i have such a deep love for anything SGJ writes and good vampire lore that this book has me foaming at the mouth. this type of storytelling fits the stream-of-consciousness writing that SGJ does so well and i truly think it is one of his best works.

it takes a while to orient yourself in this novel, but once it gets going, it’s a reminder of how good horror can be. there’s moments of incomprehensible cruelty that made me feel nauseous and moments of familial love that made me cry. at it’s core, a really well done vampire novel that i will be revisiting.

also, i am thinking (fondly) about my ap lit teacher, knowing he’s teaching about literary vampires somewhere out there and how this book would make an ap lit class go absolutely feral.

halfway through this book, i wanted to wipe my memory to read this for the first time again. what an experience. i read this so slowly because i was dreading having to finish this book and knowing i would be done reading.

it takes a little bit to understand the point of view switches, but it’s so wonderfully done, i don’t think i could trust anyone else to do it. i don’t even have the words to explain how much i enjoyed this.

this was a slow burn thriller, but it reads so quickly that i didn’t even notice i was already 60% of the way through the book and so little had happened. the payoff of this book is so incredibly rewarding and the indigenous folklore is so wonderful. it says so much about grief, trauma, and how it affects family and land. one of those books where it sounds cheesy as fuck, but yeah, i love being afab and being friends with women, they’ll never take that away from me.