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avaa1000's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death
Minor: Vomit
clacksee's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
slow-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
5.0
Jude used to be a firefighter – until the day he saw something he shouldn't. He knows a vampire killed his colleague and friend. But no one believes him. Hell, he's not entirely certain it's not just PTSD. Until the day his undead former neighbour crashes into his life.
Cosy-ish but noir-ish. Lighthearted but tinged with dark. Complex and uplifting.
Cosy-ish but noir-ish. Lighthearted but tinged with dark. Complex and uplifting.
bibim's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
madartyst's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
iam's review against another edition
3.0
Stake Sauce, Arc 1 is the first book in a mystery series featuring vampires, the arcane and found family.
Content warnings include:
For some reason this took me a lot longer to read than length of the book warrants.
The writing was good (though there were quite a few editing errors), the story engaging, I really adored the cast of diverse characters, and yet...
One thing that I can definitely tell didn't work for me was the fight and action scenes. The timing was so off, which seemingly huge stretches of time where characters do nothing. Obviously the focus can only ever be on one character or one action at a time, so parallel events have to be told sequentially, but in this case it truly seemed like the events were happening one after another which just... didn't work out. The majority of vampires here seem to be extremely fast, like moving-so-fast-you-can't-even-see-them, so it didn't make sense to me that ages seem to pass where the human character do.... something and the vampires just.... wait? Stare? Watch? Apparently do nothing, before the focus of the humans shifts back and then the attacks/actions resume. Idk what was up with that, maybe I read these scenes wrong/misinterpreted them, they just really didn't work for me.
What I really loved was the diverse cast of characters. Jude, the protagonist, is gay and grey-aro-ace, trans, has PTSD and wears a prothesis, Eva is aro-ace as well, Jasper has migraines, Pixie is chubby, and while we don't know the identities of all the other characters, all of them are queer (or seem to be) and there's a poly relationship in the works!
I also loved the tarot card drawings at the beginning of each chapter. They were so beautiful, and I believe drawn by the author. I recommend looking at them on a device that displays colour if you buy this as ebook.
Overall a very nice read that I wish had done more for me because the stats on paper are awesome, and I recommend anyone to give it a chance!
Content warnings include:
Spoiler
violence, kidnapping, assault, crucification, burning buildings, loosing a limbFor some reason this took me a lot longer to read than length of the book warrants.
The writing was good (though there were quite a few editing errors), the story engaging, I really adored the cast of diverse characters, and yet...
One thing that I can definitely tell didn't work for me was the fight and action scenes. The timing was so off, which seemingly huge stretches of time where characters do nothing. Obviously the focus can only ever be on one character or one action at a time, so parallel events have to be told sequentially, but in this case it truly seemed like the events were happening one after another which just... didn't work out. The majority of vampires here seem to be extremely fast, like moving-so-fast-you-can't-even-see-them, so it didn't make sense to me that ages seem to pass where the human character do.... something and the vampires just.... wait? Stare? Watch? Apparently do nothing, before the focus of the humans shifts back and then the attacks/actions resume. Idk what was up with that, maybe I read these scenes wrong/misinterpreted them, they just really didn't work for me.
What I really loved was the diverse cast of characters. Jude, the protagonist, is gay and grey-aro-ace, trans, has PTSD and wears a prothesis, Eva is aro-ace as well, Jasper has migraines, Pixie is chubby, and while we don't know the identities of all the other characters, all of them are queer (or seem to be) and there's a poly relationship in the works!
I also loved the tarot card drawings at the beginning of each chapter. They were so beautiful, and I believe drawn by the author. I recommend looking at them on a device that displays colour if you buy this as ebook.
Overall a very nice read that I wish had done more for me because the stats on paper are awesome, and I recommend anyone to give it a chance!
firstorderpixie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
nightjar656's review
3.0
Pretty good! I enjoyed reading this.
Negatives: It felt a bit cliche at times and the summary was a little misleading.
Positives: It was fun and unique and I really liked the characters. The way the theme of grief and trauma and moving on was dealt with was really cool, especially with the vampires existing in that universe.
Overall, I liked this! If you’re looking for a paranormal book with vampires, this is def one of the books I’d recommend.
Negatives: It felt a bit cliche at times and the summary was a little misleading.
Positives: It was fun and unique and I really liked the characters. The way the theme of grief and trauma and moving on was dealt with was really cool, especially with the vampires existing in that universe.
Overall, I liked this! If you’re looking for a paranormal book with vampires, this is def one of the books I’d recommend.
artareadsatnight's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love this book. I truly did. It represents several important topics. And does it pretty well. But. This story seemed like a retelling of a story. Not a full story in itself. Relationships progressed very quickly, like skipping several steps between them and lacked depth. The same goes for the plot. It seemed there was blank places. Just like a retelling of a good story.