Jeff’s Reviews > Incarnate > Status Update

Alma's Afterword frames the novel as if it's issue-oriented, but it doesn't address looksmaxxing or a million other interrelated issues, it's just focused on social media stars. The whole thing is ostensibly a dire warning from an expert, but it comes off as tone deaf to say "poor Dorothy," for whom no rational reader could have any sympathy.

It's a bad sign when the narrator steps in to tell the reader that the protagonist is deluding herself [we noticed].

If that was the end of the parallel to Dorian Gray, it was a little superficial. But the unexpected suspicion here is pretty good. The protagonist's decisions and reactions just don't ring true to me.

Well, this took a turn.

Constant pain and dizziness are worth going viral? This protagonist's motivations are so contradictory and illogical. Impossible to suspend disbelief at all.

"No doubt," "isn't" and "nothing" all in one sentence. Next chapter, we get two different characters both beginning consecutive sentences "yeah, but that's [insert character name]." This is just sloppy compared to Katsu's usual standards. A good premise, but totally botched delivery, at least, so far. Maybe the big reveal of what she did to her bullies will save it, but the dead sibling was a letdown.

So, predictably, we're finally getting the backstory teased by the snippets used in the first few pages to set up the plot. The first half of the book was a lot of filler--circular conflicts and self-analysis that was obvious to the reader. It would make sense for the meat of the story to begin when the history is revealed, but any investment in the protagonist has been thoroughly diminished.

Gee, the CreepyPasta article the protagonist is reading bears a startling resemblance to her own diction and cadence.