Review of Lucy Undying by Kiersten White

I received a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review

CW’s: blood, violence, gore, body horror, death, depictions of mental illness and health issues resulting in long-term care, sex (the most SAPPHIC kind), various types of abuse, various types of emotional manipulation, cults and MLMs, historic setting comes with queerphobia.

My Rating: 5 stars

I loved this book from the jump. I mean, Sapphic vampires? Win is a win. Both Iris and Lucy felt like real people right off of the bat. They were already dynamic from the jump and it felt like they were already people, Kiersten White didn’t have to do all this work to set them up, she managed to do so within 10% of the book.

Also, gay pining? Absolutely a win. Their meet cute? Adorable and swash buckling at the same time. The classic “stop-you-from-getting-hit-by-a-car” trope done with two women is so much nicer than when it’s done by a woman and a man.

The way the story was fleshed out and the world was built was really natural and organic. It wasn’t info-dumpy, it wasn’t flat, it wasn’t boring, and it wasn’t confusing. I liked the take on vampires, and the inclusion of Dracula and Mina, and villains that felt realistic. The villains felt true to not only the time periods they were from, and the ones they lived in, but their circumstances. The men didn’t feel cartoonishly evil, they felt like real men that women worry about being alone in a room with.

I loved the parallel timelines too, especially with the parallel love stories between Mina and Lucy then Elle and Iris. I loved the representation of queerness/sapphicness in this era. The depiction of marriage as a political match was well done, better done than A Rose By Any Other Name. The way that a woman’s place, and how she gains power, in the 19th century was done really well. Lucy was used by her mother but she knew how to use that to her advantage still.

I was also invested in the plot enough to make guesses about the connections between the timelines/points of view. I wanted to guess who was related to who, who Iris’ mother was, and who Lucy became when she’s meeting with the therapist. Is the girl she references either Elle or Iris?

I’m so invested.

It just kept getting better and better. I loved Elle and Iris developing relationship. I loved the way Iris’ story was told as it intertwined with Lucy’s, and how the romance developed.

I also loved the portrayal of flawed queer characters, it allowed them to be human and realistic but didn’t demonize them or force them into tropes that were harmful stereotypes. They were allowed to love and feel attraction and lust and it wasn’t treated as bad or brave. It was just…there. It was normalized and the narrative didn’t focus on queer phobia but rather love triangles and the danger that men posed to women throughout different time periods. Iris’ journey in terms of romantic relationships wasn’t focused on her queerness, the roadblocks were related to her MLM mother and the cult-like environment she grew up in. It was about her going back into that world and not being involved with outsiders rather than her being queer. Which I thought was a really refreshing spin.

Kiersten White also writes really well, not just beautiful writing, but writing that is compulsively readable. Her chapter lengths also do a lot for the pacing of the book. It didn’t feel like it lagged at any parts and it was character driven without losing in the plot.

I was absolute addicted to the book, the plot was fast paced and the individual timelines were interwoven really well together and done in a way that paces out reveals and world building really well. I think the way they cut the chapters did a service to its pacing,

I do feel like this was kind of two books in one. But it wasn’t disjointed or anything, I just felt like this, for another author, could’ve been one long book and another novella or drawn out novel. But Kiersten White kept it all in one book, which I liked. Dracula’s chapters were really cool too, Kiersten White does a good job with horror/villains and makes them really terrifying. But once the Lucy/Elle and Iris relationship got to a developed stage, it was interesting seeing it along with the plot line of Iris’ mother’s cult/MLM and Dracula and this “we have our own issues to deal with but we’re still together” plotline.

I thought the pacing and excitement was kept up throughout the novel. I didn’t ever feel like it lagged or slowed down too much.

And oh myyyy goooodddd the gay pining. The amount of moments where Wait for Me from Hadestown could’ve been used were numerous. In that lovely, lovely way. I adored this book so much for Lucy and Iris’ relationship. The “touch-her-and-you’ll-die” trope is so intense here too for both Lucy and Iris.

The ending was my favorite by far. Oh. My. God. The last bit was a combination of stomach dropping and heart pounding and soul souring. The unapologetic queerness of this book was something that made me feel something so beautiful. I loved it so much.

One of my favorite books of the year.