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A review by dreadthemad
Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror by Lor Gislason
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Review
🏳️⚧️Bound In Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror edited by Lor Gislason and written by various authors
★ ★ ★ . 5
I received the ecopy of this as a free advanced reader copy (ARC) off booksirens.com and it was one wild ride from start to finish! Grotesque and fascinating, each short story delves into all the horror tropes with a focus on the trans body. It was refreshing to read from the perspectives of trans characters without the story solely focusing on their transition. By far my favourites were “The Haunting of Aiden Finch” by Theo Hendrie, “Wormspace” by LC von Hessen, “Man of The House” by Lillian Boyd and “Looking for the Big Death” by Taliesin Neith.
“The Haunting of Aiden Finch” was so incredibly creepy that it made me check over my shoulder a couple of times. The suspense and building dread were really well done, would love to see more horror pieces from this author.
“Wormspace” was utterly bizarre but so interesting. It reminded me of the book Woom by Duncan Ralston with how unpredictable and alien it seemed.
“Man of The House” was the classic haunted house with a transgender twist. Not much I can say without giving things away but it was pretty satisfying.
“Looking for the Big Death” has a basic premise that has been explored before but by the halfway point it takes one hell of a turn, pretty morbid and interesting.
As a whole I found this collection to be very creative with the body horror taking on many forms. Some of the premises are cool enough to be made into entire novels of their own. One thing I was not a big fan of was how many sex scenes there were, I don’t fault any individual author for this but it seemed that most of the stories had some sort of sexual content. Sometimes these scenes happened in moments that were plain odd but i’ll give it a pass since it is the horror genre. I would love to see more lgbt+ themed horror novels and anthologies.
Disclaimer: this is a voluntary review and not a sponsorship.
🏳️⚧️Bound In Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror edited by Lor Gislason and written by various authors
★ ★ ★ . 5
I received the ecopy of this as a free advanced reader copy (ARC) off booksirens.com and it was one wild ride from start to finish! Grotesque and fascinating, each short story delves into all the horror tropes with a focus on the trans body. It was refreshing to read from the perspectives of trans characters without the story solely focusing on their transition. By far my favourites were “The Haunting of Aiden Finch” by Theo Hendrie, “Wormspace” by LC von Hessen, “Man of The House” by Lillian Boyd and “Looking for the Big Death” by Taliesin Neith.
“The Haunting of Aiden Finch” was so incredibly creepy that it made me check over my shoulder a couple of times. The suspense and building dread were really well done, would love to see more horror pieces from this author.
“Wormspace” was utterly bizarre but so interesting. It reminded me of the book Woom by Duncan Ralston with how unpredictable and alien it seemed.
“Man of The House” was the classic haunted house with a transgender twist. Not much I can say without giving things away but it was pretty satisfying.
“Looking for the Big Death” has a basic premise that has been explored before but by the halfway point it takes one hell of a turn, pretty morbid and interesting.
As a whole I found this collection to be very creative with the body horror taking on many forms. Some of the premises are cool enough to be made into entire novels of their own. One thing I was not a big fan of was how many sex scenes there were, I don’t fault any individual author for this but it seemed that most of the stories had some sort of sexual content. Sometimes these scenes happened in moments that were plain odd but i’ll give it a pass since it is the horror genre. I would love to see more lgbt+ themed horror novels and anthologies.
Disclaimer: this is a voluntary review and not a sponsorship.