Reviews and Comments

of One of Us is Lying. In case you're wondering, this has nothing to do with the second season of the TV series, it's a completely different story.

I've read better books. But it's relatively okay.

I liked it, but I already liked the TV series, so I knew what to expect. Now I can compare!

Things I liked better in the book: There is no omnipotent, omniscient being as in the series. Everyone just knows what they see and hear about, and works with mundane methods. Also, Luis, Ashton and Eli are amazing extra characters! Also, yes, Simon is definitely a channer.

Things I liked better in the TV series: How the entire situation came to happen. Jake's role, Simon's, and most of all, Janae's! Also, the entire ending. That version is just way more satisfying.

Better than I'm used to with straight romance. There are plotholes (why did the white snake comply and tell them how to undo its actions??), but the story is interesting and funny. Its nature is pretty episodic though, and many of the places in the liminal world are described very graphically - so I can't stop thinking it would make a great cartoon series! Add a few more steps and details, and voila, here's 50 episodes about the quest to find the antivenom ouroboros!

Side fact: The book is dedicated to Rebecca Ross, another author, and indeed many elements reminded me of "Divine Rivals": The 1900 nostalgia (+/- 20 years). Ladies being courted by Gentlemen. Discussions about what is proper. No dating before marriage. Soldiers are sexy. Male family members decide freely over their sisters'/nieces' lives. Strong women falling in love with shitheads of disputable integrity, who are still portrayed as desireable and romantic etc. No, the straights are not okay.

I'm not really sure what to think of this. It's all so inconsequent. For context, this book plays in colonized Egypt, in the year 1884. And the two character alignments are: good archeologists who want to preserve everything and thus have to keep it secret so future Egyptians can learn about it - and the bad people who sell everything they get their hands on. So this is superficially anti-colonialist, yet all the relevant people are Englishmen, Frenchmen or Argentinians. Only two Egyptians in the book have names, and they're entirely replaceable, with no plot relevance and no agency.

And the "evil" side who's illegally trading artifacts is so flat, not even the motivations make sense (if it's money then why did Lourdes risk losing her giant fortune to Ricardo???)

Also it's pretty funny how all the conversations in this book are in English, French or Spanish, even though it's fucking EGYPT

Is this really a romance plot between Inez and WHITFORD??? The alcoholic who's locking her up all the time, and threatening strangers with violence? Are the straights okay???

You know I always love fake dating stories. But this one is a particularly good implementation of it. Cheers to this bunch of bisexual disasters!

So many amazing short stories! And they all had different ideas and interpretations of the two themes, and how to combine them. Loved every single one of them!

Dickwads get wracked, and there's kissing girls! CW: sexual assault

Great story in a well-engineered universe with so many little aspects. If you like gay communist vampire revolutionaries schemeing their ways to overthrow the conservative vampires elites, this book is for you.

One thing I love about this book is Taylor's and Evangeline's enemies-with-benefits relationship. Like hatefucking your bully and nemesis every week is a totally normal thing that people just do. And no, it's not an enemies-to-lovers plot.

... but it didn't really stand out either, you know? Or maybe I'm just too old for coming-of-age stories.

A horror-movie recreation camp that turns out too real? Check. A weirdo cult that murders people as a sacrifice? Check. Alphabet mafia? Check.