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lonelyghostsclub's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Blood, Violence, Torture, and Stalking
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Self harm, Kidnapping, and Body horror
Minor: Sexual assault
introverted_reads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
4.5 stars
Thank you to Harvey for sending me an ARC of their upcoming debut!
"You yearn for purpose and a future and control of your own life. You struggle and you let yourself, even blame yourself, yet you strive for greatness and are frustrated no one can truly help you ... those are not the traits of someone who knows they have eternity to do whatever they want. Cling onto that, Arlo, and never let go."
Murder! Immortality! Damnation! Blood! Listen up emos, goths, vampire enthusiasts, and angry socialists, we've got a new one. I fell in love with the world of Fallen Thorns, and the characters that Harvey Oliver Baxter has constructed. My My Chemical Romance, Creeper, and Anne Rice obsessed heart adored every page.
I'm going to nerd out a little about narrative voice right now, because I think they've done something really great. Harvey has a distinct voice as an author, and their dry wit and sense of humour cuts through the narrative. Tackling a polyvocal narrative in a debut is a bold move, but I think they've really made it work; it benefits the narrative, and serves a purpose, and it's a really interesting means of constructing an unreliable narrator; the novel is acutely aware of its unreliability, and consistently challenges the tension it creates between the two versions of narrative events.
Fallen Thorns is for the vampire lovers, but these are vampires as they haven't been seen before. Anne Rice's influence in the vampire subgenre is undoubtedly present, but this book teases traditional vampire media (shout out to the BiC pen, you had me on the floor) and offers a refreshing, contemporary take on the immortal creatures that have occupied the collective imagination for centuries.
Arlo's narrative is set against the landscape of an elite academic institution, enabling Harvey to offer an integrated commentary on issues of class and social elitism within the British university system. Arlo articulates a truth that no one really talks about: the culture shock and the encountering of the extent of the class divide, whilst at a prestigious university. It primarily focalises the class disparity across the north-south divide, but within the trend amongst "dark academia" books, it's refreshing to see a novel that doesn't just fall into complacency with the issues of class and social hierarchies within academia.
"Everyone already thinks there is something wrong with me [...] I just know. I can sense it and can't stand it."
Fallen Thorns is a distinctly character driven narrative, and each of the characters within Fallen Thorns are developed and carefully constructed. As an asexual, autistic reader, I felt a particular connection with Arlo; although not explicitly neurodivergent, I saw a lot of myself and my own experience of the world within Arlo's vocalisation of experience. The discourse that Harvey Oliver Baxter offers on asexuality is much more explicit, and much needed within media:
"... and you, Arlo, will never, ever, be alone. You are loved in so many ways and don't for one second think that because you don't want to romance that it makes you any less of a man or a human or even a goddamn being on this planet [...] You owe the world nothing. You are perfect just the way you are. Never forget that.”
Fallen Thorns is a strong debut of queer vampires, secret societies, murder, and ineffable cosmic forces. If you're a fan of vampires, If We Were Villains, silly queer characters, you can't miss this one (trust me), and the series of illustrations throughout the book mean that Harvey Oliver Baxter is truly a double threat.
Quotes taken from physical ARC provided by the author and may change in final published work.
And in response to your playlist, may I offer my humble (emo) contribution: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3cU2TmVi3znoQ7gh0aeHIe
Thank you to Harvey for sending me an ARC of their upcoming debut!
"You yearn for purpose and a future and control of your own life. You struggle and you let yourself, even blame yourself, yet you strive for greatness and are frustrated no one can truly help you ... those are not the traits of someone who knows they have eternity to do whatever they want. Cling onto that, Arlo, and never let go."
Murder! Immortality! Damnation! Blood! Listen up emos, goths, vampire enthusiasts, and angry socialists, we've got a new one. I fell in love with the world of Fallen Thorns, and the characters that Harvey Oliver Baxter has constructed. My My Chemical Romance, Creeper, and Anne Rice obsessed heart adored every page.
I'm going to nerd out a little about narrative voice right now, because I think they've done something really great. Harvey has a distinct voice as an author, and their dry wit and sense of humour cuts through the narrative. Tackling a polyvocal narrative in a debut is a bold move, but I think they've really made it work; it benefits the narrative, and serves a purpose, and it's a really interesting means of constructing an unreliable narrator; the novel is acutely aware of its unreliability, and consistently challenges the tension it creates between the two versions of narrative events.
Fallen Thorns is for the vampire lovers, but these are vampires as they haven't been seen before. Anne Rice's influence in the vampire subgenre is undoubtedly present, but this book teases traditional vampire media (shout out to the BiC pen, you had me on the floor) and offers a refreshing, contemporary take on the immortal creatures that have occupied the collective imagination for centuries.
Arlo's narrative is set against the landscape of an elite academic institution, enabling Harvey to offer an integrated commentary on issues of class and social elitism within the British university system. Arlo articulates a truth that no one really talks about: the culture shock and the encountering of the extent of the class divide, whilst at a prestigious university. It primarily focalises the class disparity across the north-south divide, but within the trend amongst "dark academia" books, it's refreshing to see a novel that doesn't just fall into complacency with the issues of class and social hierarchies within academia.
"Everyone already thinks there is something wrong with me [...] I just know. I can sense it and can't stand it."
Fallen Thorns is a distinctly character driven narrative, and each of the characters within Fallen Thorns are developed and carefully constructed. As an asexual, autistic reader, I felt a particular connection with Arlo; although not explicitly neurodivergent, I saw a lot of myself and my own experience of the world within Arlo's vocalisation of experience. The discourse that Harvey Oliver Baxter offers on asexuality is much more explicit, and much needed within media:
"... and you, Arlo, will never, ever, be alone. You are loved in so many ways and don't for one second think that because you don't want to romance that it makes you any less of a man or a human or even a goddamn being on this planet [...] You owe the world nothing. You are perfect just the way you are. Never forget that.”
Fallen Thorns is a strong debut of queer vampires, secret societies, murder, and ineffable cosmic forces. If you're a fan of vampires, If We Were Villains, silly queer characters, you can't miss this one (trust me), and the series of illustrations throughout the book mean that Harvey Oliver Baxter is truly a double threat.
Quotes taken from physical ARC provided by the author and may change in final published work.
And in response to your playlist, may I offer my humble (emo) contribution: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3cU2TmVi3znoQ7gh0aeHIe
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Mental illness, Blood, Eating disorder, Grief, Drug use, Kidnapping, Self harm, Torture, Stalking, Sexual violence, and Gore
atlastheninth's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Thanks to the author for an ARC!
There are some mild spoilers in here.
First of all the story: Great.
There’s the main story: Arlo turns into a vampire, makes new friends and a villain that tries to do them harm. Classic, cool story and lovable characters but nothing too special here.
Then there’s the secondary story that is parallel to the first (I don't know how to better describe it): something is after Arlo, trying to take over. And damn that’s cool. Now I won’t go into much detail here because the less you know the better but it is the reason Arlo is an unreliable narrator. Personally I haven’t read anything like it yet and it was so cool. A bit confusing at points but I’m into that.
Maybe also note that this is the first book in a series and there is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end.
Now the characters: Pretty much everyone is queer, love that. But most importantly our MC Arlo is aroace, which he partially figures out during the book. I could relate to him so much, it's ridiculous. Knowing you don't want any of that but believing that you should want these things, that you're broken for not feeling any of it. And forcing yourself to do things and thinking you're a bad person for /leading/ others on even though you're not doing anything wrong. And being so incredibly relieved when it finally clicks: there is nothing wrong with you and you're not alone. Yeah, that broke me a bit.
"I'm not like that. I didn't have needs. I'm just me. A little bit broken."
Lastly the writing: The more I think about it, the more impressed I am. About half way through the book I noticed that I was starting to feel a bit disconnected to Arlo and the others but this went hand in hand with the something slowly taking over Arlo. And that something does not care about the other characters. So looking back at it this was really impressive. However while I was reading it I didn't really grasp what was going on there so it felt more like the writing suddenly went a bit downhill. There were some other things that felt weirdly written but looking back were good. I don't really know what to do with that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
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