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grey_jayne's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Night's Edge is really cool, set in a parallel present day where safety from vampires is a daily concern and built into the society. The narrative alternates between 2010 (where vampire events skew the timeline to different than ours) and Now. And this makes the book sci-fi, even though most of the story is as human as you can get, a lesbian coming of age story when Mia was 10 and 23. I'd love a movie, a book sequel, whatever to get more time with Mia, she's such a great character.
I do want to bring up that it's 2023 and naming voices "male" or "female" is so dated. It happens several times and really took me out of it.
I do want to bring up that it's 2023 and naming voices "male" or "female" is so dated. It happens several times and really took me out of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Self harm, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Child abuse, Blood, and Toxic relationship
jamieleepilk's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Murder, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death, Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, and Body horror
Minor: Infertility, Gun violence, Stalking, and Violence
ruthlessreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A beautiful & brutal novel, I loved this new take on the vampire trope. Mia's mother is turned into a vampire (called Saras) one night when she's 10. She spends the next 13 years helping her mother stay hidden & fed, subsuming her entire existence in a toxic death spiral. This is where our book starts.
I found this story compelling & thoughtful, a realistic imagining of toxic family relationships compounded by supernatural (& natural) threats. It uses the lens of the supernatural to focus on childhood abuse and neglect, parentification and enmeshment, showing the negative consequences of that kind of relationship and the way it can stunt the growth of everyone involved. However, it's also a deeply queer story, recounting the risks we are willing to take when we start to taste our true selves and the freedom that comes with it.
I really liked the writing and the story never felt boring or stale, despite the use of familiar tropes. The characters, especially Mia & her mom, feel very real and I found myself very wrapped up in what was happening in their world. The only thing I didn't like was that the vampires are called Saras, after the first people discovered to require blood to live, the Saratovs. I did think the history of how "Saratov Syndrome" spread throughout the world was very interesting and I was glad that was included because, otherwise, giving the vampires a different name just feels like it's trying too hard to *not* be a vampire book.
Overall, I loved the book. I highly recommend for horror fans, vampire aficionados, and anyone who wants to feel so stressed out by a book that they can't sit still (seriously, in the last 20 pages I had to set it down and pace around my house at 3:30am to get rid of some of my nervous energy). Definitely check trigger warnings, as there are a LOT of sensitive topics that I could see being incredibly difficult for someone to read.
I found this story compelling & thoughtful, a realistic imagining of toxic family relationships compounded by supernatural (& natural) threats. It uses the lens of the supernatural to focus on childhood abuse and neglect, parentification and enmeshment, showing the negative consequences of that kind of relationship and the way it can stunt the growth of everyone involved. However, it's also a deeply queer story, recounting the risks we are willing to take when we start to taste our true selves and the freedom that comes with it.
I really liked the writing and the story never felt boring or stale, despite the use of familiar tropes. The characters, especially Mia & her mom, feel very real and I found myself very wrapped up in what was happening in their world. The only thing I didn't like was that the vampires are called Saras, after the first people discovered to require blood to live, the Saratovs. I did think the history of how "Saratov Syndrome" spread throughout the world was very interesting and I was glad that was included because, otherwise, giving the vampires a different name just feels like it's trying too hard to *not* be a vampire book.
Overall, I loved the book. I highly recommend for horror fans, vampire aficionados, and anyone who wants to feel so stressed out by a book that they can't sit still (seriously, in the last 20 pages I had to set it down and pace around my house at 3:30am to get rid of some of my nervous energy). Definitely check trigger warnings, as there are a LOT of sensitive topics that I could see being incredibly difficult for someone to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Gore
Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Drug use, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Infidelity
Minor: Religious bigotry and Bullying
I want to be very clear that the depictions of child abuse and toxic family relationships are a huge part of the book. I tagged part of this in the content warnings but didn't want to spoil anything but
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