Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - Dead Collections

As a vampire fan I loved it, the lore was really interesting, and as an archivist I loved it, it was like a love letter to the job. And as a transmasc Jew in fandom I loved it because it felt like being seen.

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suzyreadsbooks's review

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

interesting premise, and parts of this were really nice & fun.
I’m glad i kept reading bc the second half seemed to have a much clearer point and the pacing was a lot better. the t4t romance was a highlight. the points being made about main themes like exploration of gender identity, vampirism as disability, etc. were not at all subtle but i think mostly worked well.

tbh i didn’t really care about the fanfic parts, at least partially bc the fictional tv show didn’t seem very interesting to me. but the focus on that seemed to fade away as the book went on.

i didn’t love how the writing style changed throughout, which was intended to reflect archiving of events but seemed like the author was just trying things out and seeing what stuck. however, i listened to this on audio, and those parts might have worked better w physical book though.

i also really struggled w how most of the characters seemed like outlines of people. also multiple butch women had the primary character trait of backwards beliefs about trans people??

idk lol i kinda wish this book had gone through some more drafts?

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middumullu's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

paper copy. i was really interested in the premise of it. i liked the exploration of fandom a lot and thought that was fun. also was interested in the ways that the characters explored and played with gender. again the analogies were not subtle but they still were solid.

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elliotvanz's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-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

Wow. This cut close to the quick for me.

If you're looking for slick supernatural vampires doing slick supernatural vampire things that's not what this book is interested in. This one is more literary and interested in considering what vampirism might look like if it was more like an illness. I for one found it fascinating, and I was glad I went into it with very little foreknowledge nor expectations. This is a meditative and broody book, not an adventure yarn.

This story reads a bit like a noir, especially with the snappy dialogue, but there isn't really a mystery to solve in any traditional sense. It's much more of a romance than anything else, though the style and structure are not what I would call romantic. It's peppered with alternate styles of writing, like message board posts, articles, emails, and text threads, just like the archives that are so central to the story and the main character. The writing is crisp and evocative, descriptive without ever becoming flowery. The pace clips along. The real focus, though, is on character and how it feels to walk through life when you're different and the world isn't made for you, especially when you feel hollowed out and stuck. You could replace vampirism with any host of disabilities and the story remains intact.

So much of this book is about trans identity (especially trans masculine and genderfluid), disability, discrimination, being nocturnal, being in love, watching an old life and the things you cared about decay, and trying to build something new when you're scared and don't know if you can. It's about taking chances, some you should and some you shouldn't. It's about figuring out who you are and who you want to be. It's also about archives and what we leave behind. And yeah, I guess it's also about vampires.

I'm glad I took a chance on this one when the author's debut was so lukewarm for me. I look forward to future offerings.

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