aileyotoole's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.0
Incredible narrative, probably could’ve used a few more rounds of edits
theteaisaddictive's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book was . . . fine, I guess? I never really felt that engaged with the plot; things seemed to just happen, without much feeling of investment from the characters who all seemed to just go along with it (realistic, given they were almost all soldiers being given marching orders, but still). There was also a really distracting amount of small grammar errors, which you would think would have been caught at some point in the editing process and clearly hadn't been.
Where the book shines, though, is the dialogue. Without resorting to phonetic spellings of accents, you can <i>read</i> the Kentucky in every single character's voice. Masterful character voice work.
Where the book shines, though, is the dialogue. Without resorting to phonetic spellings of accents, you can <i>read</i> the Kentucky in every single character's voice. Masterful character voice work.
theatrealpaca's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-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
It is rare to read something as queer and revolutionary as this book. It is rare to read something that speaks to me as openly and honestly as this book did. And it is rare to describe a book to others as a story of hot, hilarious, lovable, communist, polyamorous trans lesbians killing fascists in a post-dystopian Kentucky with zombies and vampires (sorry, make that draculas). But this book is all that and more. Natalie Ironside is a captivating author that writes about brutality and love, hope and war. All with the appropriate weight, a revolutionary mind, and a boundless encouragement to simply do the next right thing. And to, of course, be gay while doing it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Cursing, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Confinement, Antisemitism, Death, Misogyny, Outing, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Blood, Gun violence, and Transphobia
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit
oliviamnsnll's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.75
So I sorta know the author, having been connected to her on social media for years, even before this book came out. I was very excited to find a novel set in a post-apocalyptic world dealing with revolutionary themes, that featured trans characters and wasn't liberal gobbledygook.
It took me longer than I would like to admit to finish, I think some of my initial slow-reading coming from being brainwashed by revisionist socialists into despising anarchism and the revolutionary trends inspired by Leon Trotsky.
Partly because of that, partly because of grad school, I returned to the book off and on, always finding it inspiring. But I picked it up to finish it only after really coming to a deeper understanding of revolutionary ideas and letting go of dogma.
<Spoiler>The fact that Ironside wrote a novel of proletarian fiction where anarchists and Marxist communists aren't killing each other and do in fact get along, reflects an optimism about the future I find refreshing. </spoilers>
I want to compare this book to Starhawk's two post-apocalyptic novels, "The Fifth Sacred Thing" & "City of Refuge" because they both deal with a new egalitarian society living alongside a fascist nightmare.
Starhawk's books are set in Califia, a transformed former California Bay Area. And while there are some intriguing theological musings and some fascinating ideas around constructing an anarchist society, the books are ruined by the author's unquestioned embrace of non-violent resistance, <spoilers> up to and including having her characters decide to defend against invasion by walking up to their enemies and letting them shoot them. The sequel follows that up by having the characters finally decide a revolutionary army is necessary to help liberate their neighbors living under a fascist state, but after 20+ years of ignoring the need for defense they are unprepared, and the fighters rely mostly on the military knowledge of former fascists. Additionally, Stawhawk kills one lesbian, portrays her single genderqueer character as a child predator, destroys a really cool polycule to force characters who don't believe in monogamy into a monogamous relationship, and has a POV character who participates in what are essentially Jeff Epstein parties. And redemptio for ideologically committed fascists is presented as a important value. </spoilers>
Suffice to say TLGS has none of those problems. The gays live, the fascists don't, the nuclear family is out, the egalitarian society makes sense, and the MCs are soldiers ready to defend their revolutionary world.
In terms of writing, it did lose my attention at times, and the character voices sometimes bled together, and Part 2 almost felt like book 2. But I will definitely re-read it, if for nothing else than the transbians!! And I'm very excited to pick up the short story collection, Lead & Roses.
Transbian anarchist-communist fiction is in short supply, that's for sure.
It took me longer than I would like to admit to finish, I think some of my initial slow-reading coming from being brainwashed by revisionist socialists into despising anarchism and the revolutionary trends inspired by Leon Trotsky.
Partly because of that, partly because of grad school, I returned to the book off and on, always finding it inspiring. But I picked it up to finish it only after really coming to a deeper understanding of revolutionary ideas and letting go of dogma.
<Spoiler>The fact that Ironside wrote a novel of proletarian fiction where anarchists and Marxist communists aren't killing each other and do in fact get along, reflects an optimism about the future I find refreshing. </spoilers>
I want to compare this book to Starhawk's two post-apocalyptic novels, "The Fifth Sacred Thing" & "City of Refuge" because they both deal with a new egalitarian society living alongside a fascist nightmare.
Starhawk's books are set in Califia, a transformed former California Bay Area. And while there are some intriguing theological musings and some fascinating ideas around constructing an anarchist society, the books are ruined by the author's unquestioned embrace of non-violent resistance, <spoilers> up to and including having her characters decide to defend against invasion by walking up to their enemies and letting them shoot them. The sequel follows that up by having the characters finally decide a revolutionary army is necessary to help liberate their neighbors living under a fascist state, but after 20+ years of ignoring the need for defense they are unprepared, and the fighters rely mostly on the military knowledge of former fascists. Additionally, Stawhawk kills one lesbian, portrays her single genderqueer character as a child predator, destroys a really cool polycule to force characters who don't believe in monogamy into a monogamous relationship, and has a POV character who participates in what are essentially Jeff Epstein parties. And redemptio for ideologically committed fascists is presented as a important value. </spoilers>
Suffice to say TLGS has none of those problems. The gays live, the fascists don't, the nuclear family is out, the egalitarian society makes sense, and the MCs are soldiers ready to defend their revolutionary world.
In terms of writing, it did lose my attention at times, and the character voices sometimes bled together, and Part 2 almost felt like book 2. But I will definitely re-read it, if for nothing else than the transbians!! And I'm very excited to pick up the short story collection, Lead & Roses.
Transbian anarchist-communist fiction is in short supply, that's for sure.
genhuggins's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
beepbeepsan's review
Only made it 70 pages in. A mess of information with minimal explanations of who the basic involved parties are (and everyone/group seems to have at least two names you have to keep track of). It started fairly desperate and graphic, maybe to set the dark tone, then slowed waay back down, so the sense of urgency was confusing.
The pacing was weird, the stakes were unclear (again, is it desperate and horrifying, or are we in a peaceful haven ripe for romance?), the characters didn’t feel like much at all and their dialogue was frequently used for clumsy exposition or reminders to the reader of something said on a previous page. Obviously I didn’t get very far, but there was nothing here to indicate I’d enjoy reading further.
Spoiler
Then two of the characters meet (who are supposed to be former enemies highly at odds, as well as being jaded soldiers), immediately share extreme personal traumas and have sex? Within the first few hours. And are constantly sweet-talking each other and being really thoughtful & willing to share after that.The pacing was weird, the stakes were unclear (again, is it desperate and horrifying, or are we in a peaceful haven ripe for romance?), the characters didn’t feel like much at all and their dialogue was frequently used for clumsy exposition or reminders to the reader of something said on a previous page. Obviously I didn’t get very far, but there was nothing here to indicate I’d enjoy reading further.
tenasadie's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-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
4.0
dyedviolet's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-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
picklejar's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bookwyrmm's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
There's a future worth fighting for out there, but we're going to have to fight for it. I think this one needed another round of edits, but I enjoyed myself so much I do not give a fuck.