Month: May 2023

Butchers

A Vampire Novella by Todd Sullivan

3/5 Star Review

After a botched raid in an attempt to apprehend Cheol Yu, high school student Sey-Mi is kidnapped and forced to join the Gwanlyo. The Gwanlyo Company acts as the governing body of vampires in South Korea. They create, monitor, discipline, and enforce all vampire activity in the country to maintain order and secrecy. Sey-Mi is Cheol Yu’s blood relative and will stop at nothing to get her back. He partners with Hyeri, a rogue agent, to track her down and free her. They end up finding an unexpected ally in Min Gun, a Gwanlyo agent, who develops feelings for Sey-Mi.

Butchers is a solid read and will scratch that itch if you’re looking for something a little fresh and a little different in a vampire story. Sullivan clearly draws from his experience living and teaching in Asia and paints a believable backdrop for the novella. While Butchers is touted as extreme horror, I would argue that it’s more straight horror with a few scenes of hyper violence and a sexual assault. If you’re not normally a reader of extreme horror, don’t let that description put you off because if you’re a horror reader, you can handle this. Then again, if SA is a trigger for you, you’ll want to avoid this read all together.

While I had a few nitpicks with this novella, I would recommend it to fans of the vampire genre who are looking for something a little more unique than your standard fare. Butchers ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger, but there is a follow-up novella available, The Gray Man of Smoke and Shadows.

I received a free copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review.

Chlorine

A Coming-of-Age Tale of Body Horror

5/5 Star Review

Ren Yu grew up on stories of mermaids. She knows all of the myths, legends, and truths. Mermaids drove her to swimming at a young age and now in her teens, she is a competitive swimmer. She starts and ends her days at the pool and her only goal is to get scouted so that she can get a full scholarship to college. Chlorine follows Ren on her path from girlhood to womanhood and all of the changes and pressures that transistion brings. As her junior regional competition looms ahead and the stress is as high as it’s ever been, Ren starts to lose herself as a human and gives into her mermaid desires.

This book, you guys – this book! It ticks so many boxes for me: Coming-of-age? Check. Body horror? Check. Literary horror? Check. Sapphic longing? Check. All of these elements are wound up into a tightly written narrative from a protagonist that is, to put it quite simply, other.

We experience all of these “firsts” with Ren as she looks back on her human life, through the lens of a queer, immigrant mermaid. This sounds a little out there – I know, but stick with me on this one because the prose and the story are just so good! Chlorine is one of the best debut novels that I have read in quite some time. It was unique, spellbinding, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Jade Song is one to watch out for and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of their works in the future.