God where do I start with this one. Uh, it was beautiful. It was absolutely gorgeous, the prose was great even if at times it could be a bit repetitive which I can see getting annoying if you read it too quickly. The illustrations are beautiful also.

The plot was heart-wrenching and I didn't even expect the twist when it happened. I sat up straight and said "Oh no I think I figured it out..." And that was... like... 80% of the way through, and it didn't stop it from being absolutely devastating to actually read.

I didn't know botanical horror scared me so much!!! But it's a sort of creeping terror that can do little things here and there to remind you of its presence and it's just so very unsettling. The more action-based scenes play out in very cinematic ways - I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see this adapted into a television show. NOT A MOVIE, TAKE YOUR TIME WITH THE SLOW BURN.

I think my only complaint is that we don't really get to know Andrew and Thomas very well! Andrew is scared of everything and Thomas is a troublemaker with a tendency for violence and they are best friends who will do anything to protect each other and there's obvious romantic tension between them. But that's... about all we learn about them this whole time. I would have liked maybe some flashbacks to earlier times of the three of them together to see what their dynamic was before this year, to see who they are and why they're so close.

Excellent yearning, though. Top notch. I was obsessed the whole time I was reading this and had to take it slowly because I usually read before bed but this was starting to get too visceral at points and it would rile me up too much to sleep.