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aubreyhi's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really liked this exploration of emotional abuse from a parent using a vampire metaphor. It’s very difficult and triggering, and also a visceral way to imagine this sort of abuse. Thoughtful and deep.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Physical abuse, Addiction, and Panic attacks/disorders
Definitely emotional abuse from a parent.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
enchantressreads's review
challenging
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
“Every night, the darkness devours another piece of her. I have no way of knowing how much is left. “
Mia is just 10 years old when she finds her mom’s lifeless body. And Mia is 10 years old when she feeds her mother blood for the first time.
Night’s Edge is not your typical vampire story. In this book, Kerin took some inspiration from the Covid Pandemic to create something horrifying. It’s been years since Saratov Syndrome began, and there are plenty of precautions in place to make sure people are safe. But Mia is far from living a normal life. She still feeds her mother from her veins.
It’s not only horrifying, but it’s sad. This book will hit hard with all femmes, but especially those with strained mother-daughter/child relationships. For every child who had to grow up too fast. For every child who became the parent. It hits very close to home.
It’s also gay, which I loved. I’m glad queers can exist freely even among deadly vampires.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the chance to read this advanced review copy.
CW: blood, HP reference, death, child/emotional abuse, abandonment, panic attacks, murder, gun violence, addiction
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Physical abuse, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Harry Potter referenceruthlessreads'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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