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midnightcomets's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Such a unique book, a wonderful little allegory about power, corruption, anarchy, humanity and friendship. I love Margaret's music so I was very happy that I loved her writing too. Also, this could work wonders as a mini-series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Suicide, and Police brutality
Minor: Rape and Medical content
mikkitooloud's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I was first introduced to Margaret Killjoy on the "Behind the Bastards" podcast, but I hadn't read any of her books until now. This is fantastic! It's a really quick read, it took me maybe 3 hours. There's communism, body horror and shitty men! Ms. Killjoy excels in painting the scene with words; I really felt like I could see Freedom, Iowa.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail
caffeinecrow's review against another edition
5.0
This book is the reason I floss my teeth now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Gun violence
Minor: Suicide
pupbeat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A fun and suspenseful little book, set in a small anarchist community with a very interesting magical being tied to it, a deer with three antlers who is suprisingly violent compared to what you would expect of a deer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Suicide
barnesm31's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A fast, quick, thought-provoking, and enjoyable read. Alex Brown at Tor aptly describes it as “The story is part rural fantasy, part dark fantasy, and part horror. Think Supernatural but darker and queerer.” Danielle Cain is a glorious new anarchist, a vagabond traveler who travels through barely future united states to an anarchist squatter community called Freedom after her friend Clay fled and committed suicide to work out why.
On top of all the troubles, such a terrible world holds the town of Freedom reveals a terrifying protector spirit — in the form of a blood-red, three-antlered deer — turning on its summoners. In a fantastic world, Danielle observes "Its strange how quickly it's normal there being magic in the world. It's strange how little it changes who we are as people.
On top of all the troubles, such a terrible world holds the town of Freedom reveals a terrifying protector spirit — in the form of a blood-red, three-antlered deer — turning on its summoners. In a fantastic world, Danielle observes "Its strange how quickly it's normal there being magic in the world. It's strange how little it changes who we are as people.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
breacommelafromage's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Murder
softbitten's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Vomit, and Police brutality
ymer's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
owenblacker's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
First in a Tor.com collection of 4 queer-authored novellas published for Pride 2018, The Lamb will Slaughter the Lion is a punk fantasy. Alex Brown summarises the tone well in their Tor.com piece Anti-Doorstoppers: 10 Great SFF Novellas and Novelettes: “The story is part rural fantasy, part dark fantasy, and part horror. Think Supernatural but darker and queerer.”
Travelling to the anarchist utopian squatter-community of Freedom, Iowa, to find out why her old friend ran away from his found-family and the home that made him settle down from the road in order to kill himself in a motel room, squatter/nomad Danielle discovers an “eternal spirit” in the form of a blood-red, three-antlered deer is… “protecting”… the community.
With an author who is herself a transfeminine nomad, a queer protagonist and prominent trans secondary characters and characters of colour in the found-family, the story is effortlessly diverse and the setting itself is really interesting: the ancom utopia sounds lovely — but broken, inevitably, otherwise the community wouldn’t have needed to summon their protector, and with it the cost. But this isn’t just a what-happened-next; as KJ Charles puts it:
This is on one level a tense horror novel, where forces of the State and society and male violence are as much a sinister and pervasive threat as the heart-eating magic deer. But, as that suggests, it’s also a meditation on things like society, what anarchism means, how societies enforce rules and what it means to do so and who takes enforcement roles on themselves. How do we keep ourselves decent without a prospect of punishment for those who transgress? Who makes those calls?
And, as Killjoy put it in the book, “the revolution is about taking power away from the oppressors, not becoming them ourselves”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape and Suicide
CN: mention of suicide, mention of rape, animal death, death of a loved one, abuse, violence, gore, state violencekazik's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide, Police brutality, and Murder
Minor: Rape and Vomit