A review by kalventure
Night's Edge by Liz Kerin

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

 I read this book a month ago and am still thinking about it. Night's Edge is powerfully evocative, lyrically written, and gritty with a story that you won't be able to put down.


I adored Kerin's debut novel The Phantom Forest so I was thrilled to receive an ARC to read it early for review. Thanks to the worst reading slump of my life, it took me much longer to pick this book up than intended but when I finally did Night's Edge consumed me and I devoured this book in a weekend. Normally I annotate while reading for review, but the four comments I have are basically me screaming at plot points. It's been so long since I've had this experience reading!

"The night is starless. Clouds suffocate the moon."

The narrative is instantly gripping and sinks its teeth into you on the first page. Kerin's writing is sharp and descriptive, lyrical without feeling heavy, and the book keeps a steady pace, keeping me glued to my chair to watch the horrors unfold.

I love when books are tightly written and every scene serves a purpose, and Night's Edge is intricately plotted. It comes to a natural conclusion while leaving you ready for more in its sequel (April 2024 cannot come fast enough!).

"Sometimes it feels like she's moving backward through time. But maybe that's just me. Moving forward."

At its core, this book uses vampires as an allegory to explore codependency in families. There's so much that I could gush about Mia's relationship with Izzy, but I wanted to keep this review surface-level so you can experience it for yourself. One part that struck a cord with me is how Mia was forced to grow up too fast and now that she's an adult herself, her mother sees her as a child. How we perceive time and how that perception becomes distorted through trauma - I found my heart aching for both Mia and Izzy.

"I wonder what that's like, to know someone can't fight back. To take their silence as concession."

No good vampire tale is complete with an exploration of personal agency, control, and power - and Night's Edge is a damn good vampire story. There are many intersectionalities, which introduces a lot of nuance into an analysis. Nothing is black and white, and no person is truly good or evil - almost every character in some way has their agency taken from them.

I especially enjoyed how Kerin took the vampire mythos and made a story wholly her own. The pandemic adjacent worldbuilding paints a scene that feels all too real: our modern world overrun by a virus, only this virus is responsible for turning people into vampires. I hope that there will be more focus on the Saras in the sequel, because I feel like there's so much here to explore - especially with the ending!

"We need to believe that everyone we give our love to is a good person. But if they change... and if that change hurts us... what then? Are they still good, deep down? Because 'they weren't always like this'?"

Night's Edge deals with codependent familial relationships and may be a difficult for some so please read the content warnings to ensure that you're in the right headspace before picking it up.

Overall, Night's Edge is a powerful and raw exploration of codependency through the lens of vampires that will stay with you long after reading. It's action-packed in a cinematic way that I was able to clearly picture the book's events in my mind. It's uncomfortable to read at times but beautiful all the same.

Content Warnings: Blood & gore depiction, Child abuse, Gun violence

ARC provided by the publisher for consideration. This does not affect my opinion or the contents of my review. Quotations are from an unfinished proof and are subject to change upon final publication.

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