Butterscotch – Asia Brito Guerrero

2/5 stars

I have very mixed feelings about this story. I had high expectations with it being billed an extreme horror and with the cover as cool as it looks. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite do it for me.

The story itself was interesting, though one aspect was a little confusing. Then the twist happened. I wasn’t a huge fan of the twist; it kind of made everything that Xia struggled for the whole book irrelevant to me. It almost cheapened her grit and her journey as a character, and that really sapped the enjoyment for me. I’m also a little confused by all the centipede references.

I also didn’t feel like Butterscotch came across as extreme. Parts of it were dark, but I expected more out of an extreme novella. More gore and shock and disgust. Maybe I’m getting desensitized from all the extreme and splatter that I read, but I found myself wanting in the end.

This wasn’t a terrible book by any means. The author was really building up to something cool despite my confusion, but it just fell flat for me after the twist.