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booksthatburn's review
Holy crap, that was a quick DNF. The (cis, white, male) protagonist's main complaint about maybe being the last human is how it made him involuntarily celibate. Written in the 1950's, this has not aged well. Also, his reaction to vampire babes moaning sexily outside his window is to be upset about how much he wants to but can't/shouldn't fuck them. I like sexy vampires. I like unsexy vampires. I do not care for man complaining that sexy vampires are a trap. I stopped after the weird thought exercise about whether vampires are worse than the mothers of politicians and arms manufacturers, distillers, and pornographers.
The one thing I will grant it is that the audiobook narrator did a great job, their narration reinforced the trapped feeling of his perspective, how much he focuses his thoughts on emotionally safe pathways (for him), and tries to avoid his distress. Unfortunately those pathways are sexist as fuck.
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
bearystarry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Torture, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, and Car accident
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
sassmistress's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
- Very graphic depiction of alcoholism and heavy alcohol use, from the mind of the user. We're constantly watching strong drinks spill, smell, burn going down, numb emotion, etc.- POV is regularly on the verge of a mental breakdown.
- Memories of his wife wasting away and dying, then having to dispose of her body. The grief is graphic. His child dies, too, though this is less prominent.
- Dog content:
- He is an atheist, but prays twice out of desperation. Religion is otherwise depicted as frenzied madness.
- Lots of lustful gaze and objectification. This is viewed as the inevitable result of a man's "deprivation" / isolation. One passionate embrace/kiss.
- Blood, obviously, and some violent "vampire" deaths, but most of it is kept at a moderate emotional distance. Most deaths are the MC bleeding out the sleeping "vampires", not described too graphically, but a few are more violent.
- Brief mention of rape, and a few suicidal thoughts.