Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu

13 reviews

dogoodwithbooks's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

Not the greatest reimagining or retelling I’ve ever read, but it wasn’t bad. I think the initial concept was interesting, especially with the Chinese mythology infused into the plot. I also appreciated the effort Chu does to highlight various social issues that were impacting people during that time period. 

However, it wasn’t as consistent with Le Fanu’s Carmilla, the source of this reimagining. I felt like at times it was mainly there as a prop for the characters in the story rather than trying to incorporate some of the elements of Le Fanu’s Carmilla into the story. It does get better by the second half of the book in terms of consistency with the source material, but I honestly think it could have been fine as its own story rather than a retelling/reimagining.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Deadnaming, and Racism

grayreadsmanga's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Transphobia includes misgendering

millennialp1nk's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Car accident

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

yippers's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Death of parent

indeedithappens's review

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: Toxic relationship and Violence

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

sucreslibrary's review

2.0

interesting idea, rushed and sloppy execution. important events happen in the blink of an eye and there's not much weight to anything. i had to go back and check pages to make sure I hadn't skipped over anything, but I never had, the pacing was just that poorly done. there's a lot of decisions and conversations that happen off-page which really adds to the rushed feeling. once the family's backstory is revealed things really start to fall apart story-wise, but it's not like there was a lot going on before it. a disappointing read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia

honeybeewitched87's review

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

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

poisoned_icecream's review

dark reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Racism

Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia

library_goth's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-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

Moderate: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Transphobia, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

emily_mh's review

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

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

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