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gabefish's review
- 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
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence, Chronic illness, Outing, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
Minor: Deadnaming and Transphobia
rockyroadbutch's review
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Grief, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, and Body horror
uranaishi's review
- 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
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
toopunkrockforshul's review
- 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
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
elliotvanz's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Chronic illness, Ableism, and Blood
Moderate: Medical content, Outing, Terminal illness, Grief, Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, and Dysphoria
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Deadnaming, and Infertility