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fionamatilda's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Torture, Sexual content, and Animal death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, and Homophobia
crosberg's review
First DNF in like...five years. I don't know if I've ever bailed on a book this fast, and I honestly was really hoping to find out more about Rasputin.
First of all: Opening a book with a guide to the cast doesn't make me confident in an author's ability to tell a story in a way that allows the readers to know who everyone is and tell them apart.
Secondly: The first actual prose is about the murder of an entire family in a particularly gruesome manner, specifically the murder of a bunch of kids as part of a political uprising, and that feels pretty gross. I know that vampire books lean into the idea that some vampires are famous people from the past, but starting off with the murder of a bunch of children (even though they were famous children) isn't necessary to any plot.
Third: There is no suburb of Chicago that is 30 minutes away from downtown AND fifteen minutes away from Northwestern University except in the middle of the night when there's no one else on the road. That level of detail is absolutely unnecessary, and distracting enough that I started to wonder what was going on with this book. Mentioning how close Fulton Heights is to Chicago but then refusing to acknowledge its existence when August talks about escaping Fulton Heights is weird.
Fourth: I was a student teacher at 21-22 years old to high school kids that were 14-15. I never in my life would have said "I wish you were straight. And about four years older." to ANY of them. The idea that August's college-aged tutor says that to him and it's not immediately alarming and gross turned me off in a HUGE way.
Fifth: I'm honestly kind of shocked that no one has mentioned how poorly this book is written. The pacing is definitely off, but the whole book is TELLING readers everything instead of showing them anything. Metaphors and imagery are so heavy handed they feel like a slap to the face and nothing happens without intense and repetitions explanations from the narrator/main character. There's no trust for the readers to figure stuff out on their own, which links back to the point above about the character guide in the front of the book. Things happen so fast, but are only revealed through exposition, so there's no sense of urgency or danger. The dialog does not at all feel natural to teenagers.
Though the book is marketed as YA it feels like it's actually aimed at adults who like YA books and want to bask in some nostalgia. There's absolutely nothing wrong with adults how like YA books (I love reading YA and genuinely enjoy a lot of YA fantasy and supernatural stories in particular) and I love fanfiction as much as the next person but ultimately this feels like poorly edited self-insert fanfic for Buffy or Twilight instead of a fully fleshed and developed story. I couldn't figure out what it was reminding me of until I got to this part of writing my review and realized it was the infamous "My Immortal" fanfic. Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way and August would probably both enjoy putting their middle fingers up at a bunch of preps.
First of all: Opening a book with a guide to the cast doesn't make me confident in an author's ability to tell a story in a way that allows the readers to know who everyone is and tell them apart.
Secondly: The first actual prose is about the murder of an entire family in a particularly gruesome manner, specifically the murder of a bunch of kids as part of a political uprising, and that feels pretty gross. I know that vampire books lean into the idea that some vampires are famous people from the past, but starting off with the murder of a bunch of children (even though they were famous children) isn't necessary to any plot.
Third: There is no suburb of Chicago that is 30 minutes away from downtown AND fifteen minutes away from Northwestern University except in the middle of the night when there's no one else on the road. That level of detail is absolutely unnecessary, and distracting enough that I started to wonder what was going on with this book. Mentioning how close Fulton Heights is to Chicago but then refusing to acknowledge its existence when August talks about escaping Fulton Heights is weird.
Fourth: I was a student teacher at 21-22 years old to high school kids that were 14-15. I never in my life would have said "I wish you were straight. And about four years older." to ANY of them. The idea that August's college-aged tutor says that to him and it's not immediately alarming and gross turned me off in a HUGE way.
Fifth: I'm honestly kind of shocked that no one has mentioned how poorly this book is written. The pacing is definitely off, but the whole book is TELLING readers everything instead of showing them anything. Metaphors and imagery are so heavy handed they feel like a slap to the face and nothing happens without intense and repetitions explanations from the narrator/main character. There's no trust for the readers to figure stuff out on their own, which links back to the point above about the character guide in the front of the book. Things happen so fast, but are only revealed through exposition, so there's no sense of urgency or danger. The dialog does not at all feel natural to teenagers.
Though the book is marketed as YA it feels like it's actually aimed at adults who like YA books and want to bask in some nostalgia. There's absolutely nothing wrong with adults how like YA books (I love reading YA and genuinely enjoy a lot of YA fantasy and supernatural stories in particular) and I love fanfiction as much as the next person but ultimately this feels like poorly edited self-insert fanfic for Buffy or Twilight instead of a fully fleshed and developed story. I couldn't figure out what it was reminding me of until I got to this part of writing my review and realized it was the infamous "My Immortal" fanfic. Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way and August would probably both enjoy putting their middle fingers up at a bunch of preps.
Content Warnings
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death
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