The Light Was Good

by Angelica Labyrinth

Jane, a 19-year-old writer, struggles to recount her infamous childhood after her cult was discovered beneath a demolished building. Isolated from the rest of society, Jane undertakes the grueling task of remembering her underground world for the sake of better understanding herself. Trapped within a stone, windowless basement hiding away a congregation in the midst of a power struggle between two polar extremes, she clings to the one thing that makes her feel understood: a priest, or Superiorii, who, for some inexplicable reason, has always treated her kindly.

As time passes, Jane grows haunted by her doubts and questions, fearing she may be a portal between the congregation and the demon world, or Fos Terata. She faces becoming a child bride, mothering a baby, and staring down death in all its forms -- all in the wake of her cracking psyche.

Genres: Fiction

260 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 2020

Reviews

[Melina Lobo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault, Abuse, Child abuse/pedophilia/incest, Self-harm, suicide, Genital Mutilation including others.
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Love is loyal, selfless, devoted, respectful of individuality, and grounded in reality.
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After running away from a cult that traumatized her childhood, 19 year old Jane remembers those horrific days 6 years after escaping.
Living in s basement with no natural light pooling through, the cult never knew anything about the outside world except that it was evil.
Through her struggles Jane makes an unlikely friendship with one of the Superiorii (Priests) and confides in him about all her deepest thoughts.
In a world where the rules are different and evil is deemed to be everywhere, Jane needs to get out before the cult ruins her life and she's sent into Fos Terata.
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The Light Was Good is a psychological fiction novel by Angelica Labyrinth.
This book is not for the weak-hearted because (as mentioned above) the content in this book is heavy and you may not be able to read it because reading means imagining and there were moments where I couldn't take it.
I've read books based around cults before, but the plot of the book is possibly one of the unique, suspenseful and thought-provoking at the same time because of its content.
The cult in itself doesn't waiver far from what we hear about typical cult mentality. They keep their 'family' away from society, no questioning the leaders, sexual exploitation etc so it's safe to saythat the author has put in a lot of effort into making it the most real and horrific place possible.
Jane, as the main character is only a child when we're taken back to her days in the cult and therefore it's really hard to read about the things that she had to endure while there. It was only because of a select few that she didn't end up like the rest of the members and questions everything at the back of her mind even though she's expected to follow the rules blindly.
The ending of the book was something that SHOOK me to my core and was unexpected and horrifying at the same time.
Overall, a stimulating book if you are truly up for it. (And I don't say this lightly)
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Rated 9/10
Melina L.

[tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok. so hear me out. i liked this book. i thought the plot was interesting. i love a good take on cults. there is always a different angle to take with cults. i like the angle angelica took. however, i did not like the writing style. it was boringly descriptive. most of the writing is very much like a 7th grader who calls themself an ‘english person’ and prides themself on writing essays to distract themself from the fact that english is the only subject they’re good at. the metaphors in this book are terrible. extremely instagram/tumblr poetry-esque. it gets tiring after a while. but i do like this book. just the end really. it gets very good at the end. i will give credit to angelica for attempting to tackle such a broad topic. she has the passion for writing, but it lacks structure and consistency. but i LOVE the plot. so that’s why i’m giving it a 2 stars⭐️. good effort, pat on the back, go get ‘em champ.

[Suzanne Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful Story- Not for the faint of heart

This was an intense cult story, and I did enjoy it quite a bit- in fact I sat down and read it all in one day! The main character experiences such powerful, visceral emotions in response to her wretched world that you become immersed in her misery. Her desperate slivers of hope become your desperate slivers of hope.

I will say that it took some getting into at first, having to get acquainted with the cult terminology and all the i's littering everyone's titles and all the j-names. It felt a bit silly at first, but as I became attached to the narrator it just felt devastating and controlling. I suppose that's how it is for cults- it seems silly from the outside perspective, but it's very different when you are raised within it not knowing anything else.

I think Angelica Labyrinth did a wonderful job depicting very dark and difficult topics like child abuse, grooming, and genital mutilation. Other themes have more overlap with everyday life such as control, power, toxic masculinity, gender roles, etc and those were just as developed. Some areas in the writing took me out a little though, such as the narrator using terminology only known by the outside world, but not quite addressing that the her of-the-time wouldn't know what that meant yet. (E.g. "downloading"). It was a little odd since it was through a child's eyes, but had commentary that she wouldn't have been able to offer until adulthood.

Another part that took me out was the rather large reveals near the end of the book- so much is shared about the past all of a sudden, and then it's like we sprinted to the end of the novel. The motivations of some characters felt underdeveloped, particularly with characters that had more info about the cult and world but stayed anyway. As for the quality of the plot reveals, I didn't see most any of them coming, and we're cleverly disguised along the way. However, the last bit that James revealed at the end... That one was a bit obvious, and it would have been nice for that to have been more subtle so it could have had as big a splash as the remaining reveals.

Sorry for any vagueness, just trying not to include overt spoliers! My final note is that it is worth a read, and if the names give you hesitance like it did me, just push last because there is some really deep and valuable content here. To Angelica Labyrinth: I hope you keep developing your writing, if you come out with another novel, I will excitedly buy that one as well!

[Imani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing

This book was amazing, very revealing, startling, and devastating... You can tell Angelica is someone who experienced a lot of trauma and was forced to mature a lot quicker than others. This books made me realize a lot of things about many other religions that are slick cults and I can tell that I won't ever recover from this book and I will never look at religions, whether it be Christianity, Jehovah's Witness, or Catholicism, the same...

[lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A stunning first book by my favorite improv and asmr artist. I was hooked. Finished the whole thing in 2 days. There is some room for improvement. The writing could be a little stilted and ignored a lot of typical writing standards (eg. the first sentence of the book is boring and the first chapter reads a little childish). At the same time, that kind of writing style works for the character writing the book. Despite the sometimes off putting writing style, I was right there with the main character, feeling the same emotions. Her trauma was so beautifully woven into the way she interacted with others; I could really see her reasoning and how it was affected by the commune. The romance killed me. And the plot twist?? Woah. I loved how fleshed out the commune was and how many applications it had to religion and modern society. Overall, a great story worth reading to understand the intricacies of human psychology.

[Kathryn Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

angelica does really well with describing body horror. the image she painted of the fos terata was fascinating

the world of the book had an exaggerated evil to it that made me think of movies like phantom of the paradise or repo the genetic rock opera. at times the child-like narration of the protagonist made the writing feel juvenile, but I think that would also make it work really well as a YA book despite the incredibly dark themes

I will say every time I was away from the book I just wanted to read it again. definitely hard to put down! the plot was executed in a mostly straightforward and satisfying way. I’ve read too many books lately that try to be tricky with the plot only to disappoint, so this was a nice reprieve

overall, a very good debut novel. I enjoy the absurd realities angelica creates in her youtube videos so when I heard she wrote a book I knew I had to read it, and I was not disappointed. I enjoy obscure, warped little stories like this (a la porpentine charity heartscape) because I feel like the author can really experiment

[Sam Gardiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Luis Buñuel of ASMR takes a break from relaxing, confusing and menacing her viewers in equal measure to write a harrowing story of physical, psychological and spiritual abuse suffered by a teenage woman trapped in a subterranean religious doomsday cult.

The writing isn't the most polished, but much like a blown out home recording of a song on a cassette deck, the rawness gives a sense that this was a story that had to come out.

I can't say I "enjoyed" it - in a story this dark and visceral that isn't the right word, but it gripped me and made me feel things (intense discomfort, suspense, a sense of impending doom), which seems like the intention behind the writing.

Definitely not for everyone, the trigger warnings are extensive and rightly so.

[Ana C.]

I try to read it Last december but i was in a reading slump and coul not undertand a lot (english book, i speak spanish) so it was dificult. I want to read it so bad, but looking at it in my to read list is just given me anxiety jaja so for the moment im gonna put it in dnf and when i feel myself again im gonna give it another chance.

The little i read it was really interesting and well writting.

[Sarah A-F]

DNF @ 15% (~29 pages)
I was going to try to push through this because it's short and has great reviews, but it feels so try-hard and unnecessarily bloated. The little I did read felt heavy-handed and unmemorable. Just not the book for me!

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

has permanently altered my brain chemistry