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A review by countlessshenanigans
Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite by Natalie C. Parker, Zoraida Córdova
3.0
2.5
Sadly not nearly as interesting as I was hoping. I picked it up for my Vampires Uni class final essay hoping to find a story that had POC, queer, or disability representation. As I thought the vehicle of Vampires would be particularly potent. (And to escape the overwhelmingly straight/white literature I’ve seen revolving around Vampires— when mythos has them as a literal representation of those pushed to the borders of society with incredibly heavy queer undertones.)
Anyways, I was pretty underwhelmed. Didn’t feel like any of the stories used the Vampire to it’s fullest.
The boys from the blood river be Rebecca Roanhorse - ★ ★
Loved the start! It was so eerie. Loved the Haunted jukebox. Loved the main character— both queer and native— and how he wanted to escape his little close minded town. The first half was perfect. The second half didn’t live up to the spooky atmosphere with its morally gray cowboy vampires… yeah.
In Kind by Kayla Whaley - ★ ★
I loved the idea of disability and Vampires! I also loved how the MC doesn’t loose her disability when she’s a vampire— which we see A LOT. Didn’t land perfectly for me though. Can’t say exactly why
A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire - ★ ★ ★ ★
This was SO FUN. Title explains the premise very well. I loved how quirky it was. A fun read while also talking about the harms of colonialism. Loved.
First Kill by V.E Schwab - ★
This is what I picked up the book for. I actually really like V.E Schwab but I did not like this short story. The writing really grated on me. I was really not a fan of how she wrote the MC’s love interest— Calliope— who was black. In my opinion it was not very well done so felt quite jarring, which was upsetting because I was very excited for a vampire romance with diverse voices. I wish she had reached out to more sensitivity readers or gotten a co-writer to help.The writing was fairly slow too. Oh well.
Sadly not nearly as interesting as I was hoping. I picked it up for my Vampires Uni class final essay hoping to find a story that had POC, queer, or disability representation. As I thought the vehicle of Vampires would be particularly potent. (And to escape the overwhelmingly straight/white literature I’ve seen revolving around Vampires— when mythos has them as a literal representation of those pushed to the borders of society with incredibly heavy queer undertones.)
Anyways, I was pretty underwhelmed. Didn’t feel like any of the stories used the Vampire to it’s fullest.
The boys from the blood river be Rebecca Roanhorse - ★ ★
Loved the start! It was so eerie. Loved the Haunted jukebox. Loved the main character— both queer and native— and how he wanted to escape his little close minded town. The first half was perfect. The second half didn’t live up to the spooky atmosphere with its morally gray cowboy vampires… yeah.
In Kind by Kayla Whaley - ★ ★
I loved the idea of disability and Vampires! I also loved how the MC doesn’t loose her disability when she’s a vampire— which we see A LOT. Didn’t land perfectly for me though. Can’t say exactly why
A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire - ★ ★ ★ ★
This was SO FUN. Title explains the premise very well. I loved how quirky it was. A fun read while also talking about the harms of colonialism. Loved.
First Kill by V.E Schwab - ★
This is what I picked up the book for. I actually really like V.E Schwab but I did not like this short story. The writing really grated on me. I was really not a fan of how she wrote the MC’s love interest— Calliope— who was black. In my opinion it was not very well done so felt quite jarring, which was upsetting because I was very excited for a vampire romance with diverse voices. I wish she had reached out to more sensitivity readers or gotten a co-writer to help.The writing was fairly slow too. Oh well.