vampfang's Reviews (104)

i really loved the concept of the whatsitsname and its musings on criminality and innocence, but i wish more time was spent on that. 

very shakespearean! i love all the commentary on magic vs words, and you can really see it come across in terry’s writing, it really does feel like magic :)

an informative history of socialism! i feel like he does get a bit too distracted with Everything Every Socialist Has Ever Believed though. he spoke to my class over zoom and was very funny

the first chapter is basically a summary of capital, the second is how capitalism and the state work together in present-day us which i thought was pretty good, the third talks about the importance of worker solidarity in perhaps more detail than necessary and implies that achieving economic equality is more important than racial or gender equality, and the fourth claims to offer alternatives yet really doesn’t 

i really enjoyed reading this one!!! grady hendrix’s writing style is very engaging and i was never bored. the book tries to bring up a lot of interesting issues in horror like

how we view horror in the era of modernity wrt technology, violent deaths vs natural deaths and society’s feelings on the matter, and the gendered nature of violence, but ultimately i think it’s impossible to tackle all these topics in a way that feels satisfactory. the issue of horror vs modern technology first comes up in the article clippings interspersed throughout which i thought were really interesting in general, but the physical mechanics of murder just interest me less personally than a lot of the more symbolic elements. it then felt weird for this to play a major part in stephanie’s motive at the end, which didn’t really make a ton of sense. she hated the women because they were old and thought she could do better than older killers? it just didn’t feel very fleshed out since hendrix tried to focus on too many other issues. i liked the exploration of horror vs natural deaths with michelle, there was a part specifically where lynnette talks about how she’d fought so hard to be able to die naturally like michelle yet it’s not treated with as much dignity that i thought was such a good point and really makes u think about how people think about society as well as the disabled/sick/elderly, i just wish it were discussed more. violence against women was really the crux of the book and i liked that because it’s a really interesting topic, but the two things that bothered me was a) the weirdness of applying a trope that exists in our world to real people in this world who then serve to create tropes? and b) the way lynnette’s response to her trauma is suspicion of men that felt like it was diving into radfem territory. this is kind of addressed with having a female killer but not entirely, and i think the book should’ve talked more abt the structural reason for these things rather than never challenging lynnette’s view of it as biological. still super interesting though i think the ending with stephanie didn’t make a ton of sense and was super rushed

i really loved this one! the writing style felt very “by queer people, for queer people,” with perspectives and cultural references that felt familiar to me, but at the same time i think is engaging and worthwhile for everyone to read! the premise is such an intriguing metaphor and when i first heard “a virus turns all men evil” it sounded like something a cis woman cooked up, and was really happy to see the idea executed by a trans woman instead. as a tme person it broadened my horizons and it was just really interesting to read from the perspective of transfemmes. i do wish there were a bit…more to the book. while the characters do undergo growth, there was no real sense of finality to it for me.

everything after the escape from the screw felt incredibly rushed to me, with the sudden introduction of tons of new characters and confusing fight scenes. when the characters emerge from the turmoil, it’s not quite clear what changes have occurred. fran’s apology to beth felt hasty, and i would’ve liked more backstory about the two of them. ramona’s changing perspective on trans women seemed like it didn’t develop properly, though her ending at least made sense. while beth indi and robbie all had whole arcs i still find myself wanting more. i also think the virus metaphor and its implications could be explored a bit more.

all in all, it feels like more of the first installment in a series than a standalone, and i for one would love to read more.