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This felt like half of it was just for shock value. It wasn’t what I’d been expecting at all. I’m sure some folks would like it. Splatterpunk fans. But for me? This was too much

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I once again I really appreciated Larroca's individual voice in the horror genre. I particularly like how he can write scenes of utter humiliation, depredation and grotesquerie in a story, that suits so well the general tone and feeling. Where there's a genuinely curious eye by the author it makes it hard for the reader to turn away?

I've felt for a long time that although I enjoy Larroca's writing, I do sometimes struggle with the justification to buy a full priced book for collections of short stories that are in themselves less that 200 pages sometimes. That's not criticism of the writing or Larroca's output or anything of that nature. Really an observation in the context of book buying as an industry and a common theme in horror. I just think it's worth considering.

That being said, I was very excited to hear that Larroca was writing a novel as his longer and more constructed stories in his collections are, in my opinion the most memorable. In terms of the structure of the novel. I always enjoy a mixed media layout with articles and micro stories.

Within the main narrative I found it challenging initially to get into the world, but being introduced to the male protagonist helped as I found him to be by far the most well-fleshed out character. His identity stands clearly on the page and I felt very deeply for him throughout the story. I did feel the town and it's inhabitants were well built. My only real issue is that it was very clear that was part of a series throughout and my preference would have been to read a longer novel that focused more on the characters and setting. It very much reminded me of Stephen king's It, where there are multiple narratives going on in a small town and I think it is a good example of how fleshing all of that out and taking a bit more time with that can really have a good payoff. I think if you are writing is Saga type horror very difficult to do that in less than 200 pages.

I wrote this review as I was fortunate to have the opportunity to read an arc copy. I felt incredibly grateful to have been able to do that, having read much of Larocca's work in the past, I was very excited to see as I say what this novel was going to look like. If you are looking for typical Larocca squeamish, uncomfortable horror, genuine identity searching and difficult but eloquently expressed feelings that you sometimes cannot even share with yourself, I highly recommend as clearly Larocca is a master of this. I look forward to the next one.

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2/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for an ARC! Comes out September 9th.

Welcome to the disgusting town of Burnt Sparrow, New Hampshire! You’ll get weird blood rituals, unexplained tragedies, violence en masse, and torture! How fun. Will it ever be explained what’s happening here or why? Do we ever get more insight into the brief intermissions in this story about random gory tragedies occurring years before/after the events of this story? No <3 I know this is book 1 of a trilogy but throw me a bone, man.

This book was a lot of bleh. It follows Rupert Cromwell, a 17-year-old boy who has been tasked – alongside his father – to guard the massacred bodies of over 100 of the town’s residents. The perpetrators are a faceless family of 3, who then get imprisoned by the richest man in town.

I would say this book is supernatural in nature but it feels so disjointed that I honestly cannot tell for sure. There are many stories within this story, which meant I could never really connect to Rupert. I was always being distracted by some misc townie being subject to the worst horrors known to man. All for seemingly no reason, as it never ties back into the main story or characters.

Speaking of characters, Rupert is honestly a sick little fuck that I do feel bad for, but I do not want to read from this kid’s POV anymore. Through his eyes we witness A LOT: death, torture, sexual assault, necrophilia, paedophilia, incest THE LIST GOES ON. It felt like the author was throwing everything at the wall and hoping it would stick, but it just didn’t. And none of it seemed to endear me to Rupert.

I needed more backstory, more context and world-building, not a 20-page description of Rupert heading into town with his father, ruminating on every aspect of his life. Burnt Sparrow is a creepy town and I wanna know more about it, but not like this.

A generous 2 stars because I can’t bring myself to rate an ARC 1 star and because it definitely isn’t as bad as Throne of Glass. <3

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Eric LaRocca’s newest novel is disturbing, visceral, and anything but tender. I loved my time with it though and read it over a period of 4 days. Engrossing and fast paced, the town of Burnt Sparrow is devoid of kindness and revels in cruelty.

Following a massacre enacted by humanoid creatures, this town, riddled with strange social politics, attempts to preserve their dead and enact revenge on the those creatures. We spend most of our time with Rupert, a queer kid seeking to find any semblance of hope amongst this bleak and dead end town.

I was not prepared for how emotionally jarring this novel was going to be. Intense emotions around themes of queerness, absolution, freedom, otherness, and cruelty jump out of the page in intense detail. Rupert is heartbreaking and I want so desperately for someone to save him.

If you love stories about towns that are essentially evil, this one is for you.

Full review on my booktok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8hKb5ev/

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Before you pick up this book, in case it is not abundantly clear, this book is definitely within the realms of splatterpunk. You are supposed to feel uncomfortable as you read.

Things I liked:
Despite the very graphic subject matter, there's also so much beautiful uses of language used throughout the novel. Not everything is dark and grim and disgusting.
Queer characters are a focal point which is always a plus. I was especially drawn to Gladys and her portions of the tale.
I just couldn't put this book down. I kept wanting to know more, the why behind the faceless humans amongst all of the other mysteries.

Things I disliked:
It is part of a series and you can tell. This one leaves you with more questions than answers. I don't need everything wrapped up, but this one just left me wishing I hadn't read it yet because of all the loose ends.
The news stories that are interjected at this point felt unnecessary. Maybe they'll make more sense as the trilogy expands, but at the moment they seemed like wasted space. You didn't need these to understand Burnt Sparrow is a bad place.

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Giving this one a tentative three stars. This is meant to be the first in a trilogy, and I think it part of the problem for me is that this book sets up a lot of stuff without, obviously, concluding anything. I finished this book with way more questions than answers. I am not someone who needs things tied up in a bow, nor do I love when the ~interpretation~ of the book is extremely obvious of heavy handed. That being said, I also don’t love when I feel like a book just dumps a lot on me and leaves me feeling perplexed about what I am meant to glean from any of it. Again, I suspect (hope) that things will be more clear as the trilogy continues, but reading this for now as a standalone was a bizarre experience.

That being said, as always, Eric LaRocca manages to write absolutely grotesque topics in prose that is really beautiful, and I am always so so impressed by his ability to do this. The writing and style from a purely linguistic perspective is very good. He is an incredibly talented writer and despite feeling a little confused overall by this book, I will still be reading the next one, lol.

There are many trigger warnings for this but a few off the top of my head include: rape, necrophilia, incest, graphic violence/torture, domestic abuse, animal cruelty.

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We Are Always Tender with Our Dead by Eric LaRocca drops us into the aftermath of a horrifying Christmas morning massacre in the town of Burnt Sparrow, where three faceless figures are responsible for these deaths. Among the few left are Rupert and his father, who watch over the bodies until Rupert’s father commits a disturbing act that leads to his execution, leaving Rupert alone. He’s then sent to live at End House with Gladys and her cruel husband Cyril, who is keeping the three faceless perpetrators locked in his basement. Meanwhile, Gladys is trapped in a nightmare of her own, abused by Cyril and quietly in love with their servant, Veronica, but unable to escape.

This is the first in a planned trilogy, and it does not hold back. The graphic violence and disturbing acts aren’t just for shock—they’re central to the book’s exploration of grief, power, and the nature of cruelty. LaRocca isn’t interested in cheap scares; he shows us what real monstrosity looks like, both supernatural and painfully human. It’s the kind of horror that leaves a mark—not just because it’s bloody, but because it stares into the darkest corners of what people are capable of. I’m both horrified and deeply intrigued to see where the trilogy goes next.

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This was my first Eric LaRocca book and I think it will be my last. I totally appreciate the trigger warnings in the beginning but things just felt unessassary, I get shock can equate to horror but I just felt disgusted not scared. Maybe I'm too traditional in what I like from my horror but I like even the goriest horror to creep me out not just make me feel sickened. I also didn’t like the 2004 setting but with servants and cult behaviour, I get what he was trying to do but the descriptions of people and then the settling would pull you out of it. Overall not for me but I can see some people loving it. Thank you for the opportunity to read it in advance.

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As a big fan of LaRocca's work, I was eagerly anticipating what was pitched as the first part of a new epic trilogy exploring a cursed, rotten town. There are certainly portions of this new novel that sparkle with LaRocca's signature macabre beauty, the kind of writing that leaves your jaw on the floor with it's simultaneous loveliness and horror, but the overall package didn't totally coalesce for me. I am certainly going to pick up the rest of the trilogy and give LaRocca the benefit of the doubt, but I was a little underwhelmed with the larger narrative at play here.

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Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is probably the first Eric LaRocca book that I have read and wanted more. I tend to enjoy his stories, but bounce off the back half of them. This starts out unsettling, it is brutal at points, uncomfortable, and a lot of things are left unanswered. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I'm honestly not sure what this series is supposed to be - small town horror? body horror? splatterhouse? I will be reading the next installment to find out, because I do want to know what happens to Rupert and Gladys, given how the book ends.

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This is my second novel by Eric LaRocca and it was just as eerie and mildly threatening. I love a small town horror and there was an unsettling atmosphere throughout the plot. I would recommend for everyone to read trigger warnings first before starting.

I'll give kudos to LaRocca for creating such unsettling and genuinely horrifying scenes because I felt uncomfortable reading a lot of this novel. I imagine it was to add to the intensity but I felt uncomfortable reading some of these scenes given that Rupert was a minor and this actually took me out of the tension because it felt too jarring (for me personally).

I found the first two thirds to be tense and eerie but found this dropped off in the third act and the cliffhanger didn't make me feel excited to read the next one.

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3.25 - The themes in this book are dark. Very dark. Heed the author’s warning, this is not a “fun” or “entertaining” read. This book is meant to be jarring, to horrify you; it’s a book written to trigger visceral reactions and it is successful. LaRocca delivers unflinching horror across a variety of elements and layers. Holding no punches, they envelop you in a world of the deepest darkness and depravity held within humanity. It’s feral, it’s at times skin-crawling and intentionally revolting. The novel version of a train wreck- horrible, dangerous, grotesque, sickening but you can’t look away- you need to know what happens to the characters.

A big miss for me was the writing style. It felt unbalanced- walls and walls of narrative description, ruminating in the head of the POV, particularly in the first half of the book. In those long narrative sections I found my mind wandering and I had to make a concerted effort to focus on the material. At times, I found myself skimming just to keep the momentum moving forward. Still, in the thick of that texts there are gems of gorgeous writing, eg “stitched their shadows together” (a harkening to an adventurous Peter Pan and the playful fight with his own shadow, but in this story’s context is deliberately stomach turning, disgusting).

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the e-ARC of “We Are Always Tender With Our Dead” in exchange for my honest review.

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I genuinely don’t think I’ll ever mentally recover from this book… I am traumatised and left questioning humanity. And I absolutely adored it 🖤

This book is so dark and disturbing, with twists that left me reading the entire thing with a horrified look on my face 😵‍💫

If this is what being tender with the dead looks like, I never want to see what rough would be 😭

If you’re craving irreversible trauma, haunting prose and gore-filled nightmares that’ll keep you up at night, get this on your TBR and pre-order immediately. Releasing September 9th!

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I wasn't really sure of the point of this story and im still not. I just didnt really vibe with this book at all.

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As a big LaRocca fan, this did not disappoint. I think it’s by far one of the most brutal stories they’ve written (which is saying something!) and there were plenty of moments that turned my stomach.
LaRocca warns in the opening letter to readers that this novel is not one that should necessarily be “enjoyed”, and that’s true. This story is not enjoyable - but it is compelling, beautifully written, and utterly horrifying.

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"We Are Always Tender with Our Dead" is a grotesquely beautiful tale of grief, guilt and cruelty. Everything Eric LaRocca writes is visceral, intense and haunting — like a gruesome car crash on the highway that you can't manage to look away from.

Heed the trigger warning that proceeds the story. However, I think most people familiar with LaRocca’s other work know what to expect.

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I had never read anything by LaRocca before, but kept hearing a lot about him, so I was curious to check out his work. This book impressed me. His characters were instantly alive as read. The storyline was creepy and intriguing. I will want to read more from him. The description of this made it appear that it is the start of an epic, so I expected a story that was larger than this one was..

a haiku about the book:

Vivid characters
Immediate emersion
Highly recommended

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Do I have any idea what I just read? No. Was I enthralled for the entire book? 100%. I have many questions and a lingering sense of unease. Very LaRocca - all the content warnings. Felt a bit like a collection of stories that tied together. Can't wait to see what happens in the sequel.

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We Are Always Tender with Our Dead by Eric LaRocca
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and 1/2

Disturbing, poetic, unforgettable.
Faceless horrors, bird-bone grief, and a town that never stood a chance.
LaRocca writes like he’s casting a spell, every sentence feels haunted.
Come for the haunting prose, stay for the emotional devastation. Typical LaRocca style. I hate his books, yet I can’t get enough of them!

Content warnings: body horror, necrophilia, sexual assault
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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2.5 rounded up to 3

I think we all know by now that I have a real big love/hate relationship with Eric La Rocca. Every one of their books is like tearing a petals off a flower. I like this one, I don’t like this one, I like this one, you get the point.

My interest was piqued when I heard that this book would be the first in an upcoming series. La Rocca has only ever done short story collections or standalone pieces so I was real curious to see what this was setting up.

I’ve never felt so conflicted over a La Rocca book before. Even after re-reading some sections and taking some time to think I still really don’t know how I feel. Writing a review for this book has been really hard so I hope I’ve done a decent job here.

I’ll state my main problem first. The inclusion of Rupert Cromwell as one half of the narrative. I don’t like the fact that he’s 17, still a minor, and witnesses the things that he does in this novel. It feels icky, grossly uncomfortable, and completely unnecessary. There’s no conceivable reason why he couldn’t be at least 18 and still in high school. Believe me when I say we aren’t allowed to forget he’s 17 because it’s brought up so frequently. He’s subjected to witnessing execution, mass murder, literal corpses rotting on the ground, child murder, child sexual abuse, incest, necrophilia, rape. This novel would not have been any different if he was older. Not to mention that his opening segment and diary entries were so jarringly written like La Rocca opened up a thesaurus and was writing the most ridiculous words down.

(Not related to Rupert but there are graphic depictions of rape and incest told through the perspective of a 10-13 year old child’s diary entries. Completely unnecessary inclusion in the novel to explain why one of the central antagonist was “sadistic”. No joke after the diary entries here’s what Rupert had to say “Regardless, it explains some of his cruelty. Perhaps not all of it, but enough to justify why he’s such a monster to almost everyone.” Yuck, the character was groomed and assaulted by his older brother and you want to say that he was in love with him and became distraught and sadistic after his death? No thank you.)

That’s where Gladys Esherwood comes in, the second half of the narrative. She really saved this book for me. I was considering DNF’ing it for the time being because that first segment with Rupert was BAD (and that went on for about 60 pages… in a 190 page book) but her story and character were engaging and actually worth sitting the rest of the novel out for. Her first segment flipped the book around and the writing and story improved after that point. It didn’t feel like word vomit anymore and the story was actually cohesive and going somewhere. The news paper articles and folk stories included about the town were interesting as well and it certainly seems like they’re setting up the rest of the series.

Will I be continuing this series? I end up reading all of Eric La Rocca’s books eventually so I’ll probably be here for the next one. Am I happy about that? In short, not really. Maybe with some new characters and a different story the history of Burnt Sparrow could really shine. We saw glimpses of what could be but I’m not entirely sold yet. Maybe book 2 will be better.

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