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macncheese_pdf's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Gun violence and Gore
aparker89's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical trauma, Grief, Outing, Mental illness, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Stalking, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Drug use, Alcohol, Death, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Death of parent, Violence, and Self harm
Minor: Religious bigotry
kalventure's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
4.5
I read this book a month ago and am still thinking about it. Night's Edge is powerfully evocative, lyrically written, and gritty with a story that you won't be able to put down.
I adored Kerin's debut novel The Phantom Forest so I was thrilled to receive an ARC to read it early for review. Thanks to the worst reading slump of my life, it took me much longer to pick this book up than intended but when I finally did Night's Edge consumed me and I devoured this book in a weekend. Normally I annotate while reading for review, but the four comments I have are basically me screaming at plot points. It's been so long since I've had this experience reading!
I adored Kerin's debut novel The Phantom Forest so I was thrilled to receive an ARC to read it early for review. Thanks to the worst reading slump of my life, it took me much longer to pick this book up than intended but when I finally did Night's Edge consumed me and I devoured this book in a weekend. Normally I annotate while reading for review, but the four comments I have are basically me screaming at plot points. It's been so long since I've had this experience reading!
"The night is starless. Clouds suffocate the moon."
The narrative is instantly gripping and sinks its teeth into you on the first page. Kerin's writing is sharp and descriptive, lyrical without feeling heavy, and the book keeps a steady pace, keeping me glued to my chair to watch the horrors unfold.
I love when books are tightly written and every scene serves a purpose, and Night's Edge is intricately plotted. It comes to a natural conclusion while leaving you ready for more in its sequel (April 2024 cannot come fast enough!).
"Sometimes it feels like she's moving backward through time. But maybe that's just me. Moving forward."
At its core, this book uses vampires as an allegory to explore codependency in families. There's so much that I could gush about Mia's relationship with Izzy, but I wanted to keep this review surface-level so you can experience it for yourself. One part that struck a cord with me is how Mia was forced to grow up too fast and now that she's an adult herself, her mother sees her as a child. How we perceive time and how that perception becomes distorted through trauma - I found my heart aching for both Mia and Izzy.
"I wonder what that's like, to know someone can't fight back. To take their silence as concession."
No good vampire tale is complete with an exploration of personal agency, control, and power - and Night's Edge is a damn good vampire story. There are many intersectionalities, which introduces a lot of nuance into an analysis. Nothing is black and white, and no person is truly good or evil - almost every character in some way has their agency taken from them.
I especially enjoyed how Kerin took the vampire mythos and made a story wholly her own. The pandemic adjacent worldbuilding paints a scene that feels all too real: our modern world overrun by a virus, only this virus is responsible for turning people into vampires. I hope that there will be more focus on the Saras in the sequel, because I feel like there's so much here to explore - especially with the ending!
"We need to believe that everyone we give our love to is a good person. But if they change... and if that change hurts us... what then? Are they still good, deep down? Because 'they weren't always like this'?"
Night's Edge deals with codependent familial relationships and may be a difficult for some so please read the content warnings to ensure that you're in the right headspace before picking it up.
Overall, Night's Edge is a powerful and raw exploration of codependency through the lens of vampires that will stay with you long after reading. It's action-packed in a cinematic way that I was able to clearly picture the book's events in my mind. It's uncomfortable to read at times but beautiful all the same.
Content Warnings: Blood & gore depiction, Child abuse, Gun violence
ARC provided by the publisher for consideration. This does not affect my opinion or the contents of my review. Quotations are from an unfinished proof and are subject to change upon final publication.
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Gun violence, and Child abuse
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 butgrimdark_dad's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
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