Finished reading:
We are always tender with our dead by Eric LaRocca
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⭐⭐⭐⭐,25/5
Pages: 304
Format: e-book
Genre: Horror
LGBTQIA+ rep: gay MC
First book in the Burnt Sparrow trilogy
Started reading: August 21st
Finished reading: August 31st
❗TW: death, violence, torture, gun violence, death of child, murder, necrophilia, rape,...❗
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The lives of those residing in the isolated town of Burnt Sparrow, New Hampshire, are forever altered after three faceless entities arrive on Christmas morning to perform a brutal act of violence—a senseless tragedy that can never be undone. While the townspeople grieve their losses and grapple with the aftermath of the attack, a young teenage boy named Rupert Cromwell is forced to confront the painful realities of his family situation. Once relationships become intertwined and more carnage ensues as a result of the massacre, the town residents quickly learn that true retribution is futile, cruelty is earned, and certain thresholds must never be crossed no matter what.
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I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you @netgalley for the ARC

In the beginning of the book, Eric says this book is not meant to enjoy, but to make you feel things and man, it does just that...

This book is a true piece of art, in the way that it makes you feel, it makes you think and it will stay with you for a while after you parted with it. It is absolutely brutal in every way, cruel, visceral and terrifyingly honest at times.

I will not say I loved this book, but it did exactly what the author intended and I could not put the book down and devoured it as I went along.

I cannot wait until I can get my hands on the next book in the trilogy.

I literally just finished this and immediately ran to netgalley to give my review.

Where to start with this one? Eric LaRocca has very quickly become an autobuy author for me. This is my first book and it most certainly won’t be my last. Eric’s way of writing is able to get right under your skin and will have you reeling for god knows how long after.
I loved the slow build up on this one. It set the scene for such an eerie and creepy time. Lemme tell you, there were many times I had my mouth WIDE OPEN in shock. It was so disturbing but in the best way possible. You never knew what was coming next.

You really get a deep dive into each character and actually get taken on a journey that might have you feeling sorry for a couple of them.

Now this type of horror isn’t for everyone, the list of triggers might scare off some but it didn’t for me. I just want more, I need the second book immediately!!!

Top tier!!!! Forever thankful I got to arc read this one!

I'm sitting here staring at this screen with no idea of what to say about this book. I had many reasons NOT to read it. For one, it has a list of trigger warnings as long as my arm. Also, extreme horror is not my cuppa anymore, at least-not for the most part. As it turns out, I needn't have worried and I've just come to this stark revelation about myself: I like it when Eric LaRocca writes it. What does that say about me?!

The synopsis gives you everything you need to know before you start, (as well as a list of those trigger warnings, I suggest you read them first), and I'm not here to ruin the narrative for you. I'm not sure I can summarize anything accurately anyway, because all the threads are still spinning in the air without connecting up to...much else. For instance, who are these mysterious town elders walking around and making decisioons for everybody? What is wrong with this town where they leave....things in the street? Who does that? Is this some kind of evil in a small town thing? Maybe a cult? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

There are enough tantalizing tentacles of information dangling here to make me want to continue with this story. I want to reach up to one of those dangling tentacles and pull it down so I can read on. RIGHT NOW. Right now, I say!

This story certainly won't be for everyone but it was definitely for me. If you were on the horror book scene back when Clive Barker exploded and each new book was filled with beauty and stark terror, then you will know how I feel when reading Eric LaRocca's work. The same adjectives come to mind: creative, obscene, imaginative, outstanding and unique.

I will now eagerly await the next book.

*ARC from publsiher

Please make Book 2 come out SOON! I can’t wait to find out more about the unique and strange characters! So many outrageous and mysterious elements! I’m on pins and needles and need answers! 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Book for this ARC!

Eric has been one of my favorite horror authors for a few years now. I’ve read pretty much everything they have released and one thing about LaRocca? They can write anything. Whether it be short stories, novellas or full novels.

We Are Always Tender with Our Dead was so good! Eric immediately pulls you into the lore of little bitty Burnt Sparrow. A creepy town with a history of strange and violent crimes. I finished this book in less than 24 hours and I can’t wait for book two!!

As always check the TWs because they are quite a few and definitely some heavy scenes.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley

I'm not sure you can ever say that you love an Eric LaRocca book, there are always too many disturbing and harrowing things in them to say that you enjoyed reading them. I will say that I will read anything that this man writes. Their metaphors and tone always draw me in to their books and keep me reading, even if its with a look of disgust on my face. Their new book is no different, it is a tale of the horrors that take place in one town mainly from the perspective of Rupert, a guy getting into adulthood and trying to escape from where he grew up.
The horror, as always, with Eric LaRocca's books is the people in the books and the things that go in their minds and what they do physically and this book does not disappoint. The bathtub scene will be imprinted on my brain for months.

I DNF’d on page 147.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the disturbing, extreme horror parts except than to include them for shock value opposed to serving a purpose of storytelling or exposing the evils of humanity. There is a cursed town mystery hinted at underlying throughout the main story but it's lost to all the extreme parts and the main characters lamenting their situations instead.

The main story is too repetitive, the editing of this is hard to read - almost like just a stream of conciousness in story from different character perspectives with random mixed media parts thrown in messily throughout chapter breaks.

The mixed media parts serve as to show how "cursed" or "evil" the town is but they seem to have no connection to what's going on in the main story. It's messy, mean spirited and not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity of the ARC as I'd not read any of LaRocca's work before but definitely know it's not my cup of tea.

My god, what a novel this ended up being. Yes, the imagery may be violent and horrific at times, and the subject matter involving Richard, our lead’s, life can be deeply unnerving. But, it is all weaved together to tell a story of one’s identity and closeness to their true self, driving into the unsettling thoughts one has about themselves. I’m absolutely stunned by the scope of this novel, the places that LaRocca takes us within Richard’s small world that feel oddly universal for the queer experience. It’s shocking to see a publisher get behind a book like this one, but I am so glad they gave it a chance, since I cannot wait to see what comes next in Burnt Sparrow.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC*

I wanted to like this one, but it was not my cup of tea. I was promised "visceral intensity and profound eloquence" and got soulless shock value and proper nouns repeated 15 times a page. Mixed formats when done well can tell a story in a way that fully-encompasses a reader's every sense. Most of the articles did add interest and variety but I was so disengaged from the main plot that I did not care about anything they were adding. Murder, necrophilia, and homophobia abound but nothing is given enough substance to go beyond cheap shock value. Weird, dark, splatterpunk horror can have enough literary value to challenge the reader's perception of both the book's reality and their own. We are always tender with our dead did not achieve anything more thought provoking than passing roadkill on the side of the road and thinking "damn that's gross".

If you are someone who enjoys gratuitous violence purely for the sake of violence you might get something out of it.

This book was so utterly weird and I have no idea what was even happening at times… but in a good way. I’m very curious to see where book two takes us!

Unapologetically queer and I loved every moment of this.

I will be 100% continuing this series, and going to to buy more of their works.

Thank you so much for this ARC.

I will be making multiple videos on my TikTok about this book

Reading We Are Always Tender with Our Dead was a disorienting, often uncomfortable experience — but I think that was the point. LaRocca doesn’t shy away from the grotesque, and this book leans fully in.

That said, I would read future books.

LaRocca lets his readers and his reputation down with We Are Always Tender with Our Dead. It reads like a first draft than a finished work. The writing is sloppy and repetitive, particularly in the sections about Rupert. I found it incredibly difficult to get past the first third of the novel and then got hooked in by the first article. Sadly, the articles interspersed throughout the novel appear to be simply a vehicle for LaRocca to insert a few additional horror prompts into the novel.

There was promise here; the Christmas Day massacre perpetrators, Rupert's mother's story and the bird with the human face were all great ideas. Sadly, only the perpetrators really got any attention in this particular novel and seemingly mostly for gratuitous violence. I don't mind violence in a horror story but the violence perpetrated against the family was simply cruelty and didn't hold any horror value for me.

I won't be reading the rest of the series.

2.75 stars rounded up.

Although deeply disturbing, certainly thought provoking. This book will make you question what is true horror – is it scary stories and paranormal encounters, or is it the evil humans can inflict upon each other and being trapped in a place/body/cycle of behavior that inhibits you from being your true self? Are your deepest darkest and strangest desires/inclinations even more horrific?

I can see the larger commentary the author was making with this story, and the atmosphere and setting for this story was great, but for whatever reason I could not connect with either man POV character (Rupert or Gladys). Rupert, although only seventeen years old, felt so indecisive to the point it seemed crippling. Gladys, before realizing that she was physically unable to leave the house, stood by her abusive and sadistic husband and kept someone else with her, selfishly, to ease her loneliness.

There are quite a few points in the story I would like some resolution for, but I do realize it is the first book in the series, so I hope the author answers some of the questions left unresolved such as:
Why were the bodies from the Christmas massacre were left out on the street? Why were people trapped in the Elderwood home? Where did the faceless family come from and who are they – did they also crumble once they left the house? What was Rupert’s father’s obsession with the dead corpse?

I would be interested in continuing the series in order to see how these events are all tied together in this strange town.

Thank you to NetGalley, Titan Books, and Eric LaRocca for a digital advanced copy of this book!

This book left me with mixed feelings. I LOVE a lot of LaRocca's work, so was very excited to receive this arc! While the premise had promise and certain scenes were SO memorable (the kind that will stick with me long after I’ve forgotten the rest), overall it felt rushed and sloppy in execution. The writing at times seemed more interested in shock than connecting with the rest of the stories, and I often found myself pulled out of the atmosphere instead of drawn in.

Since this is the first in a trilogy, I can see how the confusion and scattered threads might pay off later down the line. But judged as a standalone, it just doesn’t hold its weight. The greatness of the truly impactful moments only highlighted how much the rest fell flat.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5

We Are Always Tender With Our Dead by Eric LaRocca is the first novel in the Burnt Sparrow trilogy, and it doesn't hesitate to plunge the reader into the darkness that LaRocca has created. I was enthralled by the atmosphere that LaRocca brought to life within this novel. The town of Burnt Sparrow is a town that feels at once familiar and deeply uncanny — unmoored from time, a place where the unusual is not only expected but embraced. Though you may want to leave as soon as you enter, the strange curiosities housed within it leave you lingering for more; however, the more you learn, the more questions you have.

Though I rarely enjoy series, LaRocca hooked me so completely that I found myself eager to see where this trilogy goes

This first installment was such a fantastic book with the typical human horrors and oddities to expect from a LaRocca novel. It also unfolds as such a fantastic allegory for abusive relationships and the liminal space or "threshold" in which the victims may find themselves. It also serves as a cautionary tale for lingering too long in these spaces where you don't belong: the trauma, the internalization, paralysis of feeling stuck, etc.

As always, I feel so strongly about LaRocca's storytelling, and I feel like this was one of their best works when it comes to the allegory at its core. The characters were also incredibly endearing and interesting. Though it's a heavy story, the writing flows so effortlessly which allows you to focus on the heart of the story even more.

I'm extremely excited to continue on with this series, and I'm interested to see how the other two installments will connect to this story.

For longtime LaRocca readers, this is a triumph; for newcomers, it’s a haunting entry point into their world.

What a disappointment.

Having really enjoyed Eric’s novella from the start of this year - At Dark, I Become Loathsome - I was very excited to get a review copy of this, the first in a trilogy. But next to none of it landed for me at all.

What’s frustrating is that the good parts were exceptional: the faceless family, the bird with the human face, the Christmas Day massacre and the decision of the town to leave the bodies in place…all will stick with me for a long time and all felt like exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for.

But just about all of the rest was not good. The writing felt sloppy and amateurish, the plot was almost non existent, the characters fuzzy and the whole piece was just a let down.

There are plenty of gory and shocking scenes that will certainly grab your attention, but they fee as though they’re included purely for the shock value, which adds to the amateur feel of the entire thing.

I think the biggest letdown is that this doesn’t feel like it’s written by the same author who wrote that dark, brilliant novella earlier this year, or the short stories of theirs I’ve read and enjoyed. Whether that’s by design, I don’t know, but it really didn’t work for me and I’m kind of bummed out by it. I can’t see me rushing to read the others in this series when they arrive.

Huge thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley for the review copy.

I knew going into "We Are Always Tender With Our Dead" that LaRocca has a reputation for pushing boundaries, and this book is no exception. This first entry in the Burnt Sparrow trilogy is unsettling, visceral, and deeply disturbing. Horror fans looking for a bleak and nightmarish read will find much to appreciate here.

LaRocca’s artistry shows in his vivid depictions of violence. The graphic descriptions are purposefully tied to themes like the brutality of humanity, the darkness of human nature, the corrosive power of shame, and the prejudice and bigotry that fester in small communities. The worldbuilding is strong, dropping readers straight into a grim, claustrophobic landscape that feels both immersive and relentless.

That said, there were a few aspects that didn’t entirely work for me. One choice that broke my trust as a reader was the inclusion of a story told by a character, which felt shoehorned in and came across as filler or a repurposed short story. It pulled me out of the narrative. At times, I also questioned the authenticity of character relationships, since their dynamics felt either flat or overly forced. Lastly, while I can forgive some ambiguity in the first book of a trilogy, I do wish LaRocca had rewarded me with a bit more insight into why events unfolded as they did.

Overall, the book delivered on bleak atmosphere, disturbing imagery, and striking ideas, but its uneven execution didn’t quite achieve a lingering chill or spark the desire for me to continue with the series.

Rating: ⭐⭐½ (Rounded up)

I can confirm that they were actually not very tender with their dead.
This is a beautifully written, weaving non-linear tale about a town that suffers an awful tragedy. However. the town and it's people are far from average and have very strange customs to say the least.
Would recommend reading the TW's at the beginning, I'm still trying to decide if some of the 'shock' moments felt necessary or just gratuitous.
You are left with more questions than answers by the end, but do you care enough to find out is the conundrum.
Ultimately, this first booked felt a little unbaked, but I think I would still like to read the next instalment as I am curious to see where it goes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher.
3/5 stars.

I had to tap out at around 40%. Every page piles on another taboo (incest, necrophilia, abuse, torture) which I’ve read before jusst fine, but here it felt disconnected and added for the sake of shock value.
The premise of Burnt Sparrow was intriguing: a town haunted by tragedy, faceless intruders, and old wounds. But the execution? The plot was thin, scattered between the character’s POV that felt more like disconnected vignettes than a cohesive narrative. The constant switching between diary entries, news clippings, and POVs broke any sense of immersion.