So I’m not reading as much as I used to (weren’t we all avid readers in grade school then tripped and fell on our non-reading faces post-uni?), and I don’t think I’ll ever be cut out to be a full book reviewer. But that doesn’t mean I don’t read and that I don’t have opinions! Because I definitely have opinions.
Firstly, I recommend buying things off bookshop.org, because fuck amazon.
Note: the bookshop.org link is an affiliate link, meaning that I may get a percentage of the book price. It’s a way to support this blog and your local b. berry writer if you so choose.
Moving on!
Here is the first book I read during 2021, though it was quite a few weeks ago by this point.
The Lamb Will Slaughter The Lion. I’ve seen this one hyped a few times on twitter, and it has both a neat cover, a neat title, and a neat monster design. What more could you want?
Unfortunately, I did end up wanting a bit more. It was a lot shorter than I expected—not a bad thing, mind, but I love long books. The characters were good, the main character was especially fantastic with a strong narrative voice (it’s first person POV), but it also was just large enough of a cast that it was overwhelming to meet them all in such a comparatively short time frame.
Also, I was not a fan of the climax. It was anticlimactic! Yes, it made narrative sense, but the tone wasn’t right for me.
That said, it had super great queer rep, and a GREAT MONSTER. I cannot stress that enough. It is some top-tier monster and monster effects. Three-antlered deer deity with questionable morality and who eats out the organs of prey animals, creating zombies? YEAH BOI! The aesthetic alone is deserving of many chef’s kisses.
The novella has clearly been set up for a sequel, if not an entire series. The cast has found each other, a basic idea keeping them together has been set, and relationships are set to bloom. It was a fast read—I read it all in one evening—and that means the action kept coming and none of the tension was lost.
I’m not going to create a rating system here, because I find it hard to quantify things and I don’t think I’ll be doing enough book reviews to warrant caring that much.
Would I recommend the book? That depends.
Do you want a fast read full of great aesthetic horror and cool monsters? Want a read full of LGBTQ rep or support an author who identifies that way? Do you want the first in a novella series about found family supernatural hunters? Then by all means, check it out!
Do you want an in-depth read that spends time building up its cast or Who Really Is The Monster antagonists? Do you want a climax that will stick with you to the end of days? Maybe skip it. Up to you!
