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moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I was fairly excited about this when it came out -- the promise of queer spooky shit that reviewers I trust were raving about. But I was concerned because this isn't a genre I frequently read. It absolutely did not disappoint.
The first couple of hours, I was undecided. The characters seemed brash and unlikable (and the cheesy, wavering southern accent from the audiobook reader did not help). But at a certain point, the depth of the characters and the layers that were created in the story started to show and I was completely hooked.
This is a spooky southern dark academia, certainly. But I didn't expect such rich things happening with the characters and other parts of the story. This is full of messy people making questionable decisions. That raw vulnerability of messy queers in lit fic was absolutely here, and more than that, it was tied in thematically. The specter is what you discover it is through the lore, but it is also very much the ghost of permanently unrequited love -- a shadow, the result of (of course) death, but also of the unspoken, the unlived -- the fear and dissociation of homophobia by way of toxic masculinity.
This hits on other themes as well through the story, looking at corruption in academia and of wealth that is accumulated through death -- the (tied) legacies of white supremacy looking at old wealthy families and university. There is so much more I'm sure I could unpack given the time.
Looking at the characters, while they were certainly unlikable, they were complex and that built as the story goes on. I ended up really loving them and wanting to dig more into their characters and know what makes them tick (which often resulted in me pausing to speculate on what their birth charts probably looked like).
This is absolutely a book I intend on rereading and annotating, so maybe I'll wind up with an essay about it eventually, but this should be more than enough until then. This was such an incredible read and definitely surpassed my expectations.
UPDATE: Reread
I listened to the audiobook at the beginning of the year and then reread it in physical form. I fucking love this book. To see my initial thoughts, I do have a review up for the audiobook specifcially (Though I will copy/paste so that the reviews are visble on both editions).
Upon reread, I was able to really dig into things that I didn't notice on my first read. I knew it was really queer then, but I really got a good look at how the queerness is woven into everything: into Andrew's perspective and so many themes.The relationship between Eddie and Andrew is queer all the way down; not just queer as in not heterosexual, but queer as in defying labels -- ineffable -- both before and especially now that Eddie is a ghost. Looking at the haunting and lore around the curse, there is a lot (from my perspective - though I am not an expert on the genre) that gets turned on its head in a very queer way. Andrew is brought into the curse through his connection with Eddie, not through marriage or blood relation, but through a horrific twist on the idea of a curse passed on through bloodline. Another queer element is the blending of so many lines (making Andrew's surname - Blur - more than apt). Lines of relationships, of living and dead, of Andrew and Eddie themselves, of the themes of haunting and heartbreak and desire and suppression, of dream and wake -- I could probably go on but I will stop there.
There's so much about this that is devastatingly tender while also being raw and terrifying and unsettling as hell. There are so many details about this that I don't know how to articulate. But I am so glad that I did a reread and I already have other things that I plan on looking for when I reread it again.
UPDATE: Reread
I listened to the audiobook at the beginning of the year and then reread it in physical form. I fucking love this book. To see my initial thoughts, I do have a review up for the audiobook specifcially (Though I will copy/paste so that the reviews are visble on both editions).
Upon reread, I was able to really dig into things that I didn't notice on my first read. I knew it was really queer then, but I really got a good look at how the queerness is woven into everything: into Andrew's perspective and so many themes.
There's so much about this that is devastatingly tender while also being raw and terrifying and unsettling as hell. There are so many details about this that I don't know how to articulate. But I am so glad that I did a reread and I already have other things that I plan on looking for when I reread it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Vomit
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Cancer
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
5.0
There are soooo many things that I hate in this book. Alcohol and drug use, cars, violence, a huge amount of gore and some more... but I still loved it to pieces! I didn't hate those things here. The writing was so exceptional and immersive that I felt all those things, and they made sense. (FYI: The writing was also quite difficult to get into, be prepared to look words up a lot, but it's worth it to let the prose sink in.) For me, it was the perfect book with the perfect (slow) pacing and timing and perfectly imperfect characters. The story is so wild and unexpected that I had no idea where it was heading for about... 80% of the book. The character work is phenomenal. I would do anything for these characters. I love them so much.
There was one thing I was expecting from the story and I got it, but so much more of it and in an unexpected way. And there was one (huuuuuuuuuuuuge) aspect of the story I didn't expect at all. And it was fantastic in my opinion. But I would understand if it's not for everyone...
I could write so much more about this book, list all the things I loved about it. But what made the reading experience so good in the first place was the fact that I had no idea what was coming.
Quick shoutout to the acknowledgements which gave me life.
Lastly: Please check trigger and content warnings before reading. There are some really hard topics at the center of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
shesaidlividly's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Death of parent
paperbrownies's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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
5.0
- lgbtqiap+, adult, contemporary, mystery, horror, southern gothic, fast cars, disaster queers, slow-burn romance, we needs an adaptation of this one, stays with you like a remnant even after you've put the book down, *chef's kiss*
- m|m, m|m|f
- queer mc, trans polyamorous sc, gay sc, and other queer characters
the vibes in this book? immaculate cuz we have mysterious, we have messy, we have dangerous, spooky, and revved up engines!!
no doubt the atmosphere was the first thing that made me fall for this book even before the characters could introduce themselves.
andrew after being apart for months in anticipation of their reunion comes to find eddie, his best friend d💀d along with all of the latter boy's possession to his name. with so much and nothing to lose andrew's life takes a turn when he decides to dig into ed's work and figure out what was the reason behind it all.
andrew is a messy character who v much does not have his shit together, he is confused, and is haunted by ghosts; the grief mingled with pain and hurt has left his life in a mess that doesn't just originate from ed's passing away but also from the others' expectations of him to fill up shoes that he has no idea how to, and also from his repressed feelings bred from homophobia and even toxic masculinity. the author has done his grief is so tangibile that it touches you and makes you feel the excruciating weight of it even tho it's just fiction. it's the haunting reality for me y'all. this book is a fucking treat in all it's dark and bloody, angst-ridden, mysterious glory!!
when it comes to the characters i'll tell you what, they won me over, and over again. they fucking burrowed into my heart and made a home out of it, like "yEaH,,,,, alrigHT y'all can stay" *says with grudging affection* i love these boys with their big ass hearts!! (':
*also it has never been explicitly mentioned in the book that one of the characters is trans but i read him that way so
cw: mentions and often details of an off page character death (suicide) throughout the book, brief descriptions of injuries sustained throughout the course of the book, ghostly possession, systematic racism, alcohol consumption, smoking, drug usage, vomitting, f-slur, blood, violence, fire (moderate), character with cancer (minor)
- m|m, m|m|f
- queer mc, trans polyamorous sc, gay sc, and other queer characters
the vibes in this book? immaculate cuz we have mysterious, we have messy, we have dangerous, spooky, and revved up engines!!
no doubt the atmosphere was the first thing that made me fall for this book even before the characters could introduce themselves.
andrew after being apart for months in anticipation of their reunion comes to find eddie, his best friend d💀d along with all of the latter boy's possession to his name. with so much and nothing to lose andrew's life takes a turn when he decides to dig into ed's work and figure out what was the reason behind it all.
andrew is a messy character who v much does not have his shit together, he is confused, and is haunted by ghosts; the grief mingled with pain and hurt has left his life in a mess that doesn't just originate from ed's passing away but also from the others' expectations of him to fill up shoes that he has no idea how to, and also from his repressed feelings bred from homophobia and even toxic masculinity. the author has done his grief is so tangibile that it touches you and makes you feel the excruciating weight of it even tho it's just fiction. it's the haunting reality for me y'all. this book is a fucking treat in all it's dark and bloody, angst-ridden, mysterious glory!!
when it comes to the characters i'll tell you what, they won me over, and over again. they fucking burrowed into my heart and made a home out of it, like "yEaH,,,,, alrigHT y'all can stay" *says with grudging affection* i love these boys with their big ass hearts!! (':
*also it has never been explicitly mentioned in the book that one of the characters is trans but i read him that way so
cw: mentions and often details of an off page character death (suicide) throughout the book, brief descriptions of injuries sustained throughout the course of the book, ghostly possession, systematic racism, alcohol consumption, smoking, drug usage, vomitting, f-slur, blood, violence, fire (moderate), character with cancer (minor)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Racism, Torture, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, and Death
keenanmaree's review against another edition
dark
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, and Murder
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