect example of this.

There was potential in this story, but it never took enough time to examine anything properly, while also not going fast enough for anything to actually happen. There also was no clear direction, which means it didn’t actually have a plot. None of the characters had a proper arc, and I can’t tell you why we followed any of them for this.

Genre: extreme horror
Format: audiobook

Part one- Years from now, in a post-Covid world, Erin & Gregory are celebrating Valentine's Day weekend at home. Gregory surprises Erin with a smorgasbord of sushi and that evening he proposes. Shortly after, Erin becomes very ill and thinks she may have gotten food poisoning.
After waking up handcuffed to a hospital bed, Erin is told she's tested positive for the new pandemic that's taken over- PVG.
PVG is pandora virus the likes of which the world have never known.
The stages range from type 1-5. Each stage has its own unique side effects & challenges.
Erin learns that in order to manage her particular stage's set of symptoms, she must consume a unique source of nutrients every day.
This was my favorite part of the book. I thought it was so well written and it didn't feel like a coronavirus copycat story.

Part two is where we're introduced to Savannah. Savannah is a sex worker who encounters some very interesting clients. Her particular situation escalates very quickly when she realizes that killing is the quickest way to have the best orgasms of her life. Her connection to Erin and Part One of the story was very clever!

In Part Three we meet Mareva. Sweet, tragic Mareva; a teratoma patient with a big heart.
The way her journey crosses paths with the other two women was very unique.

Overall- I would recommend this to anyone who loves extreme horror and cosmic horror with a strong plot.

I lowered my rating due to some references made about Jeffrey Dahmer's victims that were in poor taste.

Is your wildest dream a novel in which an apocalyptic pandemic overtakes society and culminates in a select few completing a transformation into creatures of Biblical proportions? Then buckle up, buttercup because I've got some 'splainin to do.

Sister, Maiden, Monster follows a global apocalypse caused by a virus with several manifestations to varying degrees, some of which are nods to traditional paranormal creatures like vampires and zombies, but the references to biblically accurate angelic creatures are impossible to ignore and, well, I loved that aspect regardless of how horrifying it was. "Fear not!" and all that jazz, you know.

The story focuses on three consecutive protagonists navigating the changes caused by the apocalypse, with their paths and relationships connecting in interesting ways. The book is filled with death and gore, and the body horror is abundant and written well (points added). The social commentary is a bit sloppy, and the character diversity as well as the gender and sexuality representation were present in some ways but still lacking in my opinion . However, what kept fully removing me from the story was the author's penchant for ancient Tumblrspeak (i.e. 'sexy times' and 'did me a concern'- points lost and I'm only mostly joking).

I did, through it all, end up liking the book and I found the characters interesting. The suspense was well written as well as, again, the horror of it all. So many WTF WTF WTF moments, I could never count them all!

I was given the opportunity to listen to an ALC of this book as well as reading an ebook, and I think this one may be better suited to print/page. The audiobook is well-narrated, but the voices are not distinct enough to differentiate the three protagonists and that made things a bit more confusing.

Thanks so much to Tor Nightfire as well as Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book ahead of its publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.

3.75 stars? maybe?

This book was sooooo weird. The description made me think it was going to be wild, but I had no idea just now bizarre it would get. It was a strangely interesting mix of dystopian, fantasy, and other lit genres; it was also intensely graphic (in terms of blood/gore, violence, and sex). Anyway, I went into it without knowing how strange it was going to be, and while I did enjoy some of it, I don’t think this is generally my type of story.

post pandemic horror is always scary to me... throw in the amount of body horror this book provides and you have one messed up amazing read! There were a few slower paced parts of the book but then it sucks you back in.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. It was my pleasure.

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder is from the points of view of three women at the end of the world. There is a major pandemic sweeping the globe, and it’s changing everything…again. Covid has passed and this new pandemic is even worse. It could kill you or it could drastically alter your body and mind forever. These 3 ladies are each becoming something more than human, and they may or may not be ready for their future.

Wow! Where it start? This book was wildly out of my comfort zone, and it is definitely not something I would gravitate toward on a normal basis. I don’t usually read horror, but the title and the cover roped me in. That being said, it absolutely kept me hooked and wanting to know what happened next. I finished the audiobook in one day because it was too insane to stop listening. So, I’ll rate it based upon what I think the author was trying to do, which is to horrify the reader and make them uncomfortable. She absolutely succeeded in doing so. Therefore I have to give it 4/5 stars. If you love body horror and apocalyptic fiction this one is for you.

What I enjoyed about this book was that I couldn’t predict anything. I love when I don’t know what’s coming. I also enjoyed the different take on the apocalypse. All the nods to human religion were also interesting. These moments in the book suggest we may have misinterpreted some well known visions and prophecies. I liked each of the characters point of view, and that they were all so different in personality and acceptance of what was befalling them.

What I didn’t so much enjoy was the very graphic sex scenes and the really uncomfortable visceral body horror moments. I fully realize this is a “Me” issue and not an issue with the writing. I’m sure many people are thrilled with those things. They’re just not for me. These moments absolutely made me cringe and get uncomfortable. So, job well done for horrifying me. As much as I was grossed out by this book, I am definitely looking forward to the next one. I will pick it up for sure. I would also recommend this book to anyone who really loves horror or anyone who I believe to be demented. (*wink*)

This review has also been posted on Goodreads under the name Shavon Gruber Haag.

Sorry, Spoliers.
I loved Sister, Maiden, Monster-- it's zombies meet Cthulu with a sprinkle of Buffy -- plus a heaping dose of Covid wariness, questions about consent, and fear for what a future of forced birth might feel like.

This book was brilliant and gruesome.

Sister, Maiden, Monster is a book about three woman dealing with an apocalypse started by a viral Pandemic. We follow Erin, Savannah, and Mareva as they deal with the new normal that has been inflicted upon them by contracting PVG. Erin has been hospitalized, found out she needs to eat brains, Can no longer stand sunlight, and has the government tracking her because of this virus. Savannah has found she can only find release when she murders people and craves it. Mareva has found herself pursued and targeted by a mad woman due to a rare illness.

This book contains a lot of very graphic gore and body horror scenes to go along with cosmic horror so if you are deeply upset or turned off by gore and/or body horror please be aware of this before you start. I found a lot of the things the book had to say about what issues women face and issues those with chronic illnesses and diseases near the beginning of the book very relatable and I wish that Erin would have had more help and resources. I really did not care for the second part of the book that mainly focused on Savannah, if I had to pick who the titular monster is it would be Savannah, her general treatment of several other character is truly disgusting and her musing do feel truly monstrous. When we get Mareva's part though is when my hatred for Savannah really sets in.

As far as the narration goes I feel all three narrators did a really excellent job and I found the recording very well done.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This novel prompted me to create a tag on Goodreads titled "fucked up books that I liked." But honestly I didn't even need to tag this book because the body horror will stay with me for a while (like how Agustina Bazterrica's Tender Is the Flesh will live rent-free in my mind forever).

What can I say about this book? I actually really liked how it started out normally (or normal enough for a pandemic novel) and then went way off the rails later on. I'm not sure why it was listed under General Fiction, but honestly, the extra creepiness and horror was a happy surprise for me. (I should probably read synopses thoroughly before making a spontaneous decision to request an arc or read a novel.)

I'm more of a psychological horror and creature horror fan, but this novel plus Tender Is the Flesh and Annihilation (2018 film) is slowly turning me into a Lovecraftian horror fan. If Lucy A. Snyder's next offering is just as fucked up as this one, then sign me on!

My only complaint is that I would've liked it even better if it hadn't focused on Erin so much. She starts off as the first POV and while her POV does help to understand the plot and world building (or more like world deterioration) through her declining health and mental state, I'd love to read more through Savannah and Mareva's POVs. Maybe switch between all three POVs so the timeline could've been more linear. The timeline jumping confused me a little bit.

But honestly, I love how fucked up everything ended up being. The ending felt rushed and the explanation was slightly confusing, but I'll forgive it since the storytelling was really good.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this audio arc.