Reviews

Transmutation: Stories by Alex DiFrancesco

percy_roy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

pirate_frog's review against another edition

3.5

Didn’t get much from it

reading_rainbow_with_chris's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

“Transmutations” by Alex DiFrancisesco

A young girl finds comfort in the idea of a lake witch. A vampire reflects on her own journey against that of her beloved. An eerie tape tells an unexpected story. Alex DiFrancesco’s collection of short stories rattles with queerness, both in characters and contexts, making this a collection wholly unlike anything else you might read. 

I had read a couple of these stories in isolation but never made it through the full collection. What strikes me the most about DiFrancesco’s writing is the casual way they play with sentence structure and tone, many of the pieces ringing almost casual in how they communicate to us. Yet, there’s still significant craft to that choice, shown in the way the stories build a haunting and hauntological experience, an eerie and foreboding sense that something once here is not but the presence lingers. For me personally, I did find that there were a couple of duds in the collection but overall this was a well-crafted and quick read that you can either burn through or let it burn in you. DiFrancesco’s writing will appeal to many different types of readers, but I highly recommend it for those who identify with trans and queer experiences in literature.

piikasmalls's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

emrbarber's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

trans_mediocrity's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

Some misses, some hits, the latter outweigh.

shivanisharma27's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

3.5

mothling's review

4.25

a thoroughly enjoyable collection! 

erinsbookshelves's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

katie_greenwinginmymouth's review against another edition

dark mysterious

4.0