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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slow burn but i really enjoyed the characters and a good payoff from the slow build up.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”
“it wasn’t us, it would have been another regiment,” I said, calmer again. “You can’t stop a country from happening, Good Stab.” “But we were already a nation,” he said up to me. “We didn’t ask you to come.”
This is my first time reading one of Stephen Graham Jones' books, and I can assure you it won't be the last! What a first impression.
After watching Sinners, I was craving more vampire stories rooted in historical fiction, but with a non-white main character, and this book is precisely that.
The different POVs gave so many more nuances to the story, making it richer and compelling. I loved the characters and the ambiance.
I would have enjoyed it more if it had jumped between the present and the diary story more frequently.
“it wasn’t us, it would have been another regiment,” I said, calmer again. “You can’t stop a country from happening, Good Stab.” “But we were already a nation,” he said up to me. “We didn’t ask you to come.”
This is my first time reading one of Stephen Graham Jones' books, and I can assure you it won't be the last! What a first impression.
After watching Sinners, I was craving more vampire stories rooted in historical fiction, but with a non-white main character, and this book is precisely that.
The different POVs gave so many more nuances to the story, making it richer and compelling. I loved the characters and the ambiance.
I would have enjoyed it more if it had jumped between the present and the diary story more frequently.
Just not in the right mood. It is well written.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The buildup in this book is peak horror writing. Jones establishes the rules of his vampire in a grotesque logic that feeds into plot and theme. The frame story structure is gripping; his writing captures the tone of each character with incredible prose.
It's so close to being great, however the first ending is too reliant on a minor twist that didn't properly build its stakes. It's also indulgent in the gore in a way that felt too exaggerated but forgivable. But the second ending in the contemporary world was a real mess that deflated the story for me.
--- Minor Spoilers ---
Aside from character and plot unspooling that makes the ending a slog, the thematic implications are very strange. And maybe that's just because I'm pursuing a career in archival history, but I just don't like this idea of killing the past and destroying the legacy of sins and absolution of the country's past that we've inherited. Written confessions are repeatedly destroyed, why? Is this supposed to ask who gets to memorialize the past? I can agree with the question of framing, indigenous communities versus perpetrators. But this book is asking its characters to kill the past, quite literally in this book about vampiric immortality. And on top of all this, I just think it's way too obvious a metaphor to use your father's ashes to kill your grandfather's journal.
-------
Despite my complaints about the ending, I still think this is worth the read. The highly skilled craft of its construction is worth studying for writers and fun for readers.
It's so close to being great, however the first ending is too reliant on a minor twist that didn't properly build its stakes. It's also indulgent in the gore in a way that felt too exaggerated but forgivable. But the second ending in the contemporary world was a real mess that deflated the story for me.
--- Minor Spoilers ---
Aside from character and plot unspooling that makes the ending a slog, the thematic implications are very strange. And maybe that's just because I'm pursuing a career in archival history, but I just don't like this idea of killing the past and destroying the legacy of sins and absolution of the country's past that we've inherited. Written confessions are repeatedly destroyed, why? Is this supposed to ask who gets to memorialize the past? I can agree with the question of framing, indigenous communities versus perpetrators. But this book is asking its characters to kill the past, quite literally in this book about vampiric immortality. And on top of all this, I just think it's way too obvious a metaphor to use your father's ashes to kill your grandfather's journal.
-------
Despite my complaints about the ending, I still think this is worth the read. The highly skilled craft of its construction is worth studying for writers and fun for readers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Scary and so so sad. I thought it was a very interesting take on vampires and enjoyed getting to exist in the head of a character like Good Stab
Took me a while to really get invested in this, and I think I might already struggle to pinpoint as many details from the middle of the book (probably slightly a me issue, I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump). From about the 60~% mark though… I feel like I flew through it. Throughout, I liked what SGJ did with the mythos around vampires and he does an incredible job giving each narrator their own distinctive voice.
I’m not sure how I feel about the ending yet…I suppose it makes sense that he’d turn Arthur and force his physical transformation, but I’m still working on the logic of bringing Arthur to his great x3 grandchild to destroy him?
I’m not sure how I feel about the ending yet…
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes