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Julia Whicker

Author of Wonderblood: A Novel

2 Works 73 Members 12 Reviews

Works by Julia Whicker

Wonderblood: A Novel (2018) 72 copies

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I read 1 chapter of Wonderblood and had to put it down. In my defense, it was quite a long chapter, so I gave it a decent chance. But in the end, it proved to be too dark, gritty, and disturbing for my taste. I’m sure that’s understandable for a post-apocalyptic, dystopian setting, but I couldn’t handle it. My main issues were the over-abundance of decapitated heads, excessive blood-shedding (“Wonderblood” refers to a belief that the world will be saved when the earth has been given enough human blood) and pedophilia/incest, and this was just in the 1st chapter. I skimmed ahead to get an idea of whether or not all of this calmed down, and it may have to a degree, but what I saw when skimming didn’t interest me.… (more)
 
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Kristi_D | 11 other reviews | Sep 22, 2023 |
Wonderblood by Julia Whicker is beautifully written, but the story feels very confusing to me.

Honestly, I tried to love this book. I was blown away with Julia's writing style and was absolutely memorized. While I read the first couple of chapters, my mind was utterly blown. I was so pumped to continue reading, but the story and plot line got confusing and messy.

This book was an interesting dystopian, paranormal, fantasy twist. The carnival and the dystopian future vibes were really cool and amazing ideas. There was also ridiculous amounts of gore, with people being chopped away due to war and brutality. With all that in mind, I didn't really see where the plot or character development was. It more felt like a gore fest through the eyes of a marvelous writer. It was just kind of weird for me.

It felt like the vibe was Games of Thrones meets The Walking Dead but throw in lots of carnivals and I Am Legend.

In summary, I was definitely not the audience for this book. It just didn't work for me.

I do recommend this book if you love books like Games of Thrones - for the brutality and backstory/lore - or if you love unique and incredible stylized writing.

Two out of Five Stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
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Briars_Reviews | 11 other reviews | Aug 4, 2023 |
I mentioned in my last wrap-up how my appetite for weird books continues to grow. This book taught me that maybe there is such a thing as too weird.

“Wonderblood” started off strong – set 500 years into the future when most of the world’s population has been wiped out by a strange Mad Cow-type of disease. Cult-like religious sects practice astrology and other superstitious divinations. Oh and beheadings. Lots and lots of beheadings. This is a bloody, strange little book set in Cape Canaveral, FL (what?). I really wanted to like this and for the first 60% or so of this book, I did. But I think the author ran out of steam and couldn’t fully realize where she wanted her characters to go and why. The story felt like I was constantly climbing uphill without ever cresting it.

There’s a lot to discuss about this book (i.e. parallels to modern religion, destiny, violence) and there’s a lot of niggling details that poke holes in the story (i.e. What happened to 21st century tech and literature? What happened to the world outside of the U.S.?). Julia Whicker’s prose is excellent and her writing makes this totally worth reading (if you can stomach the weirdness and the violence) but the ending was pointlessly ambiguous and disappointing.
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MC_Rolon | 11 other reviews | Jun 15, 2022 |
Dear Future Me,

Yes the cover is pretty but:
a) it's a dystopia. When was the last time you actually liked one of those?
b) Other reviewers had trigger warnings in them. The ones you don't like to read about.

Don't. Just don't buy this one.

Greetings,

Past Me
 
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Jonesy_now | 11 other reviews | Sep 24, 2021 |

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