Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - The Between: Novel, A

A perfect debut. I have read a few Tanarive Due titles, but never anything this far back in her catalog. It was a wonderful horror story; part supernatural ghost tale, part social horror. Definitely made me ugly-cry at the ending. Nothing felt left on the table.
Highly recommended.

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savvylit's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Between is a time-bending paranormal mystery that fits squarely in the category of "fever dream." Alongside Hilton, Due has her readers questioning what is real and what is a dream. Or are our dreams really just portals into alternate timelines? The eventual suggestion that you could be stalked by a murderer via your dreams is truly chilling. Additionally, the way that Due fuses Hilton and his wife's trauma-informed anxieties about racially motivated hatred with the paranormal terrors makes this already nerve-wracking book even more so.

As a whole, I really enjoyed descending into sleepless mania with Hilton as he attempted to solve the mystery of his unusual life. My only qualm with The Between was that I wanted to know more about Hilton's grandmother and how she discovered her dream abilities.

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ripxreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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noveltay's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Not enough background imo to be 5 starts, as the beginning went fast along with the rest of the book. But still a great horror.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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virago's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Wow! This was confusing, frustrating, and frightening all in the best way. This was flawlessly written. I was completely enveloped in this world.

Eight-year-old Hilton James suffered from terrible nightmares after a near-death experience that claimed the life of his beloved Nana. These dreams followed him into adulthood, disappearing briefly after therapy sessions, only to return when he had another near-death incident. The dreams were worse and began consuming his waking life.

His family (and Hilton) watched as he began to fall deeper into insanity from the lack of sleep and the visceral dreams. Then he began to wonder if he was actually crazy. Was he losing his mind? Or, were his dreams real?

This was a beautifully crafted story story. And while the book didn't scare the pants off me like I had hoped, it did; however, mess with my head. I am now leery of dreaming. Well done, Ms. Due, well done.

Content Warnings

jenny_d's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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