asdgety
A linguist, a chaotic lesbian, a gamer, a nerd. Ex voto is the best game I played so far this year. she/her I am @unavezms8 on League of comic geeks and Backloggd.
14791 points
3.77 average · 827 reviews
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It would have been a five star if it weren't book 1 in a duology.
This is a book about suicide. Those who committed it, those who failed at it, those who wish to stop existing. The subject matter is addressed with great care and understanding but it's still heavy. It also tackles subject of domestic abuse.
Cyrus Beldon doesn't have a place in his family of vampire hunters who were in power for hundreds of years. Unlike the rest of his family he doesn't enjoy killing in general and he believes himself to be a terrible hunter. He doesn't believes himself to be worthy of life.
His love interest Lucien Vista feels himself an outcast in his own family, a weapon in a war that might never start. He is an heir to an honorable and rich vampire family. He needs to know how the world works, why vampires are the way they are.
The main conflict of the story revolves around those two wishing to be together but unwilling to accept abandoning their own families. There's also a theme of power and that for some people it's never enough.
I overall liked the story very much, especially how libraries played a crucial role. (Yes, both of them love romance novels). I can see why Cyrus and Lucien will be in love with each other. Their banter was also something to behold.
I really loved the prose in this one. "circle of vengeance", "his doubts scratched the door", "even if he couldn't say it, he wanted it to be known", "she went where he couldn't follow".
asdgety commented...
It's easier to hate on a stranger than on a neighbor/colleague. It's easier to hate scary immigrants shown on TV than a dark skinned cashier who might not speak the language but always offers to carry your bags to your car. It's easier to hate the concept of illegal immigration than a little Arab girl and her father who'd need to file for a visa 6 months in advance and pay a 10000$ bond to flee the Taliban and no guarantee they'd even be accepted. Yeah books can help to see "the Other" as a human deserving of dignity and compassion. Also people should not have to compromise their beliefs to get free food.
hello everyone!
something I've been musing on lately as I read a lot of books about perennial issues such as racism, misogyny, genocide, etc is whether books are capable of reaching everyone. I guess I'm wondering what everyone else's take on this is and whether there could be a model of the right ingredients for people in different groups (i.e. those who have simply never interacted with the group of people they're prejudiced against vs those who grew up in a diverse community, but have been brainwashed to hate everyone who looks differently, etc).
this has been swimming in my brain because I recently read Kindred by Octavia Butler and one of the blurbs said that it should be handed to everyone who thought slavery was actually not that bad. Don't get me wrong, I agree with this. At the same time, I think there might be people who would truly never embrace anti-racism and accept that racialized communities are telling the truth about their experiences unless they experienced structural racism first hand. Some people have their brain closed off to certain perspectives and refuse to be changed.
Do you agree with this? Do you think there is a magical formula of the right books for every person to be radicalized?
Editing to clarify: I’m asking if there might be a unique magical formula for every single individual, not one that would work on everyone! Like some people might just need 3 or 4 specific books and some people might need a hundred to accept that racism = bad
Also editing to add that I’m literally pitching a philosophical/psychological discussion about books and i genuinely don’t understand why it’s being downvoted. If anyone could shed some light on that I’d appreciate it!
