Reviews with content warning for Blood - Dead Collections

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

46 reviews

imrereads's review

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

4.5

I absolutely loved this very queer, very trans story about Sol, a vampire archivist, and Elsie, a larger-than-life widow, who donated her late wife's paper. Full of great conversations on queerness, gender identity and expression, vampirism as a chronic illness, fandom, and archivism, this was just all over a great time for me. Often it also felt like a love letter of sorts to bigger bodies, queer bodies, trans bodies. I was sold from page one!

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mjwhitlock18's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

I’m not sure that I knew what I was getting into with this book, and I’m still not entirely sure where I stand on it. It is ultimately a vampire story that explores gender, sexuality, identity, fandom, and the archiving of lives and ephemera. It feels more like a true autobiography than fiction. It’s raw, tangled, and at times disjointed. This queer Jewish trans male vampire meets and has a fast burning relationships with a bisexual widow, as he is archiving her dead wife’s belongings. I’m not sure that I support the romance, as it feels not entirely healthy, but I’m also not sure if I’m supposed to as a reader. This book is light on plot, heavy on dialogue and metaphors, and mostly about relationships and people figuring their shit out. Overall, it’s spooky, queer, and weird, and if that’s your vibe, give it a shot.

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aiyam's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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hobbithopeful's review

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slow-paced

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

2.0

Transgender Vampire. What a fantastic concept, and what a TERRIBLE execution.
In hindsight I should have DNF this book, and I regret not doing that. Truly the only redeeming factor is the excellent cover. (Which this book does not deserve!)
I have three main problems with this book.

Dry Writing Style
Harmful Rhetoric
Plot? What Plot?

I read the first chapter and thought "Hmmm, some books have a rough beginning, I'm sure it will pick up." I was broken out of reading so many times while trying to slog my way through this drivel. I had to push myself to keep reading, hoping at some point the writing style would improve, the characters would suck me in, or there would be some kind of engaging writing. (I was wrong.) The closest example I could give you to what the reading style is like, is this. Imagine you are in school and you get assigned reading of your History textbook, and that textbook was written a million years ago and is incredibly outdated, dull, and overall seems to be a lesson in how long the author can drone on about a hallway. (Yes it was that bad.)
Next issue I have.
The author seems to have a personal hang up regarding Lesbians, specifically "Butch Lesbians." I don't even know to how to begin approaching this issue other then stating that Isaac Fellman (the author), has some clear personal hang-ups regarding people of that sexuality and presentation. The misogyny shines through in the writing, and in simpler terms: it gave me the ick. I could go more in depth on this and how it was represented in the book, but really it's not worth my time.
Finally
The plot? Where is it? After successfully slugging my way through this book, I couldn't even tell you what it is about. Other then of course, vampires. I'd say romance, but the utter lack of chemistry didn't even feel close to that word for me. Narratively speaking Fellman often transitioned to a show that Sol really enjoyed, and truly it was not a needed addition.
Overall, save your time, read a different book. (For searchers of Transgender/Monster symbolism I recommend Hell Followed With Us, an excellent read)

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dananana's review

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emotional hopeful reflective

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

i absolutely loved loved loved this 💙🤍💖

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solspringsreads's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

3.25

I have really complicated feelings about this book. I spent a large portion of my time reading this book just sending my friend live texts trying to figure out how I felt and why I felt it—there’s a lot of gender discussion that made me feel not great, though it was clearly reflective of the author’s own relationship with gender and sexuality and didn’t seem to come from a place of intentionally triggering intense dysphoria in potential readers (AKA it’s not ~~necessarily~~ the book, it’s me)—and very little time just… enjoying the book.
Even so, the actual plot of this book is pretty interesting. It somehow manages to be exactly as advertised (vampire archivist!) and not at all what is advertised and then also more than what is advertised. The relationship between the main characters burns incredibly fast and is very intense, and like many other readers, I’m not sure I really… liked the main relationship. Not that I’m even sure that I’m supposed to? It’s complicated.
This is a book about very messy, flawed people trying to work through their chaos together. It’s not trying to be healthy or idealized, and that’s pretty great! We deserve to have messy queer characters figuring out who they are. I really appreciated what this book was doing thematically, even if the execution wasn’t my favorite. This book can also be very emotionally taxing if you, too, are a messy, flawed person trying to work through your chaos. Please check the trigger warnings before picking this one up.

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bookishvicky's review

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emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

I went into this expecting a campy vampire romance in an archival setting and instead got a beautiful metaphor about bodies and memory and connection and otherness. While I’m certainly not one to say I understand Sol’s plight (as a cis bi woman who is unfortunately not a vampire), I feel as though I was reading someone’s memoir instead of fiction, and felt connected to the inclusion of early slasher fics and what they meant in the grand scheme of fandom and author identity, how we use these stories to better understand our own. It made me feel very human, and more aware of myself. Truly an amazing read—one of those rare books that’ll make you feel just so, so deeply. Beautiful prose, wonderful experimental formatting, and a gorgeous cover to boot.

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indeed_distract's review

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funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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abigailbat's review

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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

This is a sweet, hot gender-bending paranormal romance about a trans male vampire archivist who falls for a bisexual widow donating her late wife's papers to the archive. Sol has been a vampire for five years and is still trying to navigate this new world, but it's not easy and feels very scary. Adrift without a vampire support community, he ends up living in his office at the archives until his colleagues find out and he's forced to figure something else out. I loved the exploration of this world and the questioning and exploration of gender that happens in the book at the same time. Sol + Else forever!

Content Warnings

readingundertheradar's review

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dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

A love story amid grief and sadness and exploration of self. I loved Sol's growth throughout the book and his recognition that maybe he wasn't dealing with his circumstances in the best way. His relationship with Else seemed, from the outside, a bit toxic at times, but they seemed to be helping each other work through their own grief, which I also thought was incredibly realistic.

CW: transphobia & confrontations about it with a coworker, blood & some body horror (scene where Sol drinks blood from human), in-depth discussions of transitioning and if it was right for a character

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