A review by ghostlydreamer
Peepland by Christa Faust

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a book thar's been on my radar for a couple years now, really ever since I read the graphic novel adaptations of the Millennium trilogy and saw this advertised on the back of every issue. First, it was the cover that intrigued me. I mean, this girl, whoever she was, looks like a badass. I immediately wanted to know who she was. The art style looked really cool too, and I loved the colors and the imagery used. And then I looked up the premise and thought, "Well this sounds interesting." A bit different from the other things I've read, with some punk rockers that might be right up my alley. But for whatever reason, I never got the book. Until now.

Unfortunately, even with mild expectations, this one fell just a little bit too flat for me.

• So I really liked Roxy as a character. Not just in terms of appearance either. She was unapologetic about who she is, and she's got the backs of the other girls she works with. We get a hint that there's a lot more to her story, especially regarding her ex-boyfriend Nick and some other girl. The problem is...I feel like we barely spent any time with her. Certainly not enough to get the best feel for who she is. That, I think, was the biggest letdown of this book. There were just so many characters, and I feel like we didn't spend enough time with the ones who mattered, or the ones who we expected to spend the most time with, for that matter.

• Along those same lines, there was a lot happening in this book. Almost...too much. It had a lot of really great things going for it in terms of plot and character development, but we spent too little time in almost every area that the story, while solid in premise, just felt a little too short and choppy, like we cpuld have used a little bit more to help flesh it out. Some things just happened so abruptly.

• The ending felt a little rushed, and while it still managed to get me to feel something (mostly the "oh no...that's tragic" sort of feeling), I think if we'd spent a little more time with the characters, I would have felt a little more. I believe there was more meaning meant to be attached to these tragic events and character deaths, but I had a hard time spotting it because of how rushed some things felt.

• I really liked the art style though. Despite my criticism, the art style was vibrant and really brought things to life. And that helped bring the scenery to life too. 1980s New York is a fascinating time period, the kind of era that can't be replicated today. I love that the locations was based off the author's own memories of these places and her experiences. The location certainly helped me enjoy this story a lot more.

• And finally, this story had a positive representation of sex workers. While it also showed the sad realities of the lives of some sex workers, it didn't try to shame those girls, and showed that many of these girls were just trying to get by and live their life like anyone else, and this just happened to be their profession. It didn't aim to be exploitative or crass either. So I did really like that aspect.

Overall, this story had the right bones. It was just lacking the meat that could have taken this story from middle of the road or just okay to excellent.