It’s time for my final Mini Review Monday of September! In case you haven’t seen any of my previous posts, I do ‘mini’ reviews of books that I’ve previously read and am now ready to share my full thoughts about, like in last week’s post.
First up, I’d like to talk about Victorious by V. E. Schwab. Thank you to Titan Books for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
The ExtraOrdinary of Merit City, a secret group of individuals gifted with a power connected to their manner of near-death experience, have been keeping a low profile, avoiding the ever-watchful eye of EON in the wake of the showdown with Marcella, Eli, and Serena.
But when EON – and its relationship to the ExtraOrdinaries – begins to change under the leadership of a new director with a terrifying agenda, the time for hiding is over. The path to the truth of what happened to EON leads Victor, Sydney, Mitch and the rest into the enemy’s lair at EON headquarters, where they encounter unexpected allies, shocking new abilities, and the ultimate confrontation.
Against all the years, the betrayals, and the odds – the arch rivals and their allies will meet for a final time, on a chess board laid out by a rival they didn’t expect.
CW: death, murder, violence, grief, gore, injury, abusive relationship, torture
My Thoughts:
Victorious is the culmination of a trilogy that has set my heart on fire time and time again.
Schwab is an absolute beast of a writer. Her stories build such great concepts into compelling and interesting stories that give you a new perspective. Case in point, this trilogy is a brilliant spin on the idea of the superhero and supervillian, filled with morally gray territory and twists that will leave you stunned. Each book is carefully crafted and balanced perfectly between plot and character. Victorious is the final act and what a way to end. It adds new depth and texture to the existing characters and really grapples with that idea of guilt. We focus on the ramifications of actions and how decisions made earlier on are causing these ripple effects that we still see unfolding.
In this world, these superpowers are unlocked by the person experiencing immense trauma and the exact nature of their power mirrors what they most needed in that moment. It is a real cautionary tale of being careful what you wish for though, as they often have horrific consequences. Schwab seems interested with the corrosive nature of power and how that fundamentally changes a person. It is a fascinating way to depict the way trauma shapes your life and how it continues to remould who you are.
This is a story best entered with little knowledge of where you are heading. There are phenomenal characters in store that are truly complex. While Schwab is careful to show the monstrosity of their actions, there is texture and depth afforded to their characterisation that can help you understand aspects of their viewpoint and motivations driving their decision. Every choice has a knock-on effect and this book is dealing with all of the choices made over the trilogy. New and familiar faces return in a story that is cleverly constructed and includes some staggering twists.
Victorious brings a long-awaited conclusion to a trilogy that deserves to be held in high esteem. The characterisation is complex and superb, the throughlines are magnificent and the ending, well, you’ll have to see just what Schwab has in store.
Next up, I’d like to talk about Dead Girls by Beck Kubrick. Thank you to SimonYA for sending me an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Clossdale has a history of dead girls. When a fifth missing teenager turns up dead, all eyes on are one suspect – 17-year-old Ash, the orphaned daughter of serial killer ‘Evil Evelyn’.
Ash is sick of her peers being murdered, and she’s sick of the police not taking the investigations seriously. After finding a note telling her she’s next, Ash, along with her foster sister Cassie and best friend Jamie, decides to take matters into their own hands.
But when their plan goes awry, the girls find themselves at the centre of a deeper and darker web than they could ever have imagined. Can they put a stop to the murders, or will they each become just another of Clossdale’s dead girls?
CW: death, murder, grief, graphic violence, injury, sexism, misogyny, execution, blood
My Thoughts:
Dead Girls was such a brilliant debut with wonderfully evocative and eerie illustrations. It feels like such a fleshed-out world with believable characters, great twists and a bubbling sense of rage coming from the pages.
Ever since I saw a sample of this book at an event earlier this year, I knew I had to pick it up. I mean, a queer YA slasher graphic novel? It sounded perfect and the sample delivered the goods. What Kubrick had in store was even better though with a compact, compelling story.
Clossdale is a place defined by its dead girls but the town seems unwilling to confront the seething pit of evil that is causing these deaths. They confine their suspicion to their chosen suspect and believe that chapter is closed, so when the pattern of deaths begin again, few are willing to speak up about it. Those that do are a ragtag bunch of teenage girls, primarily led by Ash who has been ostracised and mistrusted by the town her whole life based on her mother being the previous serial killer. That feeling of isolation in a small town with small mindsets is captured brilliantly here and heightened by that aching void of anger caused when people refuse to see the problem you’ve been shouting about. Ash is a fantastic character, as are her foster sister Cassie and best friend Jamie. This trio is formidable and the journey they each go on is layered and interesting.
This is such a rollercoaster of a read with great twists and turns along the way. Kubrick packs a lot into each page with these illustrations that feel vivid, detailed and serve to bring the story to life around you. There is an immense amount of skill on display here and I enjoyed the medium being used for a horror story. Kubrick does not hold back with bucketloads of bloodshed and gore, but saves the true anger for the monstrosity of humanity that is at the centre of this story. This is a book about vengeance and anger and letting it out into the world but not letting it consume you. The acts of violence in this book are awful and come from a twisted sense of justice, maintaining the status quo at all costs.
Dead Girls captures that scream that bursts out after repressing it for too long. It is brutal, bloody and unrelenting in its quest for justice. Kubrick is a talent to watch.
Finally, I’d like to delve into Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones. Thank you again to Titan Books for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Five years after the massacres on the Blackfeet reservation in The Only Good Indians, survivor Nate Yellow Tail finds himself in hospital after a terrible accident that should’ve killed him, and has left his best friend Sebby on the brink of death.
So when he is given the chance to reset his life, and maybe save Sebby in the process, Nate steps up again. This time into a camper van that’s as run down as his broken body, filled with three older Blackfeet, to find the bones of a Blackfeet boy who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where Indigenous children were abused for decades, and bring him home.
But the past is more than bones, and the worst things you can bury can also be the worst to unearth…
CW: death, murder, violence, gore, colonialism, paedophilia, grief, injury, self-harm
My Thoughts:
Off the Reservation is a road trip like no other and the depths of hell you are plunged into are pure nightmare fuel.
The Only Good Indians is one of my favourite books of all time. It was the type of book that you chills you to your very core and keeps you awake at night, jumping at shadows and thinking about its brilliance. Stephen Graham Jones’ work is horror at its very best, combining genuinely scary action with some excellent social commentary. In news that will surprise no one, this sequel delivered the goods.
One element of his writing that always sticks out is the characterisation. The people here are messy and flawed and so deeply human. They make mistakes and cut too deep but are also driven by love and friendship and a deep desire for justice. How exactly that manifests for each of them will have to be unveiled to you. There are some twists and turns in store in this dark gem of a story. I do have to say a particular highlight of this story for me was Christian. The depths to his character and the arc he journeys on really stuck with me.
I loved how this book grapples with the idea of guilt and the weight it has on a soul. There is generational guilt and trauma in the central road trip mission but each character is also carrying their own demons and secrets. Their actions are finally catching up with them. I liked how the atmosphere builds a little slower to give you a sense of each character and the thematic strands the story is playing with. Then it descends into utter darkness.
It is such a blood soaked and unexpected story that utilises classic horror tropes in unexpected ways and gives them brilliant new spins. I often wonder what tropes Jones will turn his hand to next and he never fails to bring something brilliant but bloodcurdling to life. There is something in the way he mixes the abject horror of humanity and the violence we wreck against one another with the fantastical elements that is like lightening in a bottle. He taps into the horror of history and brings these events to the forefront while also clearly having a whale of time with these monstrous forms.
Off the Reservation is an exceptional horror story from a master of his craft.
