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nika_nix's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This had me hooked from the very beginning and I was very much enjoying thos unique take on a vampire story. It was great throughout most of the book and I was thinking it might be a 5 star read, but the ending lost me a bit, maybe I didn't pay attention well enough, bit I feel like it came from nowhere and while I like the way the story ends, I don't necessarily like the execution of it. But still a great read, maybe not very horror-y, but definitely twisted and makes you think. I'll probably read the sequel at some point this year, but I don't feel like it's necessary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Toxic relationship
anothergirlanotherbook's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Abandonment, Addiction, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
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
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
akdorman's review
dark
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
monsterofidaho's review
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Oh boy, this book stung my mommy issues real bad. I was not prepared for what I would be getting into with Night's Edge. While this is a 'vampire book,' Night's Edge isn't so much about vampires as it is about what they represent -- dangerous, unpredictable, manipulative individuals who seek out vulnerable people around them to feed off of in multiple ways. This is where the aforementioned mommy issues come in and, oh boy, they are intense. Night's Edge will entrance anyone interested in a truly unique rewrite of vampire lore as well as a tale of tangled familial love, but it will truly stand out to anyone who has experience a relationship like Mia and Izzy's. Honestly, I personally thought the ending was an interesting but relatable choice. I expected the story to wrap up in the cliche way these kinds of stories normally do i.e. with Izzy getting shipped politely off to a facility to 'recover' while Mia finally gets up the gumption to run off with Jade. But that isn't what happens. And Mia doesn't stay in a conflicted, highly codependent, toxic relationship with her mom either. Ultimately, Mia ends up alone and /that/ is what feels so real about it. In my opinion, people who have experience this kind of abuse often end up feeling alone even if they're surrounded by people they know and/or love. That early inability to form regular or even natural relationships with other people lasts for the rest of the foreseeable future. Go to therapy everyone! However, the bittersweet tone - to me - here is that Mia will somehow deep down always feel alone and that's just the way of things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Blood 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 butnerdyprettythings's review
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
I liked this! It was a very quick read, it's short and the tension keeps building as the past and present versions of the story unfold. The MC (Mia) in the present day reminded me a bit of Jade from My Heart is a Chainsaw. She's so lonely and just living her life is a horror story. This
should also be marked LGBT fyi! Mia gets a manic pixie dream girl gf (ironically named Jade). Mia's mom is a vampire, and since Mia's childhood has literally been sucking the life out of her. The disease is just
as much or more a family dynamics metaphor as it is an
external pressing concern. Definitely check the CWs on this, it's a really insidious toxic relationship, and being in Mia's head as she experiences every manipulation and attempt to isolate her was tough to read at times.
should also be marked LGBT fyi! Mia gets a manic pixie dream girl gf (ironically named Jade). Mia's mom is a vampire, and since Mia's childhood has literally been sucking the life out of her. The disease is just
as much or more a family dynamics metaphor as it is an
external pressing concern. Definitely check the CWs on this, it's a really insidious toxic relationship, and being in Mia's head as she experiences every manipulation and attempt to isolate her was tough to read at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Gun violence
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization
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