Scan barcode
A review by lilbooktopus
Vampires of Portlandia by Jason Tanamor
1.0
I was given an ARC by Parliament House Press for an honest review. In no way has this affected my opinion of the book.
Aswangs in the US struck me as a very interesting concept. It's an intriguing way of tackling how the Filipino mythos could play in a backdrop so modern and foreign.
That said, it did not play well.
Tanamor uprooted these creatures from its motherland, threw it overseas, and left it there to die. He stripped the lore to mere warring tribes with little to no characterization at all. All this because he tried to tackle too many social issues at once -- immigration, homelessness, racism... You name it, it's probably there -- for the sake of discussing them. There was no clear goal or commentary. I know the lore of the aswang and have a good grasp of the types so I could differentiate between them, with much effort. But for those reading from outside our culture, good luck. Ironically, the author put so little effort in fleshing out the stars of his show.
Even worse, I hated how minorities were represented. Aswangs in this novel are immigrants who have made their home in Portland which is described as a sanctuary to those migrating to the US. However, they were also portrayed as predators. And I thought that was the worst until I read how they thought it was okay to kill the homeless, another minority that inhabit Portland, because they are acting as population control. As if the homeless are pests.
The plot was sent this way and that, leaps of logic at every turn. I thought infodumps were the worst exposition but I found out that glossed over infodumps were, as again and again I encountered "he told them about..."
It didn't help that there was no flourish at all to the writing, the book filled with awkward fourth wall breaks, clunky dialogues, bad humor, and repetitive description.
Tanamor focused on peddling the culture of the Philippines in bite-sized portions: big enough to recognize its origin, but too little to be appreciated for the beauty that it is.
Full review on my WordPress soon.
Aswangs in the US struck me as a very interesting concept. It's an intriguing way of tackling how the Filipino mythos could play in a backdrop so modern and foreign.
That said, it did not play well.
Tanamor uprooted these creatures from its motherland, threw it overseas, and left it there to die. He stripped the lore to mere warring tribes with little to no characterization at all. All this because he tried to tackle too many social issues at once -- immigration, homelessness, racism... You name it, it's probably there -- for the sake of discussing them. There was no clear goal or commentary. I know the lore of the aswang and have a good grasp of the types so I could differentiate between them, with much effort. But for those reading from outside our culture, good luck. Ironically, the author put so little effort in fleshing out the stars of his show.
Even worse, I hated how minorities were represented. Aswangs in this novel are immigrants who have made their home in Portland which is described as a sanctuary to those migrating to the US. However, they were also portrayed as predators. And I thought that was the worst until I read how they thought it was okay to kill the homeless, another minority that inhabit Portland, because they are acting as population control. As if the homeless are pests.
The plot was sent this way and that, leaps of logic at every turn. I thought infodumps were the worst exposition but I found out that glossed over infodumps were, as again and again I encountered "he told them about..."
It didn't help that there was no flourish at all to the writing, the book filled with awkward fourth wall breaks, clunky dialogues, bad humor, and repetitive description.
Tanamor focused on peddling the culture of the Philippines in bite-sized portions: big enough to recognize its origin, but too little to be appreciated for the beauty that it is.
Full review on my WordPress soon.