Till We Become Monsters

by Amanda Headlee

"With her debut novel, Till We Become Monsters, Amanda Headlee raises the genre to a chilling new level. I recommend reading this one with all the lights on." —Phil Giunta, author of Like Mother, Like Daughters

Monsters exist and Korin Perrin knew this as truth because his grandmother told him so. Korin, raised in the shadow of his older brother Davis, is an imaginative child who believes his brother is a monster. After the death of their grandmother, seven-year-old Korin, blaming Davis for her demise, tries to kill him. Sixteen years following the attempt on Davis' life, racked with guilt, Korin comes to terms with the fact that Davis may not be the one who is the monster after all.

Past wrongs needing to be righted, Korin agrees to a hunting trip with his brother and father. But they, along with two friends, never make it to their destination. An accident along the way separates the hunters in the dark forests of Minnesota during the threat of an oncoming blizzard. As the stranded hunters search for each other and safety, an ancient evil wakes.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Horror Thriller, Book Club, Adult, Fantasy, Thriller

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2021

About the author

Amanda Headlee is the author of Till We Become Monsters, This is How a Villain is Made, Madness and Greatness Can Share the Same Face, and several short stories. A devoted connoisseur of cosmic and psychological horror, she is often found unraveling the universe’s darkest secrets—preferably with a steaming cup of chai tea in hand.

As a wandering wonderer, Amanda spends her free time riding one of her many bikes or hiking the Appalachian Mountains. She shares her Pennsylvania abode with a plethora of exotic plants and a horror-loving pup named Sprout.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you liked this book you’re a paid actor prove me wrong.

[HorrorBook HellHound · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is going to sound a little harsh, but this book would have EASILY been a 5 star read or higher if it weren't for all the little grammar errors. When I come across a lot of misspelled words or sentences that aren't quite right it tends to detach me from the story and that makes me sad because this particular story was AMAZING! Amanda Headlee is obviously a very talented and creative writer, and I will still recommend this book to literally everyone because I feel that the story itself is so good that most other people can look past the little issues and enjoy it as much as I did. The characters are such that you find yourself loving and hating them all at the same time, and boy are there some shocking surprises in this book that I was not prepared for (lol). The surprises are wonderful, though, I mean it is difficult for me not to give things away but all I can say is READ IT! If you love horror and you enjoy twists and turns that you did not see coming you will enjoy this book.

[Ghoul Von Horror · Rating 3 out of 5]

*****SPOILERS*****

TW: Toxic parent/child relationships, abuse, murder

About the book: Monsters exist and Korin Perrin knew this as truth because his grandmother told him so. Korin, raised in the shadow of his older brother Davis, is an imaginative child who believes his brother is a monster. After the death of their grandmother, seven-year-old Korin, blaming Davis for her demise, tries to kill him. Sixteen years following the attempt on Davis' life, racked with guilt, Korin comes to terms with the fact that Davis may not be the one who is the monster after all.

Past wrongs needing to be righted, Korin agrees to a hunting trip with his brother and father. But they, along with two friends, never make it to their destination. An accident along the way separates the hunters in the dark forests of Minnesota during the threat of an oncoming blizzard. As the stranded hunters search for each other and safety, an ancient evil wakes.
Release Date: June 1st, 2021
Genre: Folklore horror
Pages: 226
Rating:

What I Liked:
>That cover is beautiful
>The story was a roller-coaster of emotion

What I Didn't Like:
>There's a lot of discrepancies in this books
>The characters are horrible

Overall Thoughts: "We never know how far we have fallen until we become monsters"
This book was addictive. Thank God it's short because I did not want to put it down and actually do things. It is weird because everyone's parents are dead or their dad is dead.

Sadly at the halfway point it totally changes its tone and goes into this slow thing where there's an accident and a bear and a girl who's missing and now it's just feeling really slow. It just feels like a totally different book that the author stepped away and then came back and wrote a different story and then pushed them together.

Final Thoughts: I like the author's writing style so I would definitely check out them again.

IG | Blog

[Megan (sporadic hiatus due to law school) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Till We Become Monsters was incredibly short, but as I kept reading, I thought it was the perfect length. And it worked out since it was one of those stories that you physically could not put down, and I do have things planned.

I thought it started out strong, though you could tell it was a debut thanks to some errors and stylistic choices, though as awful as the characters were, I felt they were written well.

I don’t think there was a character I actually liked. Maybe Korin’s girlfriend, but she was such a minor character that she shows up for a few chapters and disappears before the end. The rest of them were awful, evil people. Not so much Tate or Addy, to be fair, but I didn’t care much for them either. Davis was a top-notch jerk, though he seems to go through some dramatic change for no reason. I didn’t think it fit his character since he spent a majority of the book acting rude to everyone, and I don’t think the brief moments where some character noticed him acting nice for a moment to some young girl ever made sense to me.

The plot and the lore were great, and I absolutely loved the psychological element of this novel. Around halfway, the fast-paced, quick read slowed for no reason other than to set up the climax of the story, but it felt unnecessary. The speed of the novel was just fine up until that moment, and it would have been a little better without the slowdown, in my opinion.

I might look into Headlee’s other books, just because the psychology and most of the writing style were good.

[Serenity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been a pretty good read. I found it kind of weird the dramatic change in the evil brother that occurred halfway through the book, but as you continue to read, you see the meaning behind this book. Everyone's perception is different. A lot of hurt and confusion could be settled if we would just talk to each other honestly when we feel like we've been wronged. That's my take anyways.

[Lizzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This started off interesting. I thought to myself, “this is going to be good.”

Then it wasn’t.
Then it was all over the place. We had to hear from nearly every person in the story. Way too many POVs.

Then it was disgusting. And only got more disgusting. This wasn’t horror to me. It was flat out gross with ZERO purpose.

The ending was terrible, with NO answers.

I finished this just because i wanted to see how it ended, but i was so disturbed, with the urge to puke, that i enjoyed NONE OF IT. Not like i would have enjoyed a book like this anyways. I can’t emphasize enough how disgusting this was.

I hate that i read this shit. I hate that i now have this pointless book in my memory. What a waste.

Do yourself a huge favor and find something else to read.

Also, this needed a better editor. There were grammatical errors that really shouldn’t have been there.

[Dave Kirschner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Speaking vaguely to avoid spoilers here, but I thought the way that every character saw themselves as the hero surrounded by people out to ruin them was super well done, and showing scenes again from a different point of view to show the people described as selfish terrible people was great.

The beginning showing Korrin as poor and mistreated, then later revealing that he had such a limited view of the world, and how obsessed with painting himself the victim was done so well that we barely needed the horrors of the end of the book.

That being said things were so grounded and focused on the characters twisted relationships, that when things go off the rails, and they go so far and so quickly, the shock really added to the suspense.

There were a couple issues, the girlfriend existing mostly for exposition's sale and the little girl becoming such a important part of the end while being introduced in the beginning of the third act kind of detracted from the flow, and the idea that he was writing a thesis on monsters but a.) Didn't know what a Wendigo was and b.) Seemed genuinely frustrated he couldn't find concrete evidence of monsters was a little silly.

But the start of being sure one brother is a wicked monster to the camera panning back to see we've been in the head of a genuine nutjob was so fun I forgive any issues

[Alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to feel about this book for a couple of reasons. One, I thought the flow of characterization wasn't quite there - I get the "unreliable narrator" thing, and it's obvious from pretty much the first third of the book that this is where Korin falls, but there wasn't enough substance throughout the story to allow for at least one of the rapid character shifts. It seems like the author took "show, don't tell" seriously, which is good, but then she left some of the "show" on the cutting room floor. Two, it's been pretty clear for a while, certainly since before this book was published, that Native American and First Nation folks would prefer that people not play with this particular part of their folklore. I should have guessed the topic of folklore covered in this book from the cover image, but frankly I wasn't paying enough attention, and that's on me. Third... well, the ending was pretty obvious, wasn't it?

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ending was just a little rushed. Other than that, it was an amazing ride and I felt like I was at the hunting trip. My mouth and eyes were wide open within the last few chapters. I’m a huge fan of horror and fantasy. So, this book has satisfied my interest in both. This is my first review for a book so I would say it was definitely a story that interested me enough to write one! I cannot say how many rabbit holes I’ve went into about skin-walkers. If you enjoy creepy lore like that, I definitely recommend this book.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was engaging, so I finished this book. I normally do not bother to finish a book with this many grammatical mistakes and misuses of words. Sometimes there were factual errors too, for example, the author referred to a buck as a "she." (Bucks are male deer and does are female deer.) At one point a character, a supposed grad student in folklore, claimed he'd never heard of a wendigo. Despite these annoyances, the book had promise. Too bad it didn't have a competent editor.

[Mackenzie Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. If I could give a half star I would. It hit a point where if felt like someone else wrote it, but it was incredibly immersive. I couldn't put it down. I had to know what was going to happen. The end threw me a little. I wished it would have ended a little bit smoother or softer? Idk but it was abrupt and like it needed another to finish it. Good but sad and grusiom.

[Adam Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like whoever wrote the screenplay for Antlers probably read this book.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out great, and ended terribly. How did Korin's personality take a complete nose-dive? It just made zero sense, thus ruining the entire novel.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A search for evidence to prove that the creatures of
folklore exist take a student into the darkest of places

One of the blurbs of Amanda Headlee’s intriguing debut Till We Become Monsters uses the quote “Monsters exist and Korin Perrin knew this as truth because his grandmother told him so” with much of the success of the novel being built around the ambiguity of this big question. Coming in at a brief 226-pages it makes a memorable stab at keeping the reader guessing until the last fifty or pages. One could argue that the bloody climax does not exactly fit with what preceded it and even though it was still very enjoyable, I did not find it particularly convincing within the context of how the story is framed.

The action kicks off in March 1971 with Korin Perrin being read a story by his grandmother whom he loves dearly and in particular the folklore stories she tells him. He does not get on with his older brother Davis, who dominates the attention of his parents, but is disliked by the grandmother. However, two separate shocking incidents involving firstly their grandmother, then Davis, lead to a terrible family crisis which sends Korin into a mental hospital. This was part of an outstanding first fifty pages, which I found really eye-catching.

The two shocking incidents brings us to the first big theme of the novel: family dynamics. And boy-o-boy if you think your family is dysfunctional wait until you see the Perrins! For much of the time I could not make my mind up who was the most f***ed up, the parents or their incredibly unlikable children. That was one of the major weaknesses of the novel, both Korin and Davis were so incredibly self-centred and self-seeking once the story jumped to the adult stage, I could not care less about them. In fact, I wanted to give the parents a slap for bringing up two children so poorly and the boys for making such little effort to get on. Central characters need a certain amount of empathy for readers to connect to and the brothers missed it by a mile.

His fascinating with folklore is one of the reasons Korin ends up in hospital and this place was so unpleasant it made Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest look like a holiday camp. I found this sequence to be vaguely unbelievable, okay, it’s the 1970s, but I struggled to accept how horribly the boy was treated in this nasty place, which was more like a prison. At this stage I did wonder which direction the book was heading into, and by page-43 the events jump to March 1986 when Korin is in his early twenties and a star university student. The novel remains in this period with Korin torn on what to do his major dissertation on.

His love and fascination with folklore has never deserted him and in some way, he wants to write a paper which proves that some of the old tales are based on fact, however, he struggles to come up with an angle and goes round in circles. Inwardly, he has never forgotten the stories of changelings his grandmother told him and after more frustration his professor tells him to take a week off and visit his family to chill out. After his girlfriend Maeve, who is a Psychology graduate, inspires him he thinks he has something new to investigate. Meanwhile, he continues to whine and feel sorry for himself, possibly making himself one of the most irritating main characters I have come across in quite a while. Forever moaning about what his family never did for him, when he did nothing much for them either. If readers abandon Till We Become Monsters before the wild finish it will probably be because of this character, or his equally annoying brother.

The story is told in the third person from multiple points of view, including Maeve, his parents, Davis and a couple of other characters which appear later. Korin was not an unreliable narrator, but he was certainly disturbed, and you could argue not a lot happened in the plot once it reached the adult sequence. It had a whiff of Young Adult literature to it, but I doubt teenage readers would find Korin to be particularly engaging and Davis was just too one dimensional to take seriously. He was in his mid-twenties, still lived at home, had no job and had loser written all over him. The two most engaging characters, Tate and Addy, were a welcome antidote to proceedings later in the action, mainly because they gave the reader a break from the Perrins!

There was nothing at all wrong with the action style finish and there were some exciting and painful sequences which will have you wincing as the characters wander around in sub-zero Minnesota snowy temperatures. I guess, ancient evil can awaken anywhere, and you can decide whether it fits with the rest of the book. In the end everything goes full circle, and you find out who and what the real monster is. But within the context of this novel did the way the supernatural was introduced into the story work? I was not convinced, but I still found Till We Become Monsters to be an entertaining read and a solid first novel. But the moral of the story is do not believe everything your granny tells you!

I should also point out that the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the publisher had a very irritating watermark in the book which blended too many of the characters into the white background. This was very annoying which reduced the enjoyment of the book and if it were not for the fact that the book was short, I would have given up. This is not the way to go about picking up reviews.

[Niki Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Grammer mishaps had me having to reread certain sentences. However, the twists, and it got right to the meat. I was hooked in the first 5 pages, and WOW, I kept telling my daughter/ reading buddy.. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's not as it seems. I love a good twist that leaves you like.. I knew something was coming, but wow. Good read! I'll read another of her books!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love the cover art. It’s striking and fitting for folk horror. I really enjoyed the use of unreliable narration to show how everyone felt they were the victim and misunderstood. This is also a perfect portrayal of Midwestern stoic passive aggression, wherein many things would be resolved by talking like adults and sharing their feelings, but that is Just Not Proper.

[Cherry · Rating 1 out of 5]

i cannot believe my professor made us read this because it was just... no comment. the amount of simple grammatical errors that could have been caught with literally any editor, the appropriation of indigenous folklore when many indigenous people have stated multiple times to not use it, and more. i could honestly go on but i don't want to be overly mean so i'll stop here without delving into opinion and just stay with those two facts.

[TessaMcbessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a horror book full of folklore that will mess with your emotions and make your head spin, then I would definitely pick this one up.

A fast paced, unpredictable roller coaster of a novel.

[Bill Stowell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really slow, maybe even boring, in the first 3/4 of the book. But the ending was terrific! I am glad I read on even when I was tempted several times to drop it. I was not so happy with the existence of typos. More than none is too many. Is there no spell check? Give it a go and be forgiving of the spelling and the slow pace until the end.

[Rachel Mavis · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 ⭐️ it took too long for anything to really happen but once it did it was pretty good. A little predictable but it was still a good read

[Jake Evilsizer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book. Took a while to get to speed, but once it did it did not let me walk away.

[Tyler · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve met books where I question every characters decisions. I’ve come across books where characters have seemed like throwaways or had way too much screen time as side characters. I’ve seen stories where the layout and storytelling are a little rough. Never have I come across one where all of these things are there, plus grammatical errors, plus characters I hate. And boy did I hate them.
Every.
Single.
One.
There is not one likable character in this entire book. I thank God this book is as short as it is. I don’t want to critique the author too much because I know what she was going for and it’s really difficult to do in the confines of a book while writing something that’s not entirely predictable, but come ON. I’m trying to keep spoilers out but good grief is there a lot I could talk about. Wendigo stories are best portrayed in visual media or word of mouth, there’s really no way around it, therefore, this was a really challenging endeavor. Just because it’s challenging however, doesn’t mean I’m going to give it pity points.
The ONLY reason I liked any of this story was the way the author tried to write it; it was clever, relatively original too, but all of her efforts were overshadowed by an attempt to make things more complicated: way too many POVs, extra details and backstory that dragged the reader kicking and screaming away from the main plot, decisions that baffle the mind in every way, and changes in the character of characters that are just une believable, genuinely unbelievable. There’s no reason any of the shifts in morality and otherwise should ever happen. There’s no motivation or hints at misunderstanding, it’s just “bam, they are good/evil now, congrats.” I wanted this book to be so much better than it was, but it couldn’t even get to the bottom of the barrel.

0.4🌟

[Kate Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Till We Become Monsters is a twisted tale of a dysfunctional family plagued by a history of abuse and neglect, all framed within the idea of the wendigo/wentiko legend. This is a heavy, gruesome read, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. There were some grammatical and story elements that held this back from a higher rating, but it still belongs on my "favorites" shelf because I absolutely loved it. It's clear that Headlee loves horror, and there are moments of real fear, real suspense, real gore that honestly made my skin crawl and my stomach turn. THAT is good horror. Those moments within TWBM are where Headlee's skills really shine. I learned after I finished reading that she has published other short horror fiction, and I've eagerly added her previous and upcoming work to by TBR list.

I strongly believe this would be a solid 4-star book if there had been a few more eyes on the novel before it went to print. There were very few egregious grammatical errors (but still, there were errors), and enough mild errors and redundant passages that it got to the point that I couldn't ignore them, and often looked for them. It took me out of the fiction, which offered me a brief reprieve from the depressing horror, but these errors interfered with the pacing, offering opportunities to separate myself from the fiction in moments that readers were clearly not intended to be allowed a break.

This book could have been something really exceptional had Headlee spent more time editing and revising her work, and sought out a sensitivity reader if she hadn't already. I went through Headlee's website and any interviews I could find, and didn't come up with any information to confirm or deny this. It is a little odd, thinking of sensitivity in horror, but I'm moreso concerned with the depiction and discussion around wendigo/wentiko lore without mentioning some source of the culture it comes from. In good conscience and in combination with the grammatical mishaps, I've put this review at 3 stars until I can find out more information, in which I'll update my review.

Again, though, there is so much I loved and still love about this book. It was an excellent read during those bleak October days, when the weather started to turn cold and rainy and I was looking for something spooky to read for the season. On a fun side note; I picked up this book back in August while on a road trip with my best friend, at this tiny little new/used bookstore called Spellbinder Books in Bishop, CA. I get the feeling it's a place Headlee would like. It's quiet, old, rustic, and just a little bit weird. Highly recommended stop for anyone passing through Bishop.

[Aye · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t even know where to start with this book, everything about it seemed very rushed and nothing really felt as if it was a continuous story, more like a jumble of ideas and the only thread keeping it together being Korin.


Spoilers

The bit at the beginning with Korin burning his brother and how Davis now attends therapy had nothing to contribute to the story. People kept mentioning how Davis was “Lacking something” like how people feel before they turn to cannibalistic tendencies. This was never touched upon again— not to mention he ate a deers heart and blood because he was missing something but they never said what?

Why did the characters randomly have a personality change? If it wasn’t so rushed then the book could’ve made it so Davis going from antagonist to protagonist could’ve been done well, but it wasn’t.

Speaking of rushed, I can’t even begin to talk about Korin randomly going nuts. Maeve’s character was obviously only there to put in the readers head the idea and story behind Native American Cryptics, the dream she had that made her “have to see Korin” was forced and hard to watch when she talked to his mom.
Korin had always said he didn’t like his family and was expected to be ignored, but that type of spite didn’t show any signs of wanting to cannibalize his friends and family? His transition into monster was just….bad?

I was expecting that the boys come across a monster while hunting that leads to Addy’s disappearance, forcing the boys to put aside their resentment to work together and find her/take down the monster. I however was thoroughly disappointed to find that no, this story is just a random jumble of nonsense that gives the author an excuse to write as much gore into the end scene as possible.

Over all the writing was fine even though there were some lines that made me want to set the book down and stare at the wall to contemplate what I just read. The beginning did seem promising though, I would’ve liked to see how the mental institution may have affected Korin mental state that showed that maybe he was capable of killing someone— like violent outbursts or thoughts, strained relationships with his classmates or even just his mannerisms being described as scary throughout the book.

Overall, Till We Become Monsters was a rushed piece of literature that’s story didn’t really fit together, characters had drastic changes, or just weren’t needed in the story at all. This took a long time to type so I’m going to get a snack now.

[Katie Beard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a pretty decent debut folklore horror. There are apparent spelling errors and lack of research on behalf of the author (crevice vs crevasse) that would have helped the story. I am a wildlife biologist and the behaviors of the black bear described were both atypical and unlikely as most bears would not be out in the time frame discussed. Research would have helped with that. I think a strong editor would have also helped. The ending was not totally unpredictable but was a little unexpected so that was nice.

Like previous reviews, this book does a total 180 at some point that left me rather confused. It’s as if the brothers traded places. I think this book could have been better hashed out to eliminate inconsistencies (like with the hunting cabin only being 10 miles away but somehow taking hours to get to?) I also do not understand the creative choice to set this book in the 1970s but alas the author did. It’s not bad for a folklore horror. I will mention though, as some tribes have asked people to stop mentioning wendigo without being a member themselves this book may not be for everyone.

[Kacie Rosbrook · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved the concept but honestly it was too short, the characters weren't likable after the initial 3 chapters. Felt rushed and many many grammatical errors, conciseness was all over the place. There was a great story at the beginning but it wasn't fleshed out properly in how everyone connected. The dad was one dimensional, if his "logging job" had him reaffirming stories his mother told their son or their mom laughing off the folk tales of his grandmother since her car accident could have made another element into the Windego arch, I felt the author got skittish the latter half of the book.
Never any hard feelings or bad will towards the author, but could have had a beautiful horror story through it, just didn't execute it well.

[Cheyenne Antell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good premise, but not well written. All the character motivations and feelings are so explicitly stated that the author doesn't need to show them through actions. Also, black bears don't do the things the author wrote. Looking for folklore horror? I recommend The Only Good Indians.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chilling psychological dark drama/horror that expertly mixes crypto folklore and f'd-up family dynamics. An accomplished debut by a promising new Dark Fiction author.

[Cole Slaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written, over-the-top dramatics every other paragraph. Characters lacked depth.

[Kitty Sarkozy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have complicated feelings about this book.

This review will have spoilers, so stop reading now if that's not something you want.

It was certainly compelling, it was well-paced, with interesting characters. Some parts were excellent. I almost stopped reading after the first few chapters because I was afraid it was going to be just graphic abuse of a 7-year-old which is very much not a story I am interested in reading, but I skipped ahead and saw Korin wasn't a kid, so I kept going. Once the story was about a guy in his 20s it got pretty great for a while (aside from a few grammatical and continuity errors, but it was a first novel so we will forgive that). It was a story about generational trauma, abuse, resentment, sweeping things under the rug, and guilt. It was about a family that had a few horrible things happen which damaged everyone. For the majority of the novel, the horror was almost all emotional other than some abuse and injuries the two kids suffered. Supernatural things were mentioned but as stories.
Then the characters were lost in the woods and it got really freaking intense. I was on the edge of my seat until the tone changed too fast. Way too fast. It went from relatable if a bit over-explained emotional horror to "jesus, it's a fucking actual monster" but way too close to the end. I think in only the last 15% of the book was it supernatural horror. That threw me. I am all for an ending I wasn't expecting, but what? It felt rushed and out of place. I hate to say this, but almost like giving up? As if the author had so much more story to tell and for some reason couldn't, so she just had everyone ripped apart and eaten and called it a day.
The horror there was extremely well-written and terrifying. But after 85% family drama with hints of the supernatural to have the final 15% be a body horror slasher just wasn't right. I don't like slashers. I felt a bit tricked by the bait-and-switch. I wanted a better resolution. I wanted someone to be win. I know that's not what always happens, but I read horror less for the horror and more for the little guy to stand against the horror and push back the darkness for a little longer.
And given that this author is a woman I feel a little bad saying this....but none of the women mattered as characters. They were rather 2-dimensional plot devices. Grandma was just a sad battered woman who didn't deal with her own pain and died to spark off the drama. The mother was weak, pliant and histrionic, just a placeholder. And the girlfriend? What even was the point of her? Was she just in there to read a book to Korin, have a bad dream and get the mother to spill secrets she had kept hidden for 15 years to a complete stranger? The little girl made one decision on her own, but after that, she was dragged along and then assaulted into being a monster when she hadn't done anything to deserve the curse, which up until then seemed related to the family trauma or at least to having sinned. The little girl was an innocent, her becoming a monster didn't make sense to me.
I think this book could have been excellent. The writer is clearly very talented, and if she puts out something else I'm likey to read it. But this book left me disappointed.