Category Archives: Horror

Review: Take All of Us by Natalie Lief

Book Review and Content, Horror, Young Adult/Teen 12-18
Take All of Us by Natalie Leif

Take All of Us
Natalie Lief
Holiday House
Published June 4, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Take All of Us

A YA unbury-your-gays horror in which an undead teen must find the boy he loves before he loses his mind and body.

Five years ago, a parasite poisoned the water of Ian’s West Virginia hometown, turning dozens of locals into dark-eyed, oil-dripping shells of their former selves. With chronic migraines and seizures limiting his physical abilities, Ian relies on his best friend and secret crush Eric to mercy-kill any infected people they come across.

Until a new health report about the contamination triggers a mandatory government evacuation, and Ian cracks his head in the rush. Used to hospitals and health scares, Ian always thought he’d die young… but he wasn’t planning on coming back. Much less facing the slow, painful realization that Eric left him behind to die.

Desperate to confront Eric before the parasite takes over, Ian joins two others left behind—his childhood rival Monica and the jaded prepper Angel—on a journey across town. What they don’t know is that Eric is also looking for Ian, and he’s determined to mercy-kill him.

My Review

I can’t say I’ve ever read a zombie book from the perspective of a zombie. Ha! The book doesn’t refer to the undead as zombies, and the main character remains pretty self-aware, which keeps the story anchored and moving. I like Ian as a character. He has epilepsy, which is why his family moved to rural West Virginia, a place with fewer seizure triggers.

Ian teams up with two girls who agree to help him find his best friend and secret love, even after it appears Eric left him behind on purpose. First, he meets Angel, a neurodivergent girl who helps him figure out how to adjust to his new undead status. Then, Monica, a girl he’s known from hospital wards since childhood, agrees to help. The three first try to track down loved ones and ultimately decide it’s up to them to stop the spread of the parasite that’s causing the outbreak of undead-ness.

The pacing of the story was great. It maintains intensity and creepiness (there’s a little cannibalism, which I found extra creepy) throughout the book. The last few chapters take a little bit of a strange turn. Ian drifts into some possible hallucinations, or things get super weird. It’s unclear. Which makes sense since he wouldn’t know he was hallucinating.

The characters decide on a method of resolving the outbreak that required some willing suspension of disbelief. I wanted there to be more research or evidence or something indicating that this path would be successful or supporting the desired outcome.

Despite that, I enjoyed the characters and the unusual take on a post-apocalyptic, undead story. If you’re looking for a really different zombie book, check out Take All of Us.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Ian and another character are gay. Ian also has epilepsy. Monica uses a mobility aid. (We don’t know her specific diagnosis. The book mentions that she had several surgeries and takes pain medication.) Angel is neurodivergent.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs. Some mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys.

Spiritual Content
A contaminant in the water has caused an outbreak of an undead condition. I don’t think the book uses the word “zombie” to describe the problem. Some are more aware of their surroundings than others. The longer someone has this condition, the more of themselves they lose.

Violent Content
In one scene, a boy shoves an undead man into a lake, killing him. A boy suffers a fatal head injury while underwater. A girl stabs an undead boy through the abdomen with a pole.

Undead last longer if they eat dead humans. One undead person eats eyes off of a corpse. Later, someone eats/drinks from a cup which we understand is filled with human parts or blood.

Drug Content
One character mentions wishing she had opiates (for a medical condition.)

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth
Andrew Joseph White
Peachtree Teen
Published September 5, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its rotten guts to the world—as long as the school doesn’t break him first.

My Review

This book makes me realize how often I eat while I’m reading. I do not recommend doing that while reading this book– which is probably an obvious idea. It’s a horror novel, after all.

One of the main reasons this book hit my TBR list is that I was so blown away by the author’s debut, HELL FOLLOWED WITH US, which is a post-apocalyptic horror novel. If you ever wondered how post-apocalyptic stories and reimagined history could overlap, this pair of books would make a good study.

If I had to describe this book in under ten words, I would say, GIRL, INTERRUPTED but make it queer horror/historical fantasy. Just like his debut, Andrew Joseph White delivers stark prose and anguished characters. The relationships between some of the characters provide bright spots and soothing moments between the intensity of the other scenes.

I really appreciated the romance thread and the hopefulness that a few of the characters find as they form relationships with one another. It does get into some pretty intense body horror and gruesome medical descriptions, so this won’t be a novel for everyone. I also appreciate that the author includes a content warning at the front of the book.

All in all, horror will never be my favorite genre, but I am absolutely in awe of writers like Andrew Joseph White who deliver fast-paced, deep stories with incredible characters and unforgettable moments. If you’re looking for a dark, twisty horror novel with a hopeful undertone, grab this one immediately.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Silas is transgender and has autism. Another character is transgender. Brief mentions of women who have romantic feelings for each other.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used a bit frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
In one scene, a man grabs Silas and forces a kiss on him. Kissing between a boy and girl. Some characters shame others for being sexually active or for doing something perceived as flirting or being alone with a man.

Spiritual Content
Characters with violet eyes have the ability to see into the spirit realm and communicate with the spirits of people who have died. When men do this, it’s a sign of power, but women with this ability are told they’re sick and must be “treated.” (Read: tortured until their captors are satisfied they are submissive enough.)

Violent Content
Very specific descriptions of medical procedures, such as a hysterectomy. Some instances of torture. For example, one woman is forced to walk with glass in her shoes every day. A girl throws another girl down the stairs. At one point, a girl attacks another girl, choking and hitting her. A girl bites another girl. A man presents a woman to an audience after having removed her eyes, tongue, and teeth. The woman has apparently self-inflicted wounds on her wrists that look as if she bit herself.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH in exchange for my honest review.