A Review of The Crimson Corset at FairieFits

“I honestly had no idea what to expect when I picked up The Crimson Corset. I don't actually even know how I found it, but you know, it showed up on my Kindle and who wouldn't be curious about a book with a cover of a woman wearing a bright red corset? Especially when the series is clearly about vampires? (Turns out that the corset's ribbing is made out of bones of its owner's own mother; how creepy is that?!)

So anyway, it took me about 5 pages to realize that I LOVE THIS BOOK!

Some context: I was reading this out loud to my daughter (don't judge; a 7 week old isn't going to understand what I'm reading to her, just that she's hearing me). Ease of articulating was super important!

The Crimson Corset is punny. Oh, how I love puns!

 
There's nothing better than starting a book off with a few good puns. Characters that bring some puns to the table are just so much more enjoyable than characters who are boring. Obviously.

 



I mean, right off the bat we get to observe a conversation between Cade,=, one of the main characters and his fern named Fernando! (Get it? Yeah, totally took me two thirds of the book to catch the pun) Cade also later named his cat Sir Purrcival. I mean, the punny in The Crimson Corset was spectacular.

And it's not just puns. Even through the worst of the goings-on (see next section), Cade and the other characters still kept a sense of humor. Dry humor. Some of which may have involved holy water water guns leaking in pants. (But no, seriously)

The Crimson Corset is filled with graphic, detailed, gory imagery 

The Crimson Corset
 totally starts off light-hearted and fun. By the time I started to get a sense of the plot, I was definitely expecting it to be quick, fun read. But man, it gets  dark ! (YAY!) There's sex (I mean, the title involves a corset; what did you expect?), violence, violent sex. Complete and utter brainwashing by way of vampiric venom. Psycho murderous blood-hungry cross-dressing children.

You know, the works.

(Yeah, maybe not the  best choice of books to read aloud to my daughter.)

Plus, the descriptions were just plain ... well, good. They were powerful, and even though I'm not one to really care about knowing exactly what a character looks like, I LOVED Cross' descriptions. They conveyed so much more than just appearance. Personality came across, as did insanity, where appropriate. It really made the experiences feel almost relatable.

The Crimson Corset adds a unique flavor to a common theme.


Ok, this book is totally (at least partially) about vampires who kill humans against vampires who don't kill humans. Totally cliche, right? But it felt unique and fun in a horrifying oh-dear-god-is-that-really-happening kind of way. There are enough fresh ideas to keep me from feeling bored.

And honestly, the "bad" vampires were so interesting (read: graphically horrifying and very consistently motivated) that I didn't really care that this is a common/overused theme.

The Crimson Corset is easily the best vampire-dedicated book I've read. Ever. 
And that's saying something. Since, you know, I went through that phase. And, you know, I totally still read an awful lot of vampire books.” - FairieFits