“Everyone wants Asian girls to look pretty. No one wants them to talk.”
before i type anything - please ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
“Everyone wants Asian girls to look pretty. No one wants them to talk.”
before i type anything - please know that this is a dark story, and i do believe that if you are asian this book is going to be even more difficult to read. this book (and review) discusses hate crimes against asian people during the peak of covid here in the states. just please use caution going into this book and make sure you are in an okay headspace to read about that. and i hope you are able to pick this one up, because it is for sure a favorite of 2025 for me.
this story is about a biracial girl named cora zeng, who has always felt not “chinese enough”, yet people have always shown her that she also isn’t white enough. and in april 2020, on a subway platform, when the world is feeling already empty, her sister is murdered right in front of her. then the story jumps to august of 2020, where cora is trying to learn how to live without her sister and how to carry her grief when she feels so extra alone. she does get a job to be part of a crime scene cleanup crew in chinatown, and soon starts to see a pattern with asian women being brutally murdered, and wonders if there is potentially a serial killer doing this. and on top of it all, she thinks she could potentially be seeing her sister’s ghost, who seems very hungry for something.
the hungry ghost festival / ghost month is celebrated sometime between july, august, and september, and it is the first day of the festival when she sees this ghost. with the help of her friends, and her amazing aunt, she tries to figure out what is going on in nyc and what is going on inside her mind, too. and hopefully she can before the last day of the hungry ghost festival.
again, this is a really hard book to read at times, but i really loved it. i think it’s powerful, i think it’s so beautifully written, i think it’s going to help a lot of people see what it can feel like to be a child of immigrants, especially when you’re trapped in a country that will never let you forget it, during a pandemic they blame on you to excuse their racism and hate. to me, this book is ultimately a story about a girl who is just trying to find peace. peace with her grief, peace with her family + identity, peace for her sister and all these other asian women who never deserved what happened to them.
cora’s identity meant a lot to me, because my dad is asian and my mom is white, and that really is a rare asian american biracial experience for me to read about, even in 2025. also, it has gotten a lot better as of 2025, but i was really struggling with health anxiety induced ocd after 2020. the scene with cora going to the optometrist? that was truly me the last couple of years, with so many different kinds of doctors, and i would never wish it on anyone. so i just really wanted to write a little extra paragraph saying that i loved this book for so many reasons, but i also felt seen in many different ways that i was not anticipating.
in 2021 the world read about (and watched) a filipino elder being brutally beaten in new york while she was just trying to get to church. and i know that’s just one heartbreaking real story among so many during this time of a surge in these racially charged hate crimes, but i read that story over and over, while feeling so nauseous, with so much fear, for my devout grandma, who is also an immigrant from the philippines. and while being across the country from her, and the rest of my family, unable to do anything, unable to even pretend i could protect them. and i know so many asian americans have stories like this, some that have stories like cora’s and yuxi’s. and i wish i had better words to use here, but i don’t. especially with the racially charged escalation from our leaders, because of the protests going on in la right now, that are terrorizing and breaking apart more immigrant families and communities. but some people would rather close a glass door, look out, and pretend not to see the blood right in front of them. and then also pretend that their hands are now not covered in blood, too.
trigger + content warnings: graphic and detailed descriptions of violent hate crimes against asian women, racism, slurs, fetishization of asian women, grief, loss of loved ones, covid, the pandemic, murder, death, gore, unwanted touching, assault, health anxiety / ocd, intrusive thoughts, spider imagery, abandonment, cult mentions, drinking, talk of zionists, talk of nazis (in a negative light // of of these things in a negative light!), police brutality mentions, gun violence, talk of institutionalization, snuff videos and pictures of really graphic and disturbing crimes against asians, car crash, talk of child abuse and death, fire - this book gets really dark, please use caution and make sure you’re in a okay headspace
this is a really beautiful collection of short stories, all having the ebb and flow of the sea crafted seamlessly into them. i enjoyed this so much, tthis is a really beautiful collection of short stories, all having the ebb and flow of the sea crafted seamlessly into them. i enjoyed this so much, that i actually think this solidifies that julie armfield is my newest favorite author, and i just hope she keeps giving the world (and me) her stories.
down below i breakdown each individual story in this anthology collection, with the trigger and content warnings that i wrote down while reading!
━━♡ Mantis ★★★★
“I choose Greek myths and ghost stories, tales that come in under fourteen pages and culminate in violent lessons. I read aloud and let her stop me when she wants to – stories of swans and spiders, bay trees, narcissi, girls transformed into monsters by rivals playing dirty.”
this was a very strong start to the anthology, and there is just something so insanely lulling about this author's writing to me. it for sure reminded me of how much i loved our wives under the sea and it has really similar vibes at first, too! but this is a story about those transformative years, of being a girl and growing up surrounded by people and things that are also transforming you and the way you think and feel (about yourself and the world). shedding your childhood and growing into a body that is being dictated by others while you're still in metamorphosis and learning what your truly want to transform into. and the ending was just great. plus, you all know i'm also going to love a growing up catholic backdrop on top of a really compelling story.
cw/tw: this short story has a lot of talk of body image and parents and friends talking about the mc's body image, also talk of weight and diet and starvation and food, talk of menstruation, blood, drinking, threat of sa, and i would also say just sickness in general with some body horror
━━♡ The Great Sleep ★★★★
“You don't notice the way a city breathes until it changes its sleeping habits.”
this is the type of story crafting where i am just impressively saying "wow, this is so cool, how did you think this up?" and then upon finishing my mind is going wild with metaphor meanings. but this is a tale of a wave of sleeplessness hits the world, and the people impacted now have a personification of their sleep that just kind of hangs out with them and makes life more annoying while they are more and more sleep deprived. and our mc finds comfort in her dreamlessness with someone in her apartment complex who is still able to sleep, even if she is constantly questioning why she hasn't stopped along with most people.
i feel like this instantly made me think of vegas, my current city, and how there is a magic to the restlessness that is pretty indescribable, even if you know it's not the healthiest. but i think this story could be a metaphor for mental health, i think it could maybe be touching on abuse, or maybe how loneliness can feel all consuming. i think this might be about health and people saying wild shit as reasonings for serious things, or if could just be a cool story that i know will stick with me. i really enjoyed this one.
cw/tw: things with sleep and the miserableness of being sleep deprived
━━♡ The Collectables ★★
“That's the problem with kissing. In theory, when someone's good at it, you should be able to keep kissing forever. But of course, forever is too long to do anything without getting bored.”
three women living together, all friends trying to get their phds, who all have been hurt by men. and we get to see one of the women spiraling more and more with her line-drawn paper doll that she is adding bits slowly to. this wasn't my favorite, sadly, but maybe that's because my american ass has to google princess anne and then that really just set the tone for picturing the rest of the story in my mind lol.
“The house opened around her the way you crack a chest cavity, the ribs of it, the unnatural gape.”
sadly, i feel like i overhyped this one for myself. during a divorce, two young girls get separated between the parents, and we follow the child that stays with her father. yet, soon after, the father remarries a neighbor who has a wolf for a daughter, and we get to watch them grow up together. i know i like the themes of this, but for some reason the execution just fell short for me.
“...you don't come to a party you weren't invited to.”
me and evie going on tour with all the other orbits for loona lol. no no, okay this story focuses on a very popular girl group, and their incredible fanbase, and two girls who are working on the crew for this tour. and sinister things keep happening on the tour bus and during each city stop. but this is a story about anger and rage and connecting with other people who feel that same anger and rage when you feel like the rest of the world is ignoring it. about pushing back, when you feel you're not being heard or seen. i obviously love the message of this one, i love seeing the romance extra with this setting, and i had a good time with this.
tw/cw: many mentions of violence (car accident, riots, assault), vomit, blood
━━♡ Granite ★★★★★
“Maggie always found it a little unfair that her mother should encourage her to be fiercely independent, whilst also making a horror story out of being alone.”
maggie is 29 and wondering if it's time to settle down with a man who seems better than the rest. she is asking her friends for advice, yet something is going on and someone in her housing complex is also noticing. the pressure from your family, your friends, the entire world to be what is perceived as "normal" and doing things a certain way so you won't regret it later in life.. my god that weight is crushing. especially when you're approaching thirty / in your thirties and the weight of all those expectations from outside factors are also making you feel like you're depreciating by the second. this story story just really perfectly hit for me, in a deeply felt way, and really made me think about the word loneliness and how combatting that can look very different. and also, how as humans, our experiences make us never truly alone (aka: me reading this short story through the tears streaming down my face). also, this story feels like it has a side of comphet discussion, which is always appreciated.
tw/cw: metaphorical illness / sickness
━━♡ Smack ★★★★
“From this pretense of space, she can play-act other nights, other weekends, when the house was furnished with more than the memory of things.”
this was a beautiful, haunting story about a girl who went from her father controlling her, to her husband also trying to control her - the way generation after generation of men like to do to women, especially the ones they claim to love. and in this take we get to see our mc refusing the leave her beach house during a divorce, and jellyfish are flooding the shoreline and making people question a lot of their thoughts on uncontrollable creatures who are able to break expectations, even if only briefly.
tw/cw: rough mental health (probably depression), not being able to sleep, lawyers demanding things of you, divorce, bad relationship in the past, mention of loss of father in past
━━♡ Cassandra After ★★★★
“She slid an arm around me and kissed me on the side of the mouth in a way that made me love her terribly, though I had promised God the opposite only minuets before.”
listen, a story about growing up catholic and being queer is always going to combination that is very deeply felt by me. the guilt, shame, and self punishment is just something that can be very real, and in this story we get to see our mc struggling, both past and present, after the loss of her partner. ahhh, this just really made me feel so many things, but just so much sadness. we also always love some aro/ace discussions being started - and how that can make discovering yourself/labels more difficult sometimes, too. (also, i loved a bonus tie-in from the other short story.)
tw/cw: loss of a partner / loved one, depression depiction, grief, self harm mention (pulling out fingernails), homophobia, cheating
━━♡ Salt Slow ★★★★
“A very slender sort of betrayal, the deliberate absence from a room.”
this final short story is a dystopian talk of two people on a boat, living while the whole world is underwater. we get to see some of their past, and how things in their relationships shaped their present, and we even get some odyssey cameos. this was really heartbreaking to read, but it was so beautifully crafted. and i think that depression, especially after an isolating loss, really could make one feel like they are living in this world depicted. ahh, i won't lie, these last two stories in the collection feel like they have taken a lot from me. but i think that is a testament to how good of an author julia is.
tw/cw: starvation/hunger, pregnancy, talk of miscarrying / loss of a child, blood, death, drowning, dead sea life mentions
this summer, i watched all of season 1 with my brot➛ vol. 1 ★★★★ ➛ vol. 2 ★★★ ➛ vol. 3 ★★★ ➛ vol. 4 ★★★
“Promise me.. That you won’t leave me behind.”
this summer, i watched all of season 1 with my brother in michigan, and i knew once i picked up a new volume it was about to hit differently. and… here we are. this volume really focuses on the characters, and getting to know them better, while they all kind of fight each other duel style, but i just adored it.
obviously, i love our main characters from the previous volumes, but i fell so in love with todo (and i know all the kpop girls would, too), momo was always going to make me feel a bit seen, and i can’t even talk about mai and maki without weeping while typing this. i just love them all so much! and this goodwill event really will make you fall in love with them too!
i really am loving every itadori and sukuna interaction/moment. honestly, sukuna was my favorite character in thi➛ vol. 1 ★★★★ ➛ vol. 2 ★★★ ➛ vol. 3 ★★★
i really am loving every itadori and sukuna interaction/moment. honestly, sukuna was my favorite character in this fourth installment, and im not sure what that says about me, but here we are. my heart @ junpei, fully and utterly. mahito, after my fave scene with sukuna, thinks up a new mission to steal some remaining cursed fingers of sukuna. but besides that, we get to see the start of the good year event, which is a team battle of different schools, where the most exorcisms win. but obviously, itadori is a target all on his own. so, so, so excited to continue on, probably extra because of the cliffhanger ending feeling of this, too!
this 3rd volume picks right up with fushiguro and nanami vs the kids from th➛ vol. 1 ★★★★ ➛ vol. 2 ★★★
“it’s not a bad thing to not forgive people.”
this 3rd volume picks right up with fushiguro and nanami vs the kids from the other school. i didn’t really care too much about this story line, but i am going to pretend that fushiguro is a pan king, thank you very much. there was a new storyline (and character) introduced in this installment, which i really enjoyed and i am so excited to continue on because of it. basically, we learn a lot more about cursed energy and how it can create cursed spirits in this world. we meet mahito, who is pretty much leaked horrors incarnate, and they are mentoring junpels, who is a boy who is kind of bitter towards the world because of the bullying he has received, and mahito has shown him how to reclaim some power, but maybe not in the best way. itadori is then tasked with finding him, and gets to know him (and his mom) a little bit. meanwhile, jujutsu sorcerer, nanami, goes after mahito. nanami really said that he is clocking out regardless and i deeply respect that - and i find myself falling in love with many of these characters, so very easily.
trigger + content warnings: violence, battle, gore, body horror, gun violence, death, smoking, mention of loss of parents in past, bullying, and (i feel like) some fatphobia with the art
in this second installment, we really get to learn more about jujutsu high and a lot of the ➛ vol. 1 ★★★★
“I’m not a hero. I’m a jujutsu sorcerer.”
in this second installment, we really get to learn more about jujutsu high and a lot of the students. but we also get to see itadori learning to train and channel his cursed energy with gojo (who, yes - you are all correct, i love him dearly already)! itadori is in a very hard situation with the demon inside of him and we get to learn a little more about that expanding relationship alongside… domain expansion - which is really cool! This volume also is prepping for a goodwill event (aka: tournament) with their sister school, and i am very excited for what is to come! overall, i just love this world and these characters and need more immediately!
trigger + content warnings: possession, battle, violence, gore, loss of a friend momentarily, and… i don’t know, this is a story about a guy eating a demon finger but i don’t even know what kind of tw/cw that would be - maybe cannibalism in the past, but also mentioned in the present a lot >.<
“I dreamt myths larger than my girl body could hold.”
such a heartfelt literary horror debut that i think i will hold inside me forever. i really d
“I dreamt myths larger than my girl body could hold.”
such a heartfelt literary horror debut that i think i will hold inside me forever. i really did love this, and the writing is just completely out of this world. i cannot wait to see what this author does next, and just follow their career and stories forever.
ren has loved mermaids and their stories for all her life, but when she is a small girl she also discovers her love and fascination for the water, and the escapism and transformation it can bring. She joins her school's swim team and starts swimming competitively, and this story takes place in highschool when her life is consumed with being the best swimmer her body will allow her to be, despite being only human… for now. and we get to watch ren holding on to the identity of a girl, of a swimmer, of a child of immigrants, of being queer, and we get to also watch her become the mermaid she was always meant to be.
chlorine is also a little bit of an epistolary novel, and we get to see letters being written to ren’s friend/love interest, cathy, where we get to see her perspective of the transformation of ren, while also being filled with longing. this just adds an extra dark tone to the novel, because the reader is reading these one sided letters of missing someone, while switching back and forth to the story and the direction of events that are playing out with Ren inside her mind.
i feel like you probably shouldn’t know too much more before going in, but some other things in this novel that i really loved, despite being hard to read: talk of being a child of diaspora and how the american dream your elders came searching for can really be a nightmare. how doctors can be horrible and not actually care about their patients or their health, and how medical care you are choosing to get can still feel like a violation, and how these last two things can be so much bigger when you're a queer nonwhite kid. how adults can push kids so far past their limits, yet still ignore all the signs that they are drowning.
overall, i really did love this and sapphic asian stories about feeling like you’re from a completely different world are always going to tug on my heartstrings very hard and very deeply. (and if you need to hear it, you belong and your continuous transformation is beautiful.) i really recommend this debut if you are in a good head space with the trigger warnings. bonus: this author is army and wrote a really beautiful piece about their debut novel, inspiration, and bts (and i am very grateful to read this blue side story and gain hope.) - On BTS, Writing, and What Makes an Artist. bonus bonus: i wrote this entire review listening to come back to me by rm on repeat because bts are also one of my greatest inspirations in life.
content warnings at the start of the book: racism, misogyny, self-harm, eating disorders, homophobia, depression, and sexual violence.
additional trigger + content warnings i found while reading: blood, menstruation, scene getting an iud, talk of abortion, pregnancy scare, abandonment, child abuse, grooming, hospital setting, concussion, extreme headaches, car crash one sentence mention, anxiety, grief, pica, needles, talk of debt, abuse of medication, drinking, smoking, vomit, bad medical professionals and treatment, a lot of microaggressions from the love interest, and i just want to emphasize that there is a lot of talk of body image and a lot of food descriptions that are central themes in this book that go hand in hand with disordered eating.
“It was sick, but back then she had liked the power of punishing people with her absence. Of making herself disappear only to turn up again, like s
“It was sick, but back then she had liked the power of punishing people with her absence. Of making herself disappear only to turn up again, like some twisted little magic trick.”
alexis henderson is really out here with some of the most beautiful writing i’ve ever read in my life. every book i pick up by her just amazes me with her prose. and this story has one of the most unique premises i’ve ever read, as well.
lennon carter is at her engagement party when she realizes that maybe this is not the life she is meant to have, regardless how much she wants to be worthy of love, even with a shitty partner. one escape and payphone later, she is swept into a world of academics she never knew existed - filled with gates and shadows and a different set of expectations. and i loved it so very much.
i feel like this story might be better to go in not knowing anything more than that, but i will say that this has one of the best endings i’ve read in a very long time. just haunting and perfect and i feel like alexis really went for it, and it really paid off for me and my reading tastes.i also love how this author talks about different biracial experiences in her books, and this was no different. this book also really discusses mental health and prioritizing healing - both by yourself and with the help of others. and how that journey can be a really hard one to navigate, especially alone, or with people who will maybe not make the best choices alongside you. this was just expertly crafted and i never wanted to stop flipping these pages. and i hope that if you’re reading this, you open all the gates you want to open, regardless of anyone else’s feelings and wants, ever.
trigger + content warnings: racism, panic attacks, talk of rehab / psychiatric hospital, cheating, suicidal thoughts, student + advisor relationship (with uneven power dynamics), drug use, smoking, blood, vomit, seizures, asthma attacks, magical experimentation on rats, talk of domestic abuse in past, suicide, one sentence mention of cancer, talk of loss of sibling in past, statutory rape in past, crown crush, talk of overdose, dark compulsion thoughts / ocd, violence, grief, death of animals (fish, birds, maybe rats), magical compulsion, gore, ptsd, sex shaming (negative light), drowning, one brief scene involving a white supremist. This story can get pretty dark at times, especially with mental health and some dark thoughts that can come during hard times, so please use caution!
“I love the world I hate simply because you live in it.”
this is truly the weirdest book i’ve ever read. i kind of thought i was going to like it,
“I love the world I hate simply because you live in it.”
this is truly the weirdest book i’ve ever read. i kind of thought i was going to like it, just from the title and premise alone, but i was a little apprehensive because so many of my goodreads friends did not vibe with this one. but from chapter one, and reading some of the most impressive writing ive ever read, let alone from a debut, i knew this was really going to work for me. i am a bit hesitant to recommend it, because i just know it is going to be too weird and too satirical, and the writing too purple prose and too stream of consciousness for a lot of readers. but if you’re looking for something very different, something that's really going to pull you out of your own comfortability, something unlike anything else you’ve read before, i would recommend that book wholeheartedly.
the very basic, surface level, premise of this story is that we follow a fanfiction writer (who goes by y/n of course) who become more and more obsessed with a kpop idol. there is a constant emphasis on the idol industry and how harsh it is - from eating disorders, to being overworked, to pushing your body beyond its limits, to also being stalked by people who call themselves fans. these are a constant throughline of obsessive fandom culture and how that enables capitalism even more, and how sometimes parasocial relationships can feel very manipulative and cult-like. and i feel like this is where the disconnect comes from (besides that insanity that is this book) because either people aren’t familiar with the kpop industry or they feel attacked because they do understand the kpop industry and they feel uncomfortable with their place in it. (and i say this as someone who has a youtube channel dedicated to park jimin and collecting his photocards lol)
“But his first-place ranking made the disturbing suggestion that my imagination, one of the few remaining places where I felt truly free, was actually the site of my dreariest conformity. I knew my feelings for Moon were neither unique nor all that extreme, and I even viewed mass popularity as his rightful due. But writing stories about him was supposed to have represented a higher level of devotion, an elitist kink in the plain template of fandom.”
but, to me, this is a book about depression - and it truly is one of the most powerful depictions of it that i have ever read. following y/n and seeing the way she justifies everything, and feeling so much disgust one page and then so much empathy the very next page, it is truly a roller coaster through a fever dream feeling reading this entire book. this is a story about consuming, yet wanting so badly to be consumed. Feeling so lonely, and hyperfocusing on the one light in your dark world so you can feel like you are somewhat living. this is a depiction of mental health for south koreans (and so many asian communities) where help can be nowhere to be found, both professionally and from your family. (and additionally, lack of resources, lack of empathy, and just lack of help everywhere to help people who need help be able to have access to help - from our young to our elderly!) and how industries, marketing, and capitalism will prey on individuals trying to live their lives escaping. and this is a story about giving yourself wholly to something so it’s all not for nothing.
“For the first time, I doubted the singularity of my love and thereby its truth. I glimpsed a future where I felt nothing for Moon, as one did, with both relief and melancholy, on the cusp of a breakup. I nearly fainted from disorientation. My love, which I'd considered, not without pride, a destabilizing force, was turning out to be exactly that which stabilized me.”
i also feel like this book is about identity and being a diaspora adult, going back to your home country, and experiencing a lot of feelings that you don’t really know what to do with. loving something that makes you feel more connected to your identity, but then seeing a lot of “fans” that you are supposed to relate to, appropriating and fetishizing your culture (and non koreans commenting on your fullent korean accent!!). and just seeing people view idols not as artists, but as perfect objects of their consumption and enjoyment. there are a lot of bold and important themes in these 200 pages, and i sadly do think a lot of readers are missing them.
again, this is a wild story. like, i really don’t want to give anything away - but there is a scene where y/n actually is able to give her idol her fanfic (which is very dark fanfic) and i was sliding off my bed reading it because i was feeling so uncomfortable. i really am tempted to give it five stars just because it really did make me feel so many emotions, while being unlike anything i’ve ever read before. but if you pick this up because of me and hate it, don’t blame me because i warned you 500 times this is a really weird book with a lot of uncomfortable and dark things! but this is a story i think that is really going to stick with me, and i absolutely cannot wait to see what esther yi writes next.
trigger + content warnings: depression, talk of body image, disordered eating, racism, fetishization, abusive relationships, a lot of talk of death, talk of suicide, suicide ideation, one sentence mention of school shootings, vomit, talk of disability, blood, accidental self harm, mention of death of pet in past (dog being poisoned by neighbors), and a big portion of this book discussed and shows dementia
“Any horror story could be said to work in two pieces: the fear of being wholly alone and of realizing that one has company.”
julia armfield is jus
“Any horror story could be said to work in two pieces: the fear of being wholly alone and of realizing that one has company.”
julia armfield is just a new all time favorite author for me, both of her full length books, and her short story collection, were just perfection to me. her writing is just so haunting and her characters are so impactful and this book was just a masterpiece to me and my reading tastes.
private rites is a modern king lear reimagining, where all three daughters are queer, and living in a world that has been so impacted by climate change that the world is mostly underwater and humans are forced to build up. the father in this story was a luxury architect that helped build luxury living in the form of skyrises, while others were forced to live in a world that is always raining and the water levels are getting higher and higher. and the three daughters are forced back together after leaving their abusive palace in the sky, because their father has passed away, but maybe the family secrets not being laid to rest alongside him.
i loved these three daughters, and how different their worlds forged them into being. I read in a goodreads interview where the author talks about how even though she knew she was writing what the world would deem “unlovable characters” she wanted to show that they are still deserving of love and partners who show up for them. i loved that, i felt that on every page, during all three povs. and how, because of capitalism, these women are forced to wake up in a drowned world and go to work like everything is normal. i feel like it would be impossible for you to read this in 2024 and not think of the comparisons to the 2020 pandemic and how most of us are still really trying to process that immense trauma, while many of us were still forced to clock in every day, and not everyone lucky enough to do so safely.
but if you know how king lear ends, well… this really is a reimaging, with a clifi setting, that is talking about capitalism and abuse and how those things go very much hand in hand - especially in our current day society, and upon finishing you will also realize that this is a true horror story. i loved every page and i recommend with my whole heart to everyone.
trigger + content warnings: blood, loss of a father (mention of stroke and heart attack), loss of mother in past talk of cults, child abuse in past, vomit, panic attacks, sleep issues, talk of bad dreams, abandonment, anxiety, pica mention in past, suicide attempt // self harm in past, some hospital setting, drowning, mention of infidelity in past (parents), drinking, smoking, brief mention of dementia, one sentence homophobia mention (in negative light), unwanted touching
even though i did not love this, i think i have finally recognized that i’m just not this type of horror reader. i love anything speculative, anythingeven though i did not love this, i think i have finally recognized that i’m just not this type of horror reader. i love anything speculative, anything paranormal, but actual murders/slasher-like stories? they just don’t work for me, they have never worked for me, and this one also did not work for me. and if a sapphic cottagecore one didn’t work for me, i fear just none ever will. so i really implore you to look at other reviews if this book sounds good to you - here are some of my faves: gabby, genesee, cassidy
but yeah! sapphic, cottagecore, two girls meeting at a farmers market, but something sinister is always looming in the background. our main character is an assistant professor who has finally moved from the big city after a bad breakup. she is very lonely, very isolated, and trying to find a bit of happiness despite some major trust issues. i felt like this book was told in a satirical way, where the author is very aware and letting you know how pretentious rosemary is, and how she is just ignoring every red flag left, right, and center. yet, i also thought it was exploring themes of not wanting to see you are in an abusive relationship, and wanting to believe your partner so badly that you will very much be hurting yourself in the process by ignoring their abuse. and that’s important and something that i think can be hard to see, especially in your 20s and you’re leaving the only life you’ve ever really known, on top of having emotionally abusive family situations who have normalized abuse for you.
again, sadly, this just didn’t work for me, i think mostly because i just knew what was happening and for some reason having to watch it play out was just not as enjoyable as i wished it was. It really did feel like the 200 pages did go quickly and i was invested enough, maybe hoping a different twist would come and change the trajectory of the very obvious plot, but i never wanted to put the book down! and i will also say the very end of this book was actually insane and i let out the biggest gasp i didn’t know i was holding lol. i just kind of wish we had a moment like that in the middle of the story, and then the last half could have felt fresher and like there were more possibilities. not to be spoilery, but i was highkey hoping the roles would be reversed at the midway point, but alas! regardless, i hope if you pick this one up that you enjoy it! happy reading, and happy trying to enjoy eating charcuterie boards with meat after this one, friends!
trigger + content warnings: a lot of talk of body image, mention of infidelity, mention of loss of a father in the past, abandonment, missing person mention, abusive guardian in past, child abuse in past, animal cruelty + animal death (racoon), drinking, throwing up, unwanted videos being taken, one sentence mention/insinuation of pictures of underage children taken at a pool with them unknowing in the past, unknowing (and knowing) cannibalism, gaslighting, abuse in a relationship, abduction, captivity, amputation, violence, torture, gore
“You may feel lost. Don’t expect gratitude. Just help them.”
this is one of my brother’s favorite ongoing series, and with the way social media has
“You may feel lost. Don’t expect gratitude. Just help them.”
this is one of my brother’s favorite ongoing series, and with the way social media has been reacting to the current chapter, i knew i could no longer ignore this story! and i really had a good time with this first volume, and i really, really, really instantly fell in love with Itadori Yuji.
this is a story about cursed objects, demons, a mysterious school in tokyo, and one boy just wanting to help as many people as he can. i truly really enjoyed this one and i really loved how curses in this world are manifestations of people’s hurt and pain and sadness (because sometimes that really feels true in our world too). this did get a little spooky at times, so use caution if you need to, but i absolutely cannot wait to read more - especially with that cliffhanger ending!
trigger + content warnings: sickness, brief hospital setting, talk of death, death, loss of a loved one (grandfather), grief, violence, gore, fighting, possession, brief cannibalism, harm to an animal - maybe death to an animal (divine dog), insect imagery (spiders + ticks)
“Sometimes my poems venerated her like a saint, other times they cast her as the Devil herself, but Carmilla always played a starring role.”
my gra
“Sometimes my poems venerated her like a saint, other times they cast her as the Devil herself, but Carmilla always played a starring role.”
my grandmas should have been at the 1968 ivy league dark academy vampire clubs (highkey, that’s what i kept thinking while reading this each time the year was mentioned >.< lol)
okay okay, moving on, this was a very highly anticipated new book by st gibson, after a dowry of blood blew everyone’s minds in the previous years. this story is a carmilla reimagining, where we follow laura, while she attends a very prestigious university in massachusetts, where she wishes to study poetry. yet, she soon meets the carmilla of this story when the poetry professor makes them spend more time than just in class together. and then carmilla slowly introduces laura to an entirely different world, sometimes filled with secrets and monsters.
yes, this book did let me down, too, but I truly do think a lot of people are being a little too hard on this book. i think the expectations for everyone were just so high because of this author’s debut. but there is still a lot of good in this story, besides just paying good homage to the original sapphic story! i think this also has some good discussions, like inappropriate and manipulative power dynamics. the writing is lovely, and i think ts gibson can craft 11/10 settings and atmospheres. again, we love the queer vampire clubs. we love some pan / bi / attraction to multiple genders rep always. and i truly adored the last page of this book, and it has the exact kind of ending i love. i will always root for girls not wanting to be saints, not wanting to be scared, but wanting to become whatever they want to become in that moment, with power they have always deserved to claim and to have.
sadly, i didn’t love this one as much as i hoped, either. the story just never grabbed my attention and the characters never grasped my heart. but i still see the good and i can’t wait to read more from this author, even if this one was not my favorite.
author’s note trigger + content warnings: uneven power dynamics, inappropriate relationships between a professor and students, toxic academic environments, blood, gore, murder, consensual sexual content (including public sex), kink (negotiated and spontaneous), alcohol use, drug use, smoking, racist political policies, homophobia, religious discrimination against women.
additional trigger + content warnings i wrote down while reading: abandonment in past, vomit / bile, one sentence about animal death in past (kitten), mention of loss of mom in past, self harm imagery in poetry.
[2021 reread] i'm still so in love, still an all-time favorite.
[2017 first read] I loved absolutely everything about this graphic novel. To date, it i[2021 reread] i'm still so in love, still an all-time favorite.
[2017 first read] I loved absolutely everything about this graphic novel. To date, it is by far the best graphic novel I have ever read, and even surpasses my love for Saga. I am completely blown away, and will count down the days until Vol. 2 releases (June 6th, 2017).
[image]This story follows a seventeen year old girl named Maika, whose story starts out where she is being sold as a slave. The reader will immediately notice that Maika has a very strange tattoo of an eye on her chest, and she is missing an arm. Yet, it becomes very clear very early that Maika is much stronger than what she seems.
Maika is struggling to hold in her monster, while also trying to get answers from her past. With the help of an adorable little half-fox and a poet cat, Maika is on a journey to discover herself, her past, and what's truly inside of her, all while she carries a very mysterious and sought after item.
In this world there are five races: ➽Humans - Like you and me. ➽Ancients - Immortal, animal-like rulers with an immense amount of power. ➽Cats - Much like people, can speak and fight, but much more adorable. ➽Old Gods - Little to no knowledge of them. ➽Areanics - Half of each
[image]
Also in this world, there are factions at war: ➽The Federation - Humans, who just hate magic users and refuse to let them live and breed. These humans will take Arcanics and make them slaves to do whatever terrible things they wish. ➽Arcanics - Magic users, who are sort of hybrids of the Ancients. Also, two powerful courts, the Dawn Court and the Dusk Court, have risen up to defend against the Cumaea. ➽Cumaea - Witch-like people that use Arcanic's body parts to make Lillium.
People in this world will use a drug like substance called Lillium for power, regeneration, and in some cases, resurrection. Between the war and the use of this magical substance, this world is also now aware of things much bigger than the Federation and Arcanics.
This graphic novel is not only bigger than most bind-ups, but it has significantly more writing than most graphic novels, too! You receive a lot, and I do mean a lot, of information and very quickly. This really worked for me, because it became way more of an immersion, while also reading closer to a book. Yet, I can understand how this would be a different reading experience for some, so I felt the need to bring it up.
The story is so brilliant and impactful. I can already tell I'm going to be thinking about this world for such a long time, because this is the type of story that just sticks with you, while festering in your heart. I truly love everything about this.
The art was so magnificent and I found myself constantly just staring at some pages in disbelief that a human created it. This art also brought very many tears to my eyes very many times, constantly evoking so much pure emotion from me. On top of having an amazing story, it is the best art I've ever seen in a comic, ever.
[image]
Trigger warnings for human trafficking, slavery, child brutality, and many other dark themes that are in the violence and gore vein. This is a dark story, and it doesn't shy away from that darkness or its brutality.
I loved everything about this graphic novel: the story, the characters, the art, the representation, everything. I honestly cannot see any graphic work ever beating this. I am in awe and my thoughts probably aren't even coherent, but this is something unique and special. Please give this comic series a try if you haven't already.
I swear to you with my entire soul, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. This is maybe even a once in a lifetime masterpiece. I never put graphic novels on my "best of the year" list, but I think this is the year I make an exception for Monstress.
[2021 reread] i'm still so in love, still an all-time favorite.
[2017 first read] I loved absolutely everything about this graphic novel. To date, it is by far the best graphic novel I have ever read, and even surpasses my love for Saga. I am completely blown away, and will count down the days until Vol. 2 releases (June 6th, 2017).
[image]This story follows a seventeen year old girl named Maika, whose story starts out where she is being sold as a slave. The reader will immediately notice that Maika has a very strange tattoo of an eye on her chest, and she is missing an arm. Yet, it becomes very clear very early that Maika is much stronger than what she seems.
Maika is struggling to hold in her monster, while also trying to get answers from her past. With the help of an adorable little half-fox and a poet cat, Maika is on a journey to discover herself, her past, and what's truly inside of her, all while she carries a very mysterious and sought after item.
In this world there are five races: ➽Humans - Like you and me. ➽Ancients - Immortal, animal-like rulers with an immense amount of power. ➽Cats - Much like people, can speak and fight, but much more adorable. ➽Old Gods - Little to no knowledge of them. ➽Areanics - Half of each
[image]
Also in this world, there are factions at war: ➽The Federation - Humans, who just hate magic users and refuse to let them live and breed. These humans will take Arcanics and make them slaves to do whatever terrible things they wish. ➽Arcanics - Magic users, who are sort of hybrids of the Ancients. Also, two powerful courts, the Dawn Court and the Dusk Court, have risen up to defend against the Cumaea. ➽Cumaea - Witch-like people that use Arcanic's body parts to make Lillium.
People in this world will use a drug like substance called Lillium for power, regeneration, and in some cases, resurrection. Between the war and the use of this magical substance, this world is also now aware of things much bigger than the Federation and Arcanics.
This graphic novel is not only bigger than most bind-ups, but it has significantly more writing than most graphic novels, too! You receive a lot, and I do mean a lot, of information and very quickly. This really worked for me, because it became way more of an immersion, while also reading closer to a book. Yet, I can understand how this would be a different reading experience for some, so I felt the need to bring it up.
The story is so brilliant and impactful. I can already tell I'm going to be thinking about this world for such a long time, because this is the type of story that just sticks with you, while festering in your heart. I truly love everything about this.
The art was so magnificent and I found myself constantly just staring at some pages in disbelief that a human created it. This art also brought very many tears to my eyes very many times, constantly evoking so much pure emotion from me. On top of having an amazing story, it is the best art I've ever seen in a comic, ever.
[image]
Trigger warnings for human trafficking, slavery, child brutality, and many other dark themes that are in the violence and gore vein. This is a dark story, and it doesn't shy away from that darkness or its brutality.
I loved everything about this graphic novel: the story, the characters, the art, the representation, everything. I honestly cannot see any graphic work ever beating this. I am in awe and my thoughts probably aren't even coherent, but this is something unique and special. Please give this comic series a try if you haven't already.
I swear to you with my entire soul, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. This is maybe even a once in a lifetime masterpiece. I never put graphic novels on my "best of the year" list, but I think this is the year I make an exception for Monstress.
“It was the first time I thought about how strange it was that the thing I spent all my time doing belonged to a culture that wasn't mine. But my p
“It was the first time I thought about how strange it was that the thing I spent all my time doing belonged to a culture that wasn't mine. But my parents were the ones who taught me piano. It is just as much a part of my blood as it is hers.”
oh friends, i really thought this was going to be a five star at first! the writing is so atmospheric and enchanting and harrowing and just... it's perfect. and i still really enjoyed the story as well! the themes of connection and belonging in two different worlds constantly were so loud and heartfelt. i know a lot of younger diaspora people will find so much with these pages, both good and bad but very real and seen. there were multiple parts of this story that made me cry and feel so many things simultaneously.
the end was just too wild for me. maybe i'm too much of a horror new reader, but i just couldn't. i, very heartbreakingly, loved the metaphor at the end too, but i just ended up not loving the story as a whole as much as i hoped for when starting. i still highly recommend this debut with my whole heart and i am very happy that i was able to read it.
trigger and content warnings (some of these could be plot spoilers so please use caution): suicidal thoughts, depression, ptsd, anxiety, grief, racism, colorism, talk of labor camps in past, extreme bullying in past, disordered eating and a lot of descriptions of disordered eating thoughts, hospitalization of loved ones, hospital setting, loss of parents, loss of a loved one, animal abuse, animal testing, animal deaths, human experimentations, sexual assault, sexual abuse, grooming, predatory behavior, drugging, forced impregnation, kind of bestiality maybe idk, cannibalism, lots of descriptions of worms and slugs and spiders and crabs, blood, death, seizures, and just lots of body horror things!
i really enjoyed this novella, and sequel to what moves the dead that i was very much not expecting to ever have! we once again follow alex, going to a somewhat isolated hunting lodge in galician that they inherited, even if they are just longing to be back in paris where the noise is a comfort and the silence isn’t haunting. alex is also with angus, miss potter, and the best horse (hod), and when they get to the lodge, no one is there, not even the caretaker who has been in alex’s life forever. and a mystery ensues, filled with maybe scary ghosts and haunted dreams and hard memories and hot cups of tea. i really had a good time with this one and i hope t kingfisher continues to give us more of alex and adventures in this world!
trigger + content warnings: anxiety, chronic health condition (tinnitus), ptsd, medical procedure imagery, fungus imagery, talk of war and battle and death in past, loss of a friend, depression, nightmares, loss of parent in past, a lot of sickness that hinder breathing and involves the lungs (i do think this could be very triggering for covid related trauma, so please use caution), blood, talk of pneumonia, talk of tuberculous, animal gore / body horror, and just overall this is a dark story with dark themes
there is something just extra cool and extra harrowing about all these stories taking place under the same ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
there is something just extra cool and extra harrowing about all these stories taking place under the same moon on the same halloween night. very galaxy brain of these editors. Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane was my very personal favorite - it really meant the entire world to me. and Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle is one i feel so thankful to have been able to read, and i know it will sit inside my heart forever. but here are my thoughts on all the stories in this collection, and i think so many people are gonna have a good time with this one, especially if you read this during spooky season.
━━♡ Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban ★★
“If you would've just waited for me to tell you I felt the same, if you would've never come here, I'd be yours. We'd be ours.”
i was obsessed with this sinking abandoned hotel setting, but sadly that was one of the few things i did like about this short story. i kept waiting for a different kind of revenge story to start because of the set up, but, sadly again, i was let down.
tw/cw: drinking, drugs, mention of bullying in past, brief mention of seizure in past (insinuating bc of overdose or excessive drug use), death
━━♡ The Visitor by Kalynn Bayron ★★★
“They were like beacons in an endless abyss of grief.”
this story has a few lines that made me tear up. this is a very sweet and spooky tale about a girl and her father celebrating halloween and honoring someone they lost. i feel like the author did such a good job conveying so many different emotions and feelings in the different scenes in this short work, i was really impressed.
tw/cw: loss of a parent in the past, grief
━━♡ A Brief Intermission by Sara Farizan ★★★
“Whenever someone talks about the "good old days," they forget to mention who it was "good" for.”
okay truly, drive in movies are just the perfect creepy setting, especially ones that are closed for halloween because of a generational secret being kept. i really liked both of our main characters in this one, and i liked seeing this secret unravel alongside them.
tw/cw: blood, gore, brief hospital setting, mention of fatal car crash in past, microaggressions, vomiting, animal death (rats)
━━♡ Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells ★★★
“Mrs. Choi thought Guested parties were white people nonsense or the work of the devil. Sometimes both.”
you all know a story about sibling love is always going to get me, and this being told in second person really amplified all the feelings. i will say, i just didn't enjoy the ending of this one, but the concept was really unique and smart, and the writing was very captivating - i would love to read more from this author.
tw/cw: very brief mention of parents divorcing + death of a parent, possession, depression depiction
━━♡ Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle by Kosoko Jackson ★★★★★
“There is no God here tonight. Only me, and I am vengeful.”
this short story is worth reading the entire anthology for alone. this was truly everything for me and, even though it pulled on everything inside my heart, the very vulnerable, real, + raw feelings were just so powerful to me. this is exactly what i want in horror, because, at the end of the day, humans are more horrifying than any paranormal creature could ever dream of being.
tw/cw: needle imagery, toxic friendship, codependency depiction, chronic pain mention, homophobia, homophobic slurs, blood, abuse, ouija board, very brief mention of domestic abuse + parental abuse + loss of a parent + murder in past with a side character. this story has a central focus on a gay hate crime / gay bashing - please use caution while reading and make sure you're in the right headspace
━━♡ The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by Alex Brown ★★★
“Terrifying Bob won't even mess with the Jollibee, which makes me sad on his behalf.”
my favorite part of this was just how filipinos really do normalize ghosts + spirits hahaha. but i really loved the set up of this one, and i felt like it's really different than anything else in this collection. i loved these characters instantly too, and the sibling relationship made my heart so happy in so few pages. i just really didn't love the end of this one and it left me more confused than anything else. but i would happily read a full-length story with this crew + their new friend!
tw/cw: talk of death + possession
━━♡ Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran ★★
“You can love something so hard that you hate it at the same time. Each shortcoming hurts more because you care. The city and my body are like that.”
ahhh, this one is going to be a bit hard to write feelings for just because this story is centered around one of those "if you dont do BLANK, then BLANK will happen" on the internet things - and i just loath those so much. but then it just got more and more gross and confusing, and added so much that just didn't need to be there, but felt like they were added because it was a halloween anthology. we got to see some heartfelt themes of grief and the helplessness you feel when you lose someone you love - and i loved that - but sadly everything else just overshadowed it for me.
tw/cw: asian hate crime, racism, loss of a loved one, grief depiction, graphic animal cruelty + death for a ritual, insect mention, blood
━━♡ Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittleman ★★★★★
“The smell of sampaguita fills the air. It's coming from you, the magic that's always been you, that you've finally given yourself the ability to unlock.”
not only my favorite of the collection, but a brand new all time favorite short story. this was everything and so very powerful. i might be a little biased because i am fillipino (and i have a matching sampaguita tattoo with my cousin haha), but i think this story is truly just perfection, while being so deep in culture and so deep in heart. and i was weeping through the ending with a smile on my face. the author was so galaxy brain for this entire story, but the amount of hope it was able to evoke from me too. i really am speechless.
whatever this author does next, i will be in the publisher's emails begging for an arc, because these few pages truly made me feel not only seen, but like i am finding a brand new all time favorite author.
tw/cw: talk of loss of a parent in the past, mention of deaths, one sentence mention of whitening cream/treatment
━━♡ In You to Burn by Em X. Liu ★★
“Magic wasn't real, after all. There were better, more mundane ways to explain things.”
ah, i wish i would have loved this one more. i am not really sure what to say other than maybe the writing just wasn't for me. but the plot just seemed a little all over and i wasn't really sure where the story was going most of the time. it also felt very long to me.
tw/cw: fires, drinking, blood, death
━━♡ Anna by Shelly Page ★★★★
“I know that bone-deep loneliness that comes with being abandoned and the fear that it'll keep happening no matter what you do.”
okay i think this story was like exactly what i was expecting from this collection, and it just was really good and really halloween spooky. it was the paranormal scariest of them all for me, and i was really feeling the eeriness while reading (and while finishing). a good reminder why i love short story collections so much, because i am now very excited to read more from this author.
tw/cw: abandonment, child abuse in past, starvation, ouija board
━━♡ Hey There, Demons by Tara Sim ★★★★
“Halloween. One way or another, he was going to get rid of this poltergeist for good.”
oh this was just a good read all around, and so different in tone from the rest of the collection. and it just really made my heart overflow with happiness, while still being spooky. i know these are fictional characters, but i really wish them the best because they were able to get into my heart in so few pages!
tw/cw: ghost leaving scratches on children, blood, implied loss of a parent in past
━━♡ Save Me from Myself by Ayida Shonibar ★★★★
“Today, my outside resembles the way I feel within. ”
this really is the short story from this collection that is going to be the hardest (and most all over the place) to talk about. i loved this story, i loved what it was doing, i loved that i very easily could see how much this will mean to so many teens, especially queer bipoc teens, who i know are feeling these things, thinking these things, and seeing themselves like this main character. this is an important and powerful read, and was able to evoke so much emotion from me. but i just absolutely hated the end of this. i felt like it was for shock value and just felt terrible when the rest of this story was everything i could have hoped for for this collection. again, i feel like this is just a hard one to talk about, but it still is a bright, but heartbreaking, shining light in this collection for me.
tw/cw from author at start of this story: suicidal ideation, death tw/cw that i found additionally: mention of parent abandonment, loss of a friend, loss of a parent, and... so many intrusive thoughts
━━♡ Knickknack by Ryan Douglass ★★★
“And...how do we find a sacrifice worthy of his Clownliness?”
truly, very few things in this life are scarier than clowns. and a clown who is a ghost and kidnaps and kills children? like, i was unsettled from start to end! i also really enjoyed the queer rep in this because i think its a very relatable "is this person maybe queer too" highschool experience, and i know a lot of people will be able to relate. this was spooky and sweet and i had a good time with it.
tw/cw: murder in past, death in past, kidnapping, brief one sentence mention of parent alcohol addiction and cheating of a parent, just not the best parents in general, brief mention on bullying in past, mention of 4chan, ouija board.
“It’s hard when you look up and realise that everyone’s moved off and left you in that place by yourself. Like they’ve all gone on and you’re there
“It’s hard when you look up and realise that everyone’s moved off and left you in that place by yourself. Like they’ve all gone on and you’re there still, holding on to this person you’re supposed to let go of.”
this is a heartbreakingly beautifully written book that the reader can interpret in many different ways. But this ultimately is a story about how grief can impact us, change us, shape us.
this will not be a book for everyone, and even though there are so many eerie scenes, the sadness and loneliness and helplessness i felt while reading was the scariest horror elements for me. i cried for the entire end of this, and for sure at least half of my tears were because i was purely heavy sad, but i also think it’s because this story is so expertly crafted that half of my tears were the light feeling of feeling seen and felt cathartic to let out.
letting go can be so hard, even when it is the right thing, and especially if you are given no other option but to let go. but this book just amplifies, and continues to echo throughout, that reality so very much, because sometimes you really are forced to give up the entire sum of your heart, and you’ll never be prepared for the timing of it. we as humans just are not equipped to deal with that instant emptiness, no matter how many times we read about it in books.
“I want to explain her in a way that would make you love her, but the problem with this is that loving is something we all do alone and through different sets of eyes.”
i saw someone else say this, but this writing truly feels like the ebb and flow of a great body of water. i even noticed myself rocking slightly back and forth while turning these pages, because this is crafted in such a way that it truly does make the reading experience feel like waves (sometimes crashing against my heart over and over again eroding at something). such a hypnotic style and craft, i really can’t believe this is a debut novel.
again, i just know this is not going to be for everyone, maybe not even for the majority of readers, but i think this book could very much connect with certain readers. And if it does, i think you’ll love it wholeheartedly. also, maybe unimportantly, this book cover is truly an all time favorite for me. haunting, beautiful, and memorable just like the story inside.
lastly, this is an interview with them magazine that just really just makes my heart overflow with immeasurable joy, seeing queer writers subvert, empower, and reclaim the horror genre.
trigger + content warnings: grief, depression, death, loss of a loved one, loss of a parent, terminal illness, not great parents, a lot of blood depiction, body horror, talk of eating habits, hypochondria, insect mentions, menstruation mention, needle imagery, vomit, memory loss, nightmares, suicide, confinement that made me feel a little claustrophobic with the descriptions (being trapped in a submarine at the bottom of the ocean for six months)
“Even if it meant being wild on soil never meant to bear me.”
This was harrowingly heartbreaking and carmen is really such a gifted author and can evoke so much pain and so much healing, even with so few pages. This short story is told under the guise of a research paper from the future, and moves forward with a new article or new interview, researching children’s hand clapping games that gives clues about how a small Pennsylvania town, named Never-Again, was massacred by tigers in 1999, where only one child did not disappear. With the last interview in this research project being from that sole survivor, now very much an adult. And this reading like a real piece of nonfiction really just added a whole other layer.
But carmen always weaves this unexplainable magic of breaking my heart and simultaneously healing it with each piece they craft, and this short story was no different. To find freedom and power from your trauma(s) is something i deeply wish for everyone.
trigger + content warnings: a lot of off page violence to children, off page rape and sexual assault, off page pedophilia, mention of suicide, mentions of colonization, death, blood depictions, drawing blood, animal death. (i know these are some heavy tws but truly all were done in a very nongraphic way for me, personally. But still use caution for your own self and mindset.)