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mikkitooloud's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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? No
5.0
I was first introduced to Margaret Killjoy on the "Behind the Bastards" podcast, but I hadn't read any of her books until now. This is fantastic! It's a really quick read, it took me maybe 3 hours. There's communism, body horror and shitty men! Ms. Killjoy excels in painting the scene with words; I really felt like I could see Freedom, Iowa.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Suicide, Gun violence, Gore, and Death
Minor: Police brutality, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
softbitten's review
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Animal death
Moderate: Blood, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Minor: Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Vomit, and Rape
owenblacker's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
First in a Tor.com collection of 4 queer-authored novellas published for Pride 2018, The Lamb will Slaughter the Lion is a punk fantasy. Alex Brown summarises the tone well in their Tor.com piece Anti-Doorstoppers: 10 Great SFF Novellas and Novelettes: “The story is part rural fantasy, part dark fantasy, and part horror. Think Supernatural but darker and queerer.”
Travelling to the anarchist utopian squatter-community of Freedom, Iowa, to find out why her old friend ran away from his found-family and the home that made him settle down from the road in order to kill himself in a motel room, squatter/nomad Danielle discovers an “eternal spirit” in the form of a blood-red, three-antlered deer is… “protecting”… the community.
With an author who is herself a transfeminine nomad, a queer protagonist and prominent trans secondary characters and characters of colour in the found-family, the story is effortlessly diverse and the setting itself is really interesting: the ancom utopia sounds lovely — but broken, inevitably, otherwise the community wouldn’t have needed to summon their protector, and with it the cost. But this isn’t just a what-happened-next; as KJ Charles puts it:
This is on one level a tense horror novel, where forces of the State and society and male violence are as much a sinister and pervasive threat as the heart-eating magic deer. But, as that suggests, it’s also a meditation on things like society, what anarchism means, how societies enforce rules and what it means to do so and who takes enforcement roles on themselves. How do we keep ourselves decent without a prospect of punishment for those who transgress? Who makes those calls?
And, as Killjoy put it in the book, “the revolution is about taking power away from the oppressors, not becoming them ourselves”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide and Rape
CN: mention of suicide, mention of rape, animal death, death of a loved one, abuse, violence, gore, state violencelaurareads87's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion is a short read with a plot that moves quickly: I read it pretty much in a single sitting. I will absolutely read the next book in the series.
I am always going to appreciate really explicitly anarchist fiction; some of the punk references felt a little forced here and a little cliché there, but mostly I found them more enjoyable than not. For anarchists there are many dynamics that will feel familiar here -- the attempts to mediate disputes and make decisions by consensus, really really free markets, etc. The cast of characters is diverse, and the points of conflict -- which are really a sort of discussion on strategy and tactics -- are for the most part well developed despite the novella's short length. Inevitably with the constraints of a novella some elements that could've been developed further are left vague; here, it's the general sociopolitical context outside the main setting that the reader learns very little about, as well as most of the characters' backstories. I really appreciate Danielle as a protagonist, though, and look forward to following her - and hopefully learning more about some of the other characters - in the second book.
I am always going to appreciate really explicitly anarchist fiction; some of the punk references felt a little forced here and a little cliché there, but mostly I found them more enjoyable than not. For anarchists there are many dynamics that will feel familiar here -- the attempts to mediate disputes and make decisions by consensus, really really free markets, etc. The cast of characters is diverse, and the points of conflict -- which are really a sort of discussion on strategy and tactics -- are for the most part well developed despite the novella's short length. Inevitably with the constraints of a novella some elements that could've been developed further are left vague; here, it's the general sociopolitical context outside the main setting that the reader learns very little about, as well as most of the characters' backstories. I really appreciate Danielle as a protagonist, though, and look forward to following her - and hopefully learning more about some of the other characters - in the second book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Suicide, and Death
Minor: Rape, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse
loki's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book is about a commune haunted by a demon. It fucks.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Police brutality, Death, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape
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