Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

34 reviews

crackle's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

1.75

This book was so frustrating. It checks all the boxes for things that I'm interested in (genderqueer! queers! archiving! vampires! Early 2000s nerd references!) but it was so SO disappointing. By the time I hit the first reference to AO3, I knew this book was going to be an incomprehensible mess.

I was annoyed early on at the laziness of using early 2000s nerd/forum culture similies. I am the target audience for these references but I almost DNFed immediately at the Ranma 1/2 reference. It's a continual stumbling block for the book trying to shoehorn in these references where they aren't needed and aren't funny.

Most reviewers have mentioned that the butch lesbian characters are written very bizarrely and none of their motivations, dialogue, or characterizations make any sense. 

The plot is non-existent. Anything interesting as a concept or plot point goes absolutely nowhere.

I have so many issues with this book but mainly I'm just terribly disappointed

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Death, Grief, Blood, and Car accident

uranaishi's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dysphoria, Transphobia, Medical content, Outing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcohol and Car accident

dizzymissliz's review

emotional mysterious relaxing 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? Yes

3.0

uhhhhhhm...... 
from the perspective of a cis woman i think that this was an excellent recreation of the trans experience that really helped me to understand the fluidity and development of gender. there was also some truly beautiful prose that made me go "wow." and the ending was very beautifully written. 
that being said.
the characters were barely fleshed out and felt like cardboard cutouts or characters in an educational video serving no purpose except to make Sol 3-dimensional. Else was super cute but I did not like Sol that much. Honestly I was kind of neutral about both of them but leaning negative, like, I would not like them in real life. 
The main thing that made me have a sour outlook on this book was the author's treatment of lesbians, and women in general. 
for one thing, the author (a MAN) continually uses the d- slur to describe characters, which is a slur he can't reclaim. also, lesbians are just treated very poorly and women are continually described in a way that kind of made me uncomfortable? Sol himself seems to love women sexually but doesn't like them very much otherwise which made me dislike him. I know that as a trans person there is some discomfort with your AGAB but DAYUM the author didn't have to be weird about it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Transphobia and Homophobia

Minor: Car accident and Lesbophobia

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Outing, Car accident, Blood, and Infidelity

toopunkrockforshul's review

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.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Outing, Deadnaming, Car accident, Body horror, Blood, Death, Transphobia, Medical content, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Confinement

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Incest

e_flah's review

emotional reflective slow-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

The writing and themes of Dead Collections were really moving. I absolutely loved how matter of factly queer this story was. There are characters whose queer identity is simply an element about them and then another character who explores their queerness in a way that was great to see on the page.

"We love a body slipping through time, and we cherish it as time strips parts of it away, and we feel good until it slips away from us entirely. You can give up some things that give you pleasure, if it means the ones you love can have joy."

I do wish the pacing had been a bit more consistent in Dead Collections. For such a short book, I was surprised to find that parts really dragged. The story seemed more character-driven to me than the synopsis led me to expect.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Transphobia

Minor: Car accident

_autumn_'s review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Gore, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Outing, and Medical content

Minor: Car accident and Dysphoria

middumullu's review

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Chronic illness, Medical content, Outing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

yavin_iv's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Grief, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Blood, Death, Sexual content, and Outing

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Deadnaming, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility

sylvestra's review

adventurous lighthearted 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Dysphoria, and Outing

Minor: Body shaming, Car accident, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content