'Rabbits' by Terry Miles - Review

by Samantha Shawking

*Reposted from my Instagram.

I recently finished 'Rabbits' by Terry Miles. I'm a big fan of 'The Black Tapes' and 'Tanis' podcasts, so I had high hopes going into this book.

'Rabbits' is an eccentric thriller with a unique sense of dread. It's kind of like something in the uncanny valley: almost normal, but there's still something off that makes you uncomfortable. Also, I never thought someone could make the Mandala Effect scary. Obviously, it's a weird phenomenon, but I never expected it could freak me out.

Having said that, 'Rabbits' is extremely convoluted. I had to reread 2-3 pages at times just to make sure I understood what was happening. There are so many little moving parts to create the bigger picture that I'd advise that if you want to read this, take notes.

The narrative moves at a break-neck pace, which can be entertaining, but some of the action is repetitive (like you could probably trim 50 pages from this book) and it doesn't leave a lot of room for character development. I'm aware this is probably not the most important aspect of this novel, but I find that I connect to a book more when I feel like I really know the characters.

Despite my critiques, this book was addicting. I kept thinking about the cliffhangers and I couldn't stop reading it. The ideas and theories of the mysterious underground game called Rabbits are fascinating, conspiratorial, and perfectly creepy.

R U PLAYING?

Ps. For those that are wondering, Terry Miles confirmed that K. (the MC) is female. Yay for lgbt rep!