4.75

I figured fairly early on where this was going, which I was actually happy for. Because the reading gave me time to find the deeper meaning and symbolism Zappia weaved in throughout the alternate storline. This was a sad and difficult read, but it was so well written. This is definitely a new favorite for me.

Warning: There are several triggers you need to look at before reading this. ( )

It’s been a long time since a horror novel scared the pants off me. And YA horror, when I’m getting less and less hooked by teen fiction as the years go on? That is a sign of a great book, right there.

Katzenjammer is surreal and claustrophobic and tense, to the point where I wanted to keep reading but couldn’t, because tension overload and fear of nightmares and all that. The stakes and the horror keep ratcheting up and every time I thought I had a handle on the the world of School and how horrific everything was going to get, I was not prepared. Like, to the last page I was unprepared. “Body horror” + “trapped in high school” + “she's slowly remembering everything” doesn’t even scratch the surface. This is so real and angry and beautiful and creepy and pointed and terrifying and I’m going to be thinking about this book for a while as I unpick all the layers. I want to scream from the horror and from how good it was, all at the same time.

Damn, but Zappia knows how to write.

@brightbeautifulthings​, I feel like this one might be for you.

Please, please check content warnings on this one, everyone, please. This was A LOT, and I haven’t even been in school recently.

(Releases June 28. Thanks for the publisher and my work for providing me an advanced copy.) ( )