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fayesmovinglibrary 's review for:
Krampus: The Yule Lord
by Brom
dark
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was so not what I was expecting….. also the stark contrast of loving Slewfoot to reading this next………. I’ll give it to Brom his writing has definitely really grown since this lol.
Positives:
- I genuinely really loved the Krampus Folklore and Norse Mythology in this. It was interwoven in really interesting ways & I ended up learning a lot about Krampus that I didn’t know or expect & that was really fun.
- how genre-bending this is??? Sure, one could call this fantasy horror technically to categorize it, but to it’s core this is an action movie vibe not unlike John Wick??? Lmao???
- I was invested in the story & all my incoming hatred aside, I did actually have fun reading this
Negatives
- first and foremost, the racist characterizations of Indigenous people in here. It made me question Slewfoot as well, as Slewfoot also had some dodgy moments that at the time I attributed to “white man pitifully attempting technical historical accuracy but instead being unnecessarily kinda racist,” but this had like very explicit racism in that was pretty wild. I do still think it was coming from a place of ignorance and stupidity, and not violent intentional hatred per say, but that still doesn’t excuse it. The Indigenous characters in this are absolutely characterized as “savage” & “creature like,” are only really called “Indians” the whole time, & at one point are even referred too as “injuns” which feels crazy for 2012. His writing has definitely grown a lot since this, but I scoured the Internet and could not find him acknowledging his racism at all & I’m left feeling very 🤨🤨🤨.
- secondly, the misogyny & “written by a man vibes.” How disappointing this was after how brilliantly he wrote his female characters in Slewfoot…. I had so much blind faith and trust in this man after reading that book I just bought the majority of his backlist because I needed more from him. The male protagonist in this is actually so insufferable; his whole personality is just “ :( I’m a bad husband, and a shitty dad…. Poor me.” & we’re just supposed to sympathize with him??? And the other man in this book is even worse (though he is actually characterized as a villain at least.) The women in this are written as extensions of, and accessories for the men & have not a whole lot of depth (one of them is kind of interesting, but even she felt very written by a man.) I’m not going to lie, in the end this really just gave white trailer trash soap opera & I can’t even say it “has Ethel Cain vibes” cause it’s just men being horrible, for no reason, written by a man. Even Santa and Krampus kinda sucked and were shitty men lmaaaao.
Positives:
- I genuinely really loved the Krampus Folklore and Norse Mythology in this. It was interwoven in really interesting ways & I ended up learning a lot about Krampus that I didn’t know or expect & that was really fun.
- how genre-bending this is??? Sure, one could call this fantasy horror technically to categorize it, but to it’s core this is an action movie vibe not unlike John Wick??? Lmao???
- I was invested in the story & all my incoming hatred aside, I did actually have fun reading this
Negatives
- first and foremost, the racist characterizations of Indigenous people in here. It made me question Slewfoot as well, as Slewfoot also had some dodgy moments that at the time I attributed to “white man pitifully attempting technical historical accuracy but instead being unnecessarily kinda racist,” but this had like very explicit racism in that was pretty wild. I do still think it was coming from a place of ignorance and stupidity, and not violent intentional hatred per say, but that still doesn’t excuse it. The Indigenous characters in this are absolutely characterized as “savage” & “creature like,” are only really called “Indians” the whole time, & at one point are even referred too as “injuns” which feels crazy for 2012. His writing has definitely grown a lot since this, but I scoured the Internet and could not find him acknowledging his racism at all & I’m left feeling very 🤨🤨🤨.
- secondly, the misogyny & “written by a man vibes.” How disappointing this was after how brilliantly he wrote his female characters in Slewfoot…. I had so much blind faith and trust in this man after reading that book I just bought the majority of his backlist because I needed more from him. The male protagonist in this is actually so insufferable; his whole personality is just “ :( I’m a bad husband, and a shitty dad…. Poor me.” & we’re just supposed to sympathize with him??? And the other man in this book is even worse (though he is actually characterized as a villain at least.) The women in this are written as extensions of, and accessories for the men & have not a whole lot of depth (one of them is kind of interesting, but even she felt very written by a man.) I’m not going to lie, in the end this really just gave white trailer trash soap opera & I can’t even say it “has Ethel Cain vibes” cause it’s just men being horrible, for no reason, written by a man. Even Santa and Krampus kinda sucked and were shitty men lmaaaao.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Abandonment