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brightbeautifulthings's review
4.0
Flash Book Review: A blend of Greek & Norse mythology, a body count, and a wlw romance. You had me at eat them alive.
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There are mild spoilers ahead for the Deadgirl series. Daphne has always had a link to Fate; she can tell when someone near her is going to die soon and how it will happen, but she’s forbidden to interfere. When she finally comes into her full power, transforming into a near-indestructible creature that is part woman, part bird, and part Valkyrie, her mother and sisters whisk her across the country before the organization that has been hunting their kind for centuries can discover her. Plagued by hunters and guilt, Daphne has to find a way to control the monster inside her or be at its mercy forever. Trigger warnings: death, gore, body horror, eye horror, violence, guns, severe injury, homophobia, slurs.
I rarely find extra content such as novellas or short stories in a series as compelling as the actual series, if it’s even relevant at all. However, Daphne is an exception to the rule, and I might even love it a bit more than the Deadgirl series; it’s just so much my kind of book. Additionally, I don’t think it’s strictly necessary to read the rest of the series to understand what’s going on here, so if you need a violent, lesbian harpy in your life (as I apparently did), then I strongly suggest picking this up.
There are so many things I like about this novella, beginning with the mythology. The Keres are one of the more interesting aspects of the Deadgirl world-building, and Johnson is able to fully explore it here. They’re a fascinating mix of Norse and Greek mythology (with actual Greek characters) that I’ve never seen anywhere else. They’re fierce, remorseless, and utterly terrifying, and there’s no small amount of carnage every time Daphne is forced into her monster form to feed or defend herself. The Deadgirl series has never been afraid of being dark, and this is no exception. It’s not for readers with weak stomachs.
Daphne is awesome. She’s always reminded me of a gleeful, female Mad Hatter with her bright hair and outrageous outfits. She’s scraped down to bare essentials in this novella, until there’s little left of her but grit and blue hair. Her character development is top notch while she struggles to come to terms with being a part-time monster, and there are strong themes of self-acceptance and self-understanding (along with heaps of sass because it’s Daphne–yas queen). There’s also a super cute wlw romance (and I maintain that romances can still be cute even when there’s a body count). Johnson mercifully refrains from letting the romance solve any problems, which isn’t surprising based on the track record for romances in the Deadgirl books, but both girls bring out interesting aspects of the other’s character. (There is a scene with some homophobia/slurs that made me want to punch an ignorant bigot, so if that’s triggering for you, abort.)
If the novella is missing anything, it’s a sense of closure. While most of the plot wraps up, it leaves off on a fast and furious cliffhanger for the next Deadgirl book. It’s possibly the one aspect that makes it difficult to stand alone from the rest of the series (though, truthfully, I’m not sure it’s meant to). The novella raises some interesting questions about Daphne’s abilities, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that develops in the final book, along with seeing more of Daphne’s new love interest. TL;DR: More people should be reading this, and I’d eat a man in giant bird form for a pretty paperback copy to go with the rest of my series.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
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There are mild spoilers ahead for the Deadgirl series. Daphne has always had a link to Fate; she can tell when someone near her is going to die soon and how it will happen, but she’s forbidden to interfere. When she finally comes into her full power, transforming into a near-indestructible creature that is part woman, part bird, and part Valkyrie, her mother and sisters whisk her across the country before the organization that has been hunting their kind for centuries can discover her. Plagued by hunters and guilt, Daphne has to find a way to control the monster inside her or be at its mercy forever. Trigger warnings: death, gore, body horror, eye horror, violence, guns, severe injury, homophobia, slurs.
I rarely find extra content such as novellas or short stories in a series as compelling as the actual series, if it’s even relevant at all. However, Daphne is an exception to the rule, and I might even love it a bit more than the Deadgirl series; it’s just so much my kind of book. Additionally, I don’t think it’s strictly necessary to read the rest of the series to understand what’s going on here, so if you need a violent, lesbian harpy in your life (as I apparently did), then I strongly suggest picking this up.
There are so many things I like about this novella, beginning with the mythology. The Keres are one of the more interesting aspects of the Deadgirl world-building, and Johnson is able to fully explore it here. They’re a fascinating mix of Norse and Greek mythology (with actual Greek characters) that I’ve never seen anywhere else. They’re fierce, remorseless, and utterly terrifying, and there’s no small amount of carnage every time Daphne is forced into her monster form to feed or defend herself. The Deadgirl series has never been afraid of being dark, and this is no exception. It’s not for readers with weak stomachs.
Daphne is awesome. She’s always reminded me of a gleeful, female Mad Hatter with her bright hair and outrageous outfits. She’s scraped down to bare essentials in this novella, until there’s little left of her but grit and blue hair. Her character development is top notch while she struggles to come to terms with being a part-time monster, and there are strong themes of self-acceptance and self-understanding (along with heaps of sass because it’s Daphne–yas queen). There’s also a super cute wlw romance (and I maintain that romances can still be cute even when there’s a body count). Johnson mercifully refrains from letting the romance solve any problems, which isn’t surprising based on the track record for romances in the Deadgirl books, but both girls bring out interesting aspects of the other’s character. (There is a scene with some homophobia/slurs that made me want to punch an ignorant bigot, so if that’s triggering for you, abort.)
If the novella is missing anything, it’s a sense of closure. While most of the plot wraps up, it leaves off on a fast and furious cliffhanger for the next Deadgirl book. It’s possibly the one aspect that makes it difficult to stand alone from the rest of the series (though, truthfully, I’m not sure it’s meant to). The novella raises some interesting questions about Daphne’s abilities, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that develops in the final book, along with seeing more of Daphne’s new love interest. TL;DR: More people should be reading this, and I’d eat a man in giant bird form for a pretty paperback copy to go with the rest of my series.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
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