Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

47 reviews

elxla's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

As a queer archivist, I had really high hopes for this book! It was written well, and I enjoyed the various epistle episodes and in world interludes. unfortunately, I struggled with the vampirism metaphor and like many of the reviewers, felt that the exploration of gender and sexuality was difficult to navigate (and leaned into stereotypes and vague lesphobia and transphobia). I wish the pacing had been a little more consistent- much of the book felt rushed, but all in separate ways. Fellman presents a very melancholic view of the archives. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Blood

catch__up's review

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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Transphobia, Grief, Car accident, and Outing

Minor: Bullying, Deadnaming, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, and Alcohol

dearvillains's review

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Ableism, Deadnaming, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

thecolouryes's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring 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

This was a fantastic book. It took me much longer to read than I expected; not because the plot is slow, exactly, things happen at a decent pace, but because there was a lot of content to chew on. It's ultimately a book about identity and choosing to live as opposed to just not being dead. The vampirism is a metaphor, but not in the way you think. (It's a metaphor. It's always a metaphor, even if the creator didn't intend it as a metaphor.) 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Transphobia, Blood, Outing, and Dysphoria

Minor: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, and Lesbophobia

gabefish's review

dark funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Using vampirism and fandom as a lens to view queer, trans, and disabled bodies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Violence, Blood, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Deadnaming and Transphobia

amy_reading_23's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is an interesting one, and it definitley got me thinking. It doesn't have much of a plot but is more like a slice of life. Its about a trans vampire archivist falling in love with another queer person whilst also working through depression and questioning the liminality between life and death.

It reads more like experimental literary fiction than fantasy - the vampirism is used as a metaphor for chronic illness, living in a trans body, and being othered. If you are questioning your gender or identity then there are definitley bits of this books that can feel quite affirming. Overall it is quite a challenging book though, I wouldn't read it just for fun, but there were elements I liked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

pobi's review

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

A very good book, but a bit too sad and existential (and romancey) for my taste tbh. I liked the way it played with form, and it's nice to read a book about trans masc people!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Blood, Car accident, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, and Dysphoria

dustghosts's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Outing, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Medical trauma

Minor: Deadnaming and Car accident

necroplasm's review

dark 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

3.5

another unfortunate victim of the "book recommended to me by a tiktok that pitched it as something completely different from what it actually is which causes me to not like it as much because it's just so not what i was expecting" curse, though thankfully not the most egregious example bc i did still enjoy the book! dark academia it was not, but it did have some interesting musings on gender and a neat take on vampires that i haven't really seen anything similar to before, also probably serving as a metaphor for several things, most of which probably went over my head. also the first book i've ever read that revolves around fanfic/fandom in such a prominent and  genuinely sincere way, which was also quite neat to me! hearing ao3 get mentioned in a real published work nearly made me do a spit take but i still had fun :]

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Grief, and Outing

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, and Car accident

Minor: Deadnaming and Pregnancy

eegekay's review

emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Dysphoria