Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu

9 reviews

courtofsmutandstuff's review against another edition

4.0

I liked the tone/vibe - it captured that film noir feel really clearly, and I liked the investigation element driven by a social worker. I also loved the Chinese folklore and wanted more of that more explicitly detailed and expanded. It's also delightfully sapphic! 
<spoilers> The entrapment of Violet felt a little rushed, and I wanted to shake Athena for wrecking her relationship with Morgan for Violet, and then Morgan - her partner of over 5 years - dies like 2 days later and Athena doesn't really react to it! The reveal that Athena's family are also vampire hunters felt rushed and there wasn't as much detail/exploration on that as I'd like.
Definitely recommend for anyone who likes gothic stories, detective/investigative stories/film noir, or sapphic stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Transphobia

indeedithappens's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Lesbophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexism, Blood, Car accident, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Torture, and Police brutality

nella_allen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Addiction, Blood, and Death

Minor: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Deadnaming, Racism, Drug use, Cancer, and Violence

honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Transphobia, and Cursing

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Death of parent, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I’ll start with the positives for this one and say that the art style was brilliant! It was gritty and dark, which matched and enhanced the tone of the storyline. Said storyline was quick, pacey and gripping so I had no trouble getting through it. I thought the inclusion of Chinese folklore surrounding vampires was great. Finally, I liked the complexity in the MC. I was rooting for her to get to the bottom of the mystery, while at the same time frustrated at the questionable decisions she was making. 

Unfortunately there are some speed bumps here. The story was too rushed in the end and needed some more fleshing out. Emotional moments were not given their weight, and the final reveal just… happens and so didn’t feel momentous or fully explored. The ending in general felt disconnected from the rest of the story. 

Rep: sapphic Chinese-American MC, elderly Chinese-American SC, sapphic Black SC, sapphic SC, trans Chinese-American SC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Infidelity, Racism, Death of parent, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Terminal illness, Ableism, Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicide, Blood, Cancer, Gore, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Trafficking, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Moderate: loss of a loved one Minor: gentrification, the unhoused experience, one us of the homophobic f slur, one use of the lesbophobic d slur

mfrisk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I recently read the novel this graphic novel is based upon and this is a great twist on that. The original touched on themes on queerness and othering and this twist built on those themes and also talked about racism, houseless folks, addiction, and who society lets fall through the cracks. Only taking off a star as some parts felt a bit rushed and we just needed probably 10-15 more pages to delve in a bit further. Seems like this is building to a sequel so I look forward to more of this saga. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Murder, Death, and Death of parent

asiantomato's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Sexual content, Violence, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Racial slurs, Cancer, Gore, Misogyny, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Transphobia, and Blood

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I enjoyed Carmilla more because of the beautiful art than for the story. This book was luxuriously drawn and colored. I loved the imagery and the lore. Violet was a glowing beacon throughout.

The writing, however, wasn’t amazing. There wasn’t much emotion to the book. I didn’t feel anything from Athena. She seemed to be on rote for the whole book—moving from client to client, researching the case then Carmilla, lapping up Violet’s attention. And a lot of the plot threads were overly complicated. I liked Mai Tai and her scenes, and was disappointed in her lackluster death. It felt like the book lacked a beating heart—but maybe that was purposeful. I mean, a vampire’s heart does not beat. 

I am curious about where it’s going and I’ll continue it. I hope that with the next story will come more complex emotions and a better connection to Athena. She can be more than she is, I know it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Blood, Car accident, Alcohol, Death, Cancer, Medical content, Racism, Stalking, Drug use, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

motaki's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Visually stunning, I loved the diversity of the cast and the whole concept of a Carmilla retelling based on the Chinese mythology. 
Needed a better script to truly function and the fact that the MC Athena is quite unlikeable negatively affect the final result. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, and Terminal illness