A review by powerpuffgoat
The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman

1.0

I did not enjoy this book at all. I was honestly questioning if I got duped and was somehow reading a different book - very surprised at the praise this novel received. It's a matter of taste I guess, but I didn't find anything particularly groundbreaking in terms of plot or characters, the main character's narrative voice was annoying, the twist

about the kids

was quite obvious to me, and the ending did not redeem the book. Actually, it annoyed me some more.

First of all, I am still unclear if the vampires are supposed to stay in the mindset of the age when they were turned or not? The evil children are putting on an act, yet our insufferable main character still sounds like a 14-year-old brat. And before anyone brings up the whole "this wasn't actually written by Joey" - well, you can excuse just about anything with that, which screams lazy to me. It's a work of fiction within a work of fiction, basically a version of "it was all a dream".

Finally, I have a niche complaint about the way the author says the word "niche" (I listened to the audiobook). It probably wouldn't bother me too much if I enjoyed the book overall, but that wasn't the case.