I'm gonna be honest with you, the first third or so of this book is DULL. Nina, is winy and her personality can be summed up with some serious family issues and a constant hatred of one (in)famous Buffy Summers, and then things finally get interesting and I started to slowly and ever so surely warm up to it over the course of the rest of the book.

It's fun y'all, like genuinely fun, but it's also kinda basic too. It feels like there's a lot of diversity for diversity's sake thrown in

like Artemis/Honora (who I COULD have totally rooted for, if y'know, Kiersten White had actually had them together for more than five pages) and Rhys/Cillian who....well we just don't actually know much about them really.

Slayer is full of a ton of background characters who unfortunately are sidelined in order for Nina to receive her own arc. The good news is that this is the first book in the series so this problem can be rectified in future books, however the bad news is that sometimes when the inevitable bad things happen and stakes are high for any of the supposed main characters, part of you might be left wondering 'do I actually care as much as I know I'm meant to?'

It's definitely not all bad though. There's a lot of action, and this is definitely written by someone who is a fan of the Buffyverse thanks to the namedrops of (off the top of my head)

Pylea, Angel Investigations, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Robin Wood

oh and maybe some cameos by none other than

Faith Lehane and Buffy Summers herself.

There's definitely the basis for a good series, but an obvious villain and lack of character development for supposed main characters means I can't rate this any higher than a four. Definitely looking forward to seeing where Kiersten White takes this next though.

soft.

content warnings: colourism, (internalised) racism, bullying, alcoholism

This book is going to be so so important for so many young people and I really hope it reaches a wide audience. It's unflinching, it dares to confront tough topics and it bravely and accurately depicts the anxieties of a modern teenage girl.

I adored Genesis, and whilst she felt slightly mature, she also made choices which were completely in line for a character of that age which made her seem more realistic. She was completely nuanced and my heart ached for her as she struggled with trying to fit in in a world that seemed to be lighter skinned than she was.

Read this for a complex, well-developed main character. Read this for important representation. Read this for multi-dimensional supporting characters. Read this for a story that deserves to be told.

I wish I could rate this more than five stars because it's one of the most incredible things I've ever read.

The imagery in this book. Jesus, I could probably wax poetic about how stunning everything sounds and how realistic it was. I almost felt I was there with Ollie and Tai and I could feel just how much they loved each other

The Blue House Kids!! My children, who I love and adore. Sunny being outspokenly asexual!! Honestly being on the ace spectrum myself it was so so important. The idea of these guys having such a strong friendship that they all live together and all basically raise each other and Ollie's younger brother is just such a lovely concept. I love that it's not all rosy and that sometimes making their lives work is a struggle for them.

Honestly the realism in this book shocked me a little. It felt real and honest and beautiful to me.

Also can we talk about how the two main characters are both queer. How one of them is demisexual. That's honestly incredible and the sheer amount of rep in this book; POC, gay characters, asexual characters, demisexual characters, queer characters - it's just stunning.

Please, I implore you to read this book. To say that this is Pene Henson's debut novel as well, it's simply outstanding.