A review by jarnbooks
The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume One: At the Edge of Empire by Daniel Kraus

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed reading it. It started out fast, slowed once you hit WW1, then gains speed after that. Zebulon has an interesting way of telling his own story that keeps you engaged, until he is bored; then you’re bored. The secondary characters add a lot to this book and you’ll find yourself hating most of them but all of them are in-depth and have unique interactions with Zebulon that make them memorable, even if they only show up for a couple pages. With that, its very much a who’s-who of history and that’s the only way you can figure out what year it is. And when first reading this, I thought Zebulon was a self-insert (and still think he is to an extent). Nonetheless, I’m excited to read the second book and see what happens to Zebulon next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Most of these are one-time things that happen over the course of a few pages but are extremely explicit. The most graphic was the war arc that happens during part 4. There is a ton of body horror throughout the book including dismemberment, and graphic descriptions of body decay.