5 years ago I never would have thought a Venom book with Eddie Brock as the protagonist would be able to cover the subjects of loss, grief, and loneliness AND ACTUALLY BE GOOD but here we are! This volume follows up the grand mythology of the last volume with a slow burning character story on who Eddie Brock is as a person. Those who really loved the mythology and world-building of the last volume might find this next one a bit jarring, but I typically prefer more character driven stories so I was pretty satisfied when I saw the book tackling Eddie as a character and how his relationships, past and present, have molded and scarred him. There's some pretty massive retcons to Eddie's personal history, but Cates does a splendid job in making these changes organic and enhance his discussion on Eddie's relationship with the abusive symbiote. Spoiler alert for the ending of the book

Spoiler

Eddie realizes the symbiote's been gas-lighting him from the very beginning of their partnership, and Eddie finally decides to walk away from Venom for good

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I never thought I'd say this, but ya'll, go Eddie.