Katzenjammer audiobook

I never know how to begin reviews; most of the time I want to fan-girl or go off on rants right away. Other times, I step back and collect my thoughts before my word vomit comes out on the screen. I've sat on this one for two days, so I think I'm ready.This. Book. Was. Incredible.Eliza and Her Monsters was the first book I received in my very first book box from Owlcrate. I then picked up Made You Up and my love for Zappia's story-telling grew. Katzenjammer is different from her other works, but it doesn't fail to jab you in the heart. Cat is trapped in a strange version of her high school where her friends and classmates are slowly turning into monsters. She has the mask of a cat and her best friend's face is cardboard with squiggly crayon eyes and mouth. Are you still with me?The book switches from past to present, showing us glimpses into Cat's life before she ended up trapped in her high school. With each memory she's forced to remember, she pieces together the reason why they're all trapped there.And the reason is not what you'd expect.And will also tear your heart wide open.The pacing was quick and exciting, and I connected with Cat's character. I also adored the illustrations. “Look, look, look what can happen, look what can be inflicted on another human, by humans. Look how we can be undone.” This is a disturbing, dark story that part of me feels bad for loving because the themes are so sad and so heartbreaking. If you're OK with gore and bizarre things, this book will be perfect for you. Trigger warnings for bullying, violence, and death. Thank you to Edelweiss for the arc.

** spoiler alert ** Thank you storygram tour for an early copy in exchange for an honest review. Cat has become a monster. She and other students are stuck inside their high school, some are also changing into monsters while others stay human, all the while something is hunting them down. They don’t know what, but Cat’s memories are the key to why they are all there and more importantly, a way out. I’m going to start this off with this book is not for everyone. It deals with A LOT of very heavy topics(see cw bellow) but it made you think and feel and cry. It was heart breaking and realistic. It isn’t the story that many of us want to read right now but one that I personally believe needs to be told. Especially with the topics that are covered. Cw:BullyingGoreViolenceAnimals killedClassist HangingSexual assaultTrauma Mental healthEating disorderThis is a spoiler for the plot but must be mentioned. SpoilerUnderage pornography mentionedSchool shooting

Wow… what I thought was going on in this book was totally different then what really was going on. I loved this book and I enjoyed how it flowed . I really liked the different characters and their relationship to one another. I can’t really explain to you what this book is about except for its a story about a bunch of teens stuck inside the school with no way out. Inside their school there is a killer among them and Cat is going to figure out who it could be.

Horror YA. Hard to put down (I read it in less than 24 hours.) Weird. Violent. Bloody. Creepy AF. Lots of triggers. Absolutely heartbreaking.I am going to be processing this one for a while.

5 StarsNote: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.This book is highly disturbing, uncanny, macabre... and excellent. It takes body horror and bullying to the extreme, and the list of content warnings provided by the author and publisher should be carefully perused by anyone who doesn't want to dwell on such topics. This book isn't for the faint of heart, but for those who can stomach it, it is definitely worth the read.My full review will be available June 10, 2022 at Gateway Reviews.

Rating: 4⭐️Thank you to Harper Collins Canada/HCCFreazy for gifting me an arc in exchange for an honest review. Trigger Warnings: bullying, mention of eating disorder, explicit violence, blood, gore, knife violence, death by hanging, gun violence, body dismemberment. Cat doesn’t remember how she got trapped in her school. She doesn’t know some of her fellow classmates are changing into monstrous creatures, and others are not. As her memories start to resurface, she must fight to find a way out and survive the killer that’s killing them off slowly. This book is disturbing. And terrifying but also hauntingly brilliant. The dual timeline plays such a key role in this story. The switch between past and present gives so much information but still keeps the mystery of it all. I really enjoyed the short chapters. It was easy to follow along with and was hard to put down. The characters were intense and creepy. Very American Horror Story-esque. The biggest issue I had was with the ending. I can see where the author was trying to go but the events didn’t seem to line up as perfect as they could have. I can’t say too much or else I’ll spoil it but the ending still had me a little confused. This book had me thinking about every possible outcome and I was not expecting what had actually happened. The last 50 pages had me gasping and constantly saying “wtf” but I still couldn’t put it down. This book was also very gruesome and will have you twitching and gawking at what is described. It was gory, bloody, and spine tingling. It’s very descriptive with the gore so please check trigger warnings before reading. Quite a few scenes had me gasping and feeling nauseous because of the descriptions. Overall, this book was disturbing but in a weirdly satisfying way. I don’t usually read horror books, but I’d definitely recommend this one for the Halloween season!

I absolutely loved this book. The writing was perfect and details really made you feel the story. It was really creepy and Gory and full of twists and turns which I enjoyed very much. That ending was unexpected and so intense but it fit the story very well . Also that cover is beautiful and so perfect . Really captures the character perfectly . Thank you NetGalley and Frenzy presents (Harper collins) for giving me a chance to read and review this book.

Katzenjammer: ★★★★★This is the most terrifying book you will ever read, and it should be. I have never not loved a Francesca Zappia book, so despite my hesitance toward the horror genre, I had to read this. I read it in October because it's Halloween season, but the truth is that the horror of this book does not come through violence or visualization or gore or monsters or anything like that, but the sheer raw reality that lies behind this "body-horror-spooky-school-mystery" mask. Katzenjammer is about the dangers of being a kid. And whenever this topic comes up, people are going to say that being a kid "isn't dangerous" and "kids have it so easy nowadays" because "back in my day..." and that's fine, but in my eyes that just translates to "I don't have kids" because if you did, you'd sure as heck care. Katzenjammer's fantasy heckscape is pretty much as metaphorical as things get, so you have to be really open to interpreting strange things, but I'm telling you, there is so much depth, so much pain, and so, so much passionate, important anger in the writing of this book that you need to see. In short, without spoiling things: this group of high schoolers are trapped in a living, breathing school, without doors or means of escape. They can't remember how they got there but half of them have begun changing in weird, scary, self-destructive ways, like Cat, whose face is slowly morphing into a cat mask. On top of all this, the school's plumbing is filled with blood and there's a monster of some sort slowly killing off the changed teenagers. The teachers have become inanimate objects and only the athletic, popular kids have safe shelter and proper weapons.You see where this is going, right?Insight 1. Bullying:I thought I'd never see the day a book accurately portrays the damage bullying causes. Without being cliche, and still depicting the pure frustration, insecurity, and fear bullying creates, Katzenjammer is flawless in its message towards bullies and OH MY WORD. I can't even describe it, it rips me apart, seeing this smart, strong-willed protagonist get torn to pieces over this massive thing no one sees but her. I have seen this story so many times in real life and it kills me.For anyone who's read the book: I especially liked the way that the changes the kids go through is directly connected to the way they were bullied. As if they became what everyone thought they were. And also how the inanimate teachers just watched and did nothing, because of course. Of course.Insight 2. Mental health:No one writes mental health struggles like Zappia. I appreciate this novel for its mental representation so much. I think everyone should read this because it just--this book depicts everyone's struggle. Not just the "good guys". I'll leave it there.Insight 3. School safety:I don't want to say much about this book, just that it fueled an anger in me I did not think I had. And it's time to get angry, it really is. If I have to send a child to school in a bulletproof backpack one day, I'm not sending them to school.Overall this book made me feel mad, it made me feel guilty, it made me feel not alone, it made me feel seen, it made child me feel seen, it makes me want to scream. I almost wish this book wasn't horror because I know it's going to stop some people from reading it when everyone on this planet should, but at the same time, it has to be horror, because that's what it is.If Francesca Zappia ever saw this somehow, I just want to say thank you and I'm sorry. I'm sorry because I'm guessing you write a lot from experience, but thank you for turning that experience into something so beautiful as this. I know everyone who reads it will feel disturbed, but also comforted at the idea of having strength anything like yours.Content warnings (these are actually in the copyright section of the book, but I'm gonna put them here too):- language: this book is 15+ for sure.- spice: necessary references, but nothing inappropriate really happens- violence: everything you can think of- trauma: possible eating disorder triggers, gun violence, references to insanity

“I stare at myself in the mirror and wonder how I got here, stuck inside School, with the plumbing full of blood and my face looking like this.I don't remember. None of us do.” 1 Sentence Summary: Cat is stuck in School with no memory of how she got there—where the showers always spray blood instead of water, a cat mask is permanently stuck to her face, and her best friend’s head is a cardboard box—her classmates are all transforming and it’s getting worse every day, and when people start dying, Cat knows she has to get to the bottom of this before it’s too late. My Thoughts: So, I am dead. This book killed me. I need about 7.48 years to finish processing.I was so intrigued when I read the premise, and let me tell you, the book did not disappoint.This was SO GOOD. But also so dark. Bizarre, creepy, and you never know what’s going on, in the best way possible. And the ending, OH MY GOSH. I can’t give anything away, but on second thought, I actually think I need about 23 years to process it all. “If I can’t go back, where do I go?”“Forward.” Each chapter alternates between the present, where Cat is stuck in School, and her memories of the past, which might just be the key to unlocking how she got there. There’s also really cool art by Francesca Zappia (literally my hero) interspersed throughout.Also, I have to proclaim it the winner of the unofficial ‘best start to a novel’ competition: My eyes are gone. That figures.I stare into the mirror in the girls' locker room for a full two minutes, examining the new emptiness in the eyeholes of my mask. Then I wait another minute before I jam a finger two knuckles deep into my eye socket. Nothing there. I should be scrambling my own brains.Question of the day: What's stranger—trying to scramble your own brains, or wishing you could?Whatever. It's not like I need eyes anyway. It definitely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, so make sure you read the content warnings before going in, but I LOVED it. (I stayed up until like 2am to finish shh don’t tell anyone.)(Also, side note: I've read every book Francesca Zappia has published, and they are all extremely different from each other, but I've loved all. of. them.)Recommend to: Fans of creepy stories where nothing makes sense and that include hints of mystery, fantasy, horror, contemporary, romance, and suspense.(Warnings: swearing; bullying; death; violence; mutilation; blood/gore) “Look, look, look what can happen, look what can be inflicted on another human, by humans. Look how we can be undone.”

4.75I figured fairly early on where this was going, which I was actually happy for. As a result, I had time to find the deeper meaning and symbolism Zappia weaved in throughout the alternate storyline. This was a sad and difficult read, but it was so well written. This is definitely a new favorite for me. Warning: There are several triggers you need to look at before reading this.

Thank you HCC Frenzy for a gifted copy. CWs: violence (knife, gun) gore, blood, death, death by hanging, murder, bullying, mention of an eating disorder This was a really intense read. The dual timelines and short chapters made it feel really fast-paced. This was a quick read, but it was a dark one. There are some very violent moments in here with lots of description of gore. Cat was an interesting character. It took me most of the book before I was able to really appreciate her character. I don’t know if it was supposed to be a surprise twist, but it didn’t surprise me at all. I had a feeling based on the memories timeline of what had happened. There were clues all throughout.

I don’t even remember why I put this book on hold at the library… I must’ve seen a BookTok recommendation. I took it out, saw it was a teen fiction, wasn’t going to read it… but then I did. Not at all what I expected, in fact I had zero expectations! This book was so dark and sad… my heart broke for Cat. And then the ending… wow! I just might check out other books from this author.

3.5 starsI did like this book, but I wasn’t a big fan of the ending. The body horror was great. I don’t read a lot of horror but I really should; it’s much nicer than watching horror movies. The whole surrealist vibe was excellent, I loved how off everything was. The ending was just a little disconnected for me, I don’t think the metaphors really conveyed the themes the way the author wanted them to. I didn’t really expect it to get so serious and dark, which is fine, but disjoined for me. The author kind of sacrificed answers for an ending that would be emotional and convey some sort of message but I think she should have answered our questions instead.An interesting read, it’d make an intriguing horror movie

[4.5 stars rounded up.]This book wrecked me, which I kind of thought it would. It handles topics I'm pretty sensitive to, so going in, I thought I was prepared. I was still not as prepared as I may have wanted to be, so I would really recommend checking out content warnings for this book. These include: bullying, homophobia, and violence. (view spoiler)[ Big content warning, which is also a plot spoiler if you don't want to know but: school shootings. (hide spoiler)]This is a heavy, sad book. It's experimental in the way that it portrays horror, as some students are changing in horrific ways. The main character's face is a cat mask and she has no eyes. One character has a cardboard head. Another, a tentacle. It's an interesting premise, especially coupled with the fact that they're locked in the school with a group of "unchanged" students who are terrified of changing themselves and willing to do whatever it takes to not have that happen. I love body horror, so this really worked for me, even though it was quite strange. The story is divided between two timelines: the MC (Cat) in the school now, and past reflections on the main character's life from middle school to sophomore year––particularly following her relationship with her best friend, Jeffrey. This story was so successful for me because I cared about Cat so much. I found her to be relatable, and I just really wanted her to be okay. Flashing back and forth between these two timelines happens quickly, as the chapters are fairly short, which makes this a read you can probably finish in one or two sittings. I do think one element of the story needed, perhaps, a bit more connection to the plot. Even though I knew it was coming, once it was revealed I was like....I knew you were coming and yet you still feel maybe a little bit out of place. (view spoiler)[ I'm talking, here, of the actually moment when we learn Cat died in a school shooting. It felt a bit disjointed from the main plot and where it was going, which makes sense, because that reflects real life. I just wonder if there could have been even more small easter eggs thrown in before, as there were with what the killer was wearing, comments people made, etc. (hide spoiler)] Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I hesitantly recommend it, again, because of the content. If it's not something that will trigger you, and you're into experimental, weird books that are also touching––I would recommend checking this out. I have to talk about, here, a moment that really affected me. It gives away the end, so only read if you've read it, or if you don't care about spoilers. (view spoiler)[ There's a moment at the end when Cat asks her past self if there's no second chance, no do-over, because we see that so often in media. And younger Cat has to sadly tell her no, there isn't. And Cat reflects on all the wasted potential of her life, and Jeffrey's, because of Ryan, and it's just so fucking sad. It was so well done and instantly made me reflect on the shootings we continue to have in America. (hide spoiler)]

Definitely check out the TWs for this book (there’s a long list), but I was sooo happy to finally see body horror done right! This was creepy and absolutely delectable. The characters felt really young which I actually think added to my enjoyment of the story and my affection for them, and just added to the overall creep factor. As others have mentioned, the ending left something to be desired. I don’t know if I would have chose a different ending per se, but it at least needed some reworking.