Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Dead Collections

I have mixed feelings on this one. There were moments that took my breath away; there is such a gentle, tender but unflinching portrayal of a trans masc vampire and nonbinary love interest and some of the moments these two considered their gender and identity just took my breath away in how deeply I felt: same. This novel feels like a deeply personal experience, like looking into someone’s mind, it feels like you are glimpsing the author’s trans experience, from the way they explore butchness, to the way lesbian and trans masc identities can be so entwined, to the workplace discrimination. It feels very intimate.

I thought it raised some very interesting ideas around vampirism, death and archiving. But this is unfortunately where it began to let me down because it was all just rather…shall we say it, boring? Trying to be philosophical but just losing the engagement along the way?

So I have mixed thoughts and ultimately I am settling somewhere on a mixed rating. Because whilst there are some moments of real, deep familiarity and connection, there is also a lot to swim through to reach those moments.

Content warnings: transphobia, blood, needles and other medical content, dysphoria, disability discrimination in the workplace, graphic sex, deadnaming, outing (in the workplace), vampirism as chronic illness, car accident, suicidal ideation

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lunacurlypaws's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

5.0

A beautiful book! I'm very glad I read it, even if it made me cry for many reasons.

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lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective 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

5.0

Genuine addition to the vampire canon. I really really liked reading this book.

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toopunkrockforshul's review

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challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

DEAD COLLECTIONS is an exploration of memories and identity via a Jewish trans vampire living in his office as an archivist, falling in love with a widow who drops off a collection for the archive.

I love this book. The explorations of gender and identity follow a general template that feels meant to open the door for the reader to ask themselves questions, while also being deeply specific to the characters (a trans man who’s also Jewish and a vampire, a person who begins the story identifying as a bisexual woman) and the setting (USA, circa 2018). The romance is intimate and erotic, with an intensity which comes from two people exploring themselves as much as they're getting closer to each other.

This feels so wonderfully believable and specific in every little detail, from the attempt at safety which led to Sol living at work, to the messiness of Elsie exploring new love as she deals with the stuff left behind after her wife’s passing. Sol and Else talking, laughing, and fucking, with the background issue of Sol dealing with things at work.

The worldbuilding is subtle and minimalistic, basically modern times but where vampires exist and are known to medical science. It grounds itself in a time and a place (but with vampires) and then doesn't try to explain what the place means, but lets itself just exist.

The audiobook narrator is great. There’s a bit a little past halfway through involving several people’s emails back and forth, and it’s a pretty serious moment, but there’s a memetic quality to the way the narrator reads it. If you like audiobooks then definitely give this one a shot, as their performance works so well with the story and the characters.

I love this so much, it's a fantastic premise, well executed, and the whole thing is just so perfect.

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katiewhocanread's review

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

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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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yavin_iv's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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