puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was provided with an audio ARC for an instagram book tour.
As a kid I was already super into monsters, scary stories and especially vampires. Don’t Want To Be Your Monster would have been perfect for creepy little me, and I loved reading it now as an adult just the same!
It’s the story of two young vampire brothers each struggling in their own way with having to hide away from mortal society, when a string of murders hits their town. And not just that—the serial killer appears to be a vampire hunter, looking for the boys and their family…
The audiobook narration was great, with a different narrator for each of the two POVs. I often have trouble differentiating between POVs in audio format, but I never struggled with that here thanks to both the narrators’ and the author’s contributions to creating two distinct voices.
In the world of this book, vampires are unfairly maligned, gone into hiding and thought extinct after decades, centuries of persecution—taking antisemitic vampire tropes and turning them on their heads to shine a light on the nature of prejudice.
But the story doesn’t just rely on metaphors: it also includes actual Jewish characters and real life antisemitism. I really appreciated the way it dealt with these heavy topics of death, antisemitism, and genocide; never shying away or talking down to young readers.
Even with all that, it’s still also a fun adventure, a paranormal mystery, horror for kids. It’s about found family and friendship and thriving in spite of oppression. And it answers the question: is it kosher for vampires to drink blood?
Review originally posted on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxN7vEWIUl8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
It’s the story of two young vampire brothers each struggling in their own way with having to hide away from mortal society, when a string of murders hits their town. And not just that—the serial killer appears to be a vampire hunter, looking for the boys and their family…
The audiobook narration was great, with a different narrator for each of the two POVs. I often have trouble differentiating between POVs in audio format, but I never struggled with that here thanks to both the narrators’ and the author’s contributions to creating two distinct voices.
In the world of this book, vampires are unfairly maligned, gone into hiding and thought extinct after decades, centuries of persecution—taking antisemitic vampire tropes and turning them on their heads to shine a light on the nature of prejudice.
But the story doesn’t just rely on metaphors: it also includes actual Jewish characters and real life antisemitism. I really appreciated the way it dealt with these heavy topics of death, antisemitism, and genocide; never shying away or talking down to young readers.
Even with all that, it’s still also a fun adventure, a paranormal mystery, horror for kids. It’s about found family and friendship and thriving in spite of oppression. And it answers the question: is it kosher for vampires to drink blood?
Review originally posted on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxN7vEWIUl8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism and Blood
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, and Murder
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content
ezwolf's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This wasn’t quite what I was expecting it to be, but I still enjoyed it and I think the message is important.
I love the found family trope and vampires frequently offer such good opportunity for it to be used. Adam and Victor’s observations of their family and how they cycle through so many other immortals coming and going was something I hadn’t considered before.
And I loved that the inherent queerness and Jewishness of this book. When Shoshanah said the blessing for seeing an unusual create it made me laugh, of course we would have a blessing for something like that! Maybe not originally meant for seeing vampires, but still!
The only thing that really bothered me was that I was on edge the whole time waiting for Adam or Victor to be caught and revealed as vampires.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
I love the found family trope and vampires frequently offer such good opportunity for it to be used. Adam and Victor’s observations of their family and how they cycle through so many other immortals coming and going was something I hadn’t considered before.
And I loved that the inherent queerness and Jewishness of this book. When Shoshanah said the blessing for seeing an unusual create it made me laugh, of course we would have a blessing for something like that! Maybe not originally meant for seeing vampires, but still!
The only thing that really bothered me was that I was on edge the whole time waiting for Adam or Victor to be caught and revealed as vampires.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Death
starrysteph's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Don’t Want to be Your Monster spins vampire lore on its head through a playful murder mystery for young readers.
We follow Adam, a 10-year-old vampire who is desperate to learn more about the world … and figure out why his big brother Victor has been acting so weird. Adam and his siblings have been raised in isolation by their two loving, eclectic, immortal moms. When a murderer strikes in town, Adam is terrified of vampire hunters and decides to solve the case (alongside two new mortal friends).
It’s a sweet story that investigates some of the antisemitic origins of vampire legends & challenges how we frame ‘others’ as monsters. The educational elements are very direct.
I enjoyed the growing friendship between a very different trio of 10-year-olds, and the themes of compassion & standing up for your fellow humans (or … non-humans).
The writing was structurally clumsy at times, and the dialogue felt a bit stilted – the biggest stumble for me overall was Victor’s POV. He did not read like a 14-year-old & in my opinion was not given enough complexity of thought or emotional depth. His chapters were a smaller portion of the book, and I think it would have been more effective storytelling to only use Adam’s perspective – and unravel Victor’s behavior through his little brother’s eyes. In general, I would recommend this book for readers around fourth or fifth grade (I’m not sure older kids would be as engaged).
I do love a queer found family & also really appreciated the scope of casual representation & the various cultures and languages depicted on the page.
CW: murder, death & mass death, hate crime, antisemitism, blood, cancer, genocide, xenophobia, poisoning, abandonment, child abuse, kidnapping
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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Antisemitism, Cancer, Abandonment, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, and Kidnapping
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