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A review by emilypoche
So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison
4.0
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Trigger warning: gore, blood.
I really have enjoyed Rachel Harrison’s works in the past. I love her dry sense of humor and the way that she writes flawed, yet still highly relatable protagonists. And in keeping with her earlier works, both of these elements are present.
I enjoyed So Thirsty, but something seemed slightly underbaked. The two main characters—Naomi and Sloane are vivid and complicated. Their motivations and the way they approach their fears of living and maintaining control are some of the best formed elements of the plot. The book is just as much about complex, life long female friendships that have seen the evolutionary phases of adulthood as it is about vampires.
And maybe that’s the issue I had with the book. The vampire story seemed like it wasn’t entirely finished and like the pacing was inconsistent. The jump between the scenes seemed somewhat abrupt. It’s difficult to even put my finger on what was missing from the story, but at times it felt like the story didn’t really know where it was going fully.
It’s clear that the author had a great premise; a story about female friendship interspersed with a modern vampire transformation. And while the female friendship elements were flushed out, it felt like the vampire story lines were half formed.
My last comment is mostly on the categorization of the book. This book was billed as the horror genre, but it wasn’t totally accurate. The story has some gory sequences and uses themes of vampires, but isn’t particularly scary or thrilling. I’d say it’s more of contemporary fiction with a gothic setting. Horror fans looking for a conventional story won’t necessarily find what they’re looking for, and I think that the label could turn away some readers that would enjoy the story.
Trigger warning: gore, blood.
I really have enjoyed Rachel Harrison’s works in the past. I love her dry sense of humor and the way that she writes flawed, yet still highly relatable protagonists. And in keeping with her earlier works, both of these elements are present.
I enjoyed So Thirsty, but something seemed slightly underbaked. The two main characters—Naomi and Sloane are vivid and complicated. Their motivations and the way they approach their fears of living and maintaining control are some of the best formed elements of the plot. The book is just as much about complex, life long female friendships that have seen the evolutionary phases of adulthood as it is about vampires.
And maybe that’s the issue I had with the book. The vampire story seemed like it wasn’t entirely finished and like the pacing was inconsistent. The jump between the scenes seemed somewhat abrupt. It’s difficult to even put my finger on what was missing from the story, but at times it felt like the story didn’t really know where it was going fully.
It’s clear that the author had a great premise; a story about female friendship interspersed with a modern vampire transformation. And while the female friendship elements were flushed out, it felt like the vampire story lines were half formed.
My last comment is mostly on the categorization of the book. This book was billed as the horror genre, but it wasn’t totally accurate. The story has some gory sequences and uses themes of vampires, but isn’t particularly scary or thrilling. I’d say it’s more of contemporary fiction with a gothic setting. Horror fans looking for a conventional story won’t necessarily find what they’re looking for, and I think that the label could turn away some readers that would enjoy the story.