heartgummi 's review for:

Old Wounds by Logan-Ashley Kisner

4.0

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I really love this spin on the classic horror "there's a monster in the woods" trope. The terror you feel from what happens is palpable—but like every good monster story, the gripping dread you feel isn't from the unknown beast lurking in the dark, but rather the interpersonal and societal fear faced by the characters and how the monster represents said fear.

With that being said, however, I'm not entirely sure what the monster is supposed to "be"? Perhaps I'm slow on the uptake, but it seemed a bit inconsistent to me on if it was simply an undercurrent with which to move the story along, or if it was representative of something else.

It only attacks when it knows its prey fears it, but only eats what it's able to chase down and kill ... It doesn't discriminate its victims, even though the society it's based in claims that it will only eat their definition of a woman.

I feel like I'm close to grasping what it's all meant to be, but falling short, and I'm not sure if that's a failing on my part or perhaps on the author's in conveying the meaning. 

… Or perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

But the frustration I felt when the monster itself was never addressed in the end and simply left alone, along with the case surrounding the other missing girls—seriously, I wish we had a better answer than just "fuck the police but we have no choice but to give them this case"—definitely exacerbated my confusion.

Nonetheless, Max and Erin are compelling characters whose journey I happily went along with. I particularly loved the way they contrasted one another, and while Erin was my favourite of the two, I really appreciated the way Kisner depicted Max in particular as a messy trans boy who's grappling the heavy combination of perceived inferiority, transphobia, and all the big and messy emotions you experience when you're 17. It made him feel the most human in this book, to the point where I wonder if perhaps Kisner wasn't pulling from real life in some way (either from their own feelings or from someone they loved).

Another aspect that resonated with me was the way transphobia in society is depicted, and how true to form it was. It's scary and real and can kill you for the innocuous and innocent crime of living! When I read about the various scenarios Erin and Max found themselves in, not at the hands of the beast but instead their fellow people, I genuinely felt afraid and often thought about moments when I had been scrutinized and placed in life-threatening scenarios solely for occupying the socialized space of a marginalized person. That being said, however, I'm not sure how to feel about the invocation of real trans people' names in this novel. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I couldn't help but notice that all of the murdered trans peoples' names—whether directly stated in the text or the dedication—were all ... white. Which definitely left a sour taste in my mouth, though I'm still unsure if it's the direct reason why I feel mixed about their inclusion in Max's narrative.

Old Wounds isn't anything new if you're looking for queer horror, but it is something representative of how I'd like the publishing industry as a whole to move towards normalizing it. Give me more messy trans characters! Give me trans characters who talk about their trans identities! Give me trans characters whose identities are integral to understanding them as people! And give me trans characters who fight monsters and cops and the horrors of cisheteronormative hegemony!!!