This shows up on various The Movie Was Better lists and I have to say they’re wrong, this time. Sure the major plot beats are the same but being in Starlings head is far more compelling (as you would expect from fiction). The mic drop of the lambs and their actual silence hits differently, because it has far more setup. The power dynamics between her and everyone she meets, how her mind works—all of it is better here.

The largest divergence and something heartening to see was the very explicit, and often reiterated, point that Buffalo Bill is not a trans person (though it uses the antiquated transsexual because of the time it was written in). In fact, there are three or four advocates in the fiction explaining real life stats that do not jibe with the misconception of trans people being mentally ill and dangerous. And they explain why Buffalo Bill isn’t one and why his psychosis chooses to purport himself as such, in a way mirroring the public perception, allowing it to be corrected in numerous ways.

The prose work isn’t literary, but it is miles above typical commercial fiction and far more aware than most catch-the-killer narratives. It’s nuanced, it’s thematic, and it does a good job of advocating for everyone marginalized, which the movie pretty much completely sidesteps. The movie pumps up Crawford and rearranges his plot arc somewhat as well, again somewhat at the expense of Starling. On every front the book is better. Of course, if you find yourself not liking the research entering the fiction portions it might bug you, but I think most readers, including myself, want that amount of detail about the FBI operations. It’s the meat and potatoes or narratives like this, and I imagine made all the more popular by this book and this series.

Well, this is brilliant. I felt like a human radio, tuning into different times with my eyes. What a way to show the command an artist has over space and time. It is funny, poignant, sad. It’s gorgeous. I love it.

What a weird book. A surrealistic descent into a very particular visit the protagonist has to Germany. Seemingly possessing information he shouldn’t have yet, and a different kind of logic dominating—until it doesn’t anymore. In the later half things are turned on their head and the pieces come together much more fully. Though, I’m not sure he, or the reader ever figure absolutely everything out. Maybe on a reread or two. I can imagine it being a frustrating experience for some readers. I tend to like surrealism, so I mostly enjoyed it, especially because my initial expectation was that it might be veering into sci-fi, which would have been more pedestrian (for me).

Picture Blanche Dubois, but a man. Coupled with that famous quote about someone not needing to be malicious to cause harm, only needing a lack of empathy and understanding. I understood, but hated the protagonist of this novel. It’s a rare character that provokes such a reaction.

I don’t think this could be improved upon. I have put it off because I’ve read quite a bit on the subject, and though there is some retreading of common knowledge because she needs to obtain a baseline from which to discuss things—it does transition into the primary subject matter: Suicide in indigenous populations and their sources. Across the world, not solely in Canada. And through that lens engaging with new thinking and knowledge with regards to indigenous peoples obtaining some new agency, which they ought to have had all along.

I’d encourage any reader to pick this up in any format. There’s lots of new thoughts here and presented in a really engaging lecture.

More of an ending to Fables, possibly, than to Unwritten—as illustrated by their being two more additions. I liked it very much all the same as I’m a huge fan of that series as well. It really does feel like it ought to have all been in that line though, since the pertinent details to Our boy here could be abbreviated in a summary, as appears in the start of the next volume. I expect this is a somewhat polarizing issue. Maybe Fables had a crossover with more Unwritten in it than Fables? I really don’t remember. But it does make me want to reread Fables, tbh…

Exceptional still. Tom goes to find Lizzy, tying into some past foreshadowing and a return to something like source material, since “story” is wounded and broken. Some great stuff, more reveals. Clearly meticulously plotted. It’ll be interesting to go through these later volumes in a row, and not waiting, like, months, years? between issues and certainly the conclusion. I’m sure I didn’t have all the salient details in my head when I read those. Looking forward to it.

It’s been an age since I watched the movie and I was surprised this was a short story, since it’s fairly meaty. Just shows the short scenes pack a punch. Plenty of small details I didn’t see in the movie that brought this up a notch. The ending is especially fantastic, and it drives home a few things: How important representation is, for one.

If queer people don’t see themselves in others and all they learn is homophobia and violence for who they are, the amount of isolation and the damage that causes is staggering. Imagine thinking a whole state probably doesn’t have any other people like you in it. The stymieing of a happy and productive path can, and often will, harm everyone around that person. The notion that the only people who pay is the ostracized is so limited. Not realizing the potential of the most marginalized always hampers the community at large. Always.

That’s why it’s so heartbreaking. The ignorant are harming themselves, and they don’t even know it. More than misguided, to destroy something without trying to understand it, I think that’s something close to what we call evil. For good reason.

This was a solid series that I didn’t end up connecting to almost that much, but ended up enjoying it nonetheless. Some good plotting tying back to the previous two.

I laughed out loud at some points. Even for commercial fiction and measuring it against the other instalments of the series, it is always incredible just how not well handled every aspect of this book is. It’s wildly melodramatic, the romantic interests act like, and have similar dialogue to, high schoolers. Including the we can’t communicate properly trope. The twists are predictable, the setup massively contrived and only becomes more so. I assume it’s going for a movie bombastic finale type vibe… but it just falls far too flat. As soon as the teen in the first instalment left the series the characters lose their suspension of disbelief around how they speak to one another. It is wild how bad this was. All I wanted was brain candy, but couldn’t even get that.

This came together in a way I honestly wasn’t sure it was going to. It has very minimal Pratchett vibes with its humour, so I wasn’t sure if it was going to go off the rails or not. Thankfully, the mystery plotting and world building coupled with character work keeps it rolling and delivers a satisfying and compelling ending. I am not sure I totally understand the setting (again, Discworld vibes) but what I did retain of it was pretty cool.

I think a lot of this is misaligned expectations. I picked up the cover thinking it was going to be really darkly serious, a murder mystery with noir vibes, maybe. The tone is pretty mismatched to the marketing there, but it worked out in the end. I think each book is stand-alone too. Maybe others will be more my vibe. I hope, anyway, since I own them all.

3.5 rounded up