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ada_rosales's review
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
batbaby's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I devoured the first half of this book in one sitting with thunderstorm sounds and gothic classical music in the background and it really matched the vibe.We follow a vampire for a few decades and watch how the city of Buenos Ares grows and changes in that time. I loved how dark the story felt and anytime you might be foolish enough to think the vampire had changed and maybe had a bit of humanity she’d prove to you the monster she was. There’s a point where the vampire doesn’t know how much time has passed and the chapter doesn’t have a number, I thought that was really clever.
The second half was a little harder for me to get into at first but I still really enjoyed it. We follow a main character who is continually grieving as her mother slowly succumbs to a degenerative disease. She becomes obsessed with things and ideas maybe in a way to distract herself from what’s really going on. She spends a long time considering and worrying about a Pandora’s box that her mother tells her not to open and her need to rebel against that. My only complaint is I that I wish the ending wasn’t so opened ended and we got a tiny bit more maybe even a page. I just don’t understand how she could abandon Santiago like that when the majority of the book we see how infatuated she is with him.
This book looks at the complexities of identity and humanity when facing death and grief.
#ad I received this book for free as an arc but the opinions are entirely my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
inlaraland's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
In "Thirst", the author has you walking the line between life and death with our two main characters in this story. The parallels between their emotions and experiences makes this novel an emotional read. Set across two different time periods, the story follows a vampire from Europe who just arrived to Buenos Aries and a woman in modern times struggling to come to terms with her mother's terminal illness.
Our characters are connected through time, events and experiences. A monster and human mirroring one another either through their connections or finding their opposing traits in each other. This story touches on themes of identity, isolation, sensuality, motherhood, grief, hunger and mortality. Death is pretty symbolic in all aspects of this work, where life is either taken through our vampire or naturally lost through our human's eyes. The setting is also pivotal at not only showcasing the passage of time, but also at reinforcing what is lost and will be lost in the present.
This is a vampire story that is beautifully written and absolutely heartbreaking. I particularly enjoyed the overall mood of this work as the ambience was tense throughout the story. I thought part one was excellent, but I did feel like part two had a slower build up. Towards the end I was just sad and it was quite unexpected. The novel itself is surprisingly touching, and as far as vampire books go, this one is fantastic.
I recommend this to readers who love vampire literature, gothic horror and historical fiction.
Our characters are connected through time, events and experiences. A monster and human mirroring one another either through their connections or finding their opposing traits in each other. This story touches on themes of identity, isolation, sensuality, motherhood, grief, hunger and mortality. Death is pretty symbolic in all aspects of this work, where life is either taken through our vampire or naturally lost through our human's eyes. The setting is also pivotal at not only showcasing the passage of time, but also at reinforcing what is lost and will be lost in the present.
This is a vampire story that is beautifully written and absolutely heartbreaking. I particularly enjoyed the overall mood of this work as the ambience was tense throughout the story. I thought part one was excellent, but I did feel like part two had a slower build up. Towards the end I was just sad and it was quite unexpected. The novel itself is surprisingly touching, and as far as vampire books go, this one is fantastic.
I recommend this to readers who love vampire literature, gothic horror and historical fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood
madison_mls's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was an interesting read. Obviously the more interesting storyline was the vampire’s PoV but while the human’s PoV may have lulled in some places I do feel like the monotony was intentional and used well. It really added to the depressive tone of that section of the story. The ending was a little unexpected but still all in all I really enjoyed it! If you’ve read A Dowry of Blood then you’ll probably like this as well!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder
lexcellent's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, and Death of parent
rheagoveas's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Blood
jamieleepilk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Sexual content
readingpicnic's review against another edition
3.75
Erotic, but also deeply sad. The dreary, crumbling cemetery setting of most of the novel works so well towards creating a bleak atmosphere. This book wasn't the sapphic romance I initially thought it would be. It centers more on persecution and murder in an ever-changing and unfamiliar world in the vampire's case, and being a single mom and drifting away from everyone while grieving her ever-ailing elderly mother in Alma's case. I do think I preferred the vampire's chapters over the latter half of the book and found them more interesting; Alma's chapters dragged for me at times and it didn't feel like much was happening.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Abandonment and Sexual harassment
jg34's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
I think it is safe to classify this as a certified ~weird girl~ book. More of a stream of consciousness situation.
Although the word is never used, this book is about a vampire. We follow her life as she tries to survive across many countries and centuries battling her thirst. There is sex, murder, plagues - what more could you want??
In seriousness this was a pretty good book. I admit it took me a long time to get through it because it wasn’t very exciting and I didn’t yearn to come back to it after putting it down. It was INTERESTING, but not ENTERTAINING if that makes sense? Glad I read it, it was a cool story, will probably never pick it up again.
Anyway if you are in your sad/weird girl era definitely add this to your list. I can’t say much about the plot but the vibes were great.
Although the word is never used, this book is about a vampire. We follow her life as she tries to survive across many countries and centuries battling her thirst. There is sex, murder, plagues - what more could you want??
In seriousness this was a pretty good book. I admit it took me a long time to get through it because it wasn’t very exciting and I didn’t yearn to come back to it after putting it down. It was INTERESTING, but not ENTERTAINING if that makes sense? Glad I read it, it was a cool story, will probably never pick it up again.
Anyway if you are in your sad/weird girl era definitely add this to your list. I can’t say much about the plot but the vibes were great.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder
Minor: Kidnapping
BEING BURIED ALIVEkaiyakaiyo's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
the split pov is pretty disjointed, and the first half felt like it could have been its own book. hundreds of years covered in 100 or so pages was… a choice. Alma’s(?) half is simultaneously more rushed feeling and more of a drag in comparison; we read about her cleaning her floor and going to vividly described bars for nearly half of her story, then she just ups and leaves her son for a sapphic vampire existence… the blood drinking scenes were wonderful, and the writing is nice on the eyes, but the narrative itself was so sparse it bordered on incomplete
this is also the first time I’ve been bored by vampire women, I honestly didn’t know that was possible for me
this is also the first time I’ve been bored by vampire women, I honestly didn’t know that was possible for me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Child abuse and Child death