Oof, this book. I enjoyed this one, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it didn't hit so close to home for me as a trans guy who's just beginning my transition. It was extremely emotional, and I felt so connected to Holly as a character. I thought the world building for the vampires was interesting, and I'd have loved for the book to expand on it a bit. Especially with the side story about The Hierophant's wife and her enemy, that was an interesting bit of the book and I would have loved to know more about it and have a story about her. I thought the cutting back and forth at the beginning with the cops / vampire hunters was a bit unnecessary but I understand what it brought to the story! Overall, I think the only thing I didn't enjoy was the ending, which is why I'm giving it a 4 star rating. Which, I don't think I would have minded the ending if I hadn't felt so connected to Holly.

It's Gay and . . . it hits different?

This book consumed so much of my thought space until early this evening when I finished it.

Some parts felt all too relevant to the work of January 6th, 2021. and I can't decide how I feel about this depiction of what boils down to the "radical right because while they are shown to be a danger, in some ways, it felt like we were making light of a severe problem.

The world built by Buchbinder feels so real, and I was left wanting to know more about this society and other colonies that theoretically exist. There is so much happening that it drags you in...

The come-up is startlingly quick and leaves you with more questions than answers about just about everything we are shown. But I suppose not knowing is its own act of patience.."

The Mellification is the pinnacle of what I want the vampire revival to be. With a transgender main character whose colony refuses to let him change his name, in-depth vampire culture, a creepy graveyard setting, honey-soaked mysteries, and betrayal; I need more from this writer immediately.

Do you ever get that feeling when you start a book and know it's going to be a good one? That's how I felt with The Mellification. It's like the author took everything I want from vampires and shoved them into this book. The writing was excellent, the graveyard atmosphere was both spooky and compelling, and Holly, the main character, was easy to connect with.

Transphobia is a major theme here, and I enjoyed how Nat Buchbinder considered how vampire societies function. The transphobia that Holly faces isn't much to do with their gender identity; it's more focused upon their need for change. Vampires are static, slowly changing creatures that live for hundreds of years. Patience is something they value incredibly highly. I think every trans person can relate to the need for change, if something is making you dysphoric whether that be your body, or your name, you want to change as quickly as possible, you long for it. Holly's longing for change is what puts him so at odds with vampire society, they can't understand him and cause him increasing harm. As much as I appreciate books where transphobia isn't present, it was incredible to see the cultural impacts in a society very different from our own.

This links to the major reason I loved this book. The vampire colony's culture was incredibly well thought out. It had it's own rules and traditions ranging from gothic fun to unchallengeable rigidity. One of these rules is the major conflict of the book, vampires will get new names when ready. There are others that I adored. One of my favourites is when vampires are in love, one is buried in an unmarked grave, and the other has to locate them. There's such a strong focus on patience, waiting, processes that take time, which I've never considered before but makes complete sense in this context.

A lot of vampire books touch on bat imagery, and that's present here, but what was a pleasant surprise was the linkage to bees. The vampires live in colonies, in hexagonal rooms, with a queen bee in the form of their leader. Honey is mentioned multiple times, it's a powerful substance. I was astounded by this new connection to vampires; the fresh relation to bees was so exciting for me.

The ending left a lot of threads unresolved. It ended in an excellent place for a novella, making you want to scream 'no, you can't leave me here!'. At the same time, I can see people being frustrated with just how much was left up to interpretation. There are so many interesting threads in this book that are never fully explored: the honey, the colony, the neo-Nazi organisation, and many character's fates. I'm torn with finding the ending perfect for the story told, and grumpily, desperately wishing for more. I'm not ready to leave this world behind; I want to know more. I'm secretly hoping the author will return to vampires in their future work, but either way, this is someone to keep an eye on!

4,5 stars

Oh my god, my god, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I'M SCREEEAMINGGGGG

Okay, I calmed down and now I can talk about the book.

Here we will see three stories: the main one is from Holly, a trans vampire who wants to change his name (a common thing with vampires), but the "big guy" says he has to wait, but Holly doesn't like his name, so...
And the two secondary ones: one in the 19th and 20th centuries, where we see Lila trolling Claudia and Claudia trolling Lila, and after following their lifes; and in the other, a group of young boys are preparing to kill vampires. So....

And it’s almost obvious that they’ll intersect, so if you want to know how, you’ll have to read it, sorry

I loved that vampires are not the same as what is commonly portrayed in the movies (for example, here they kill people with a knife, not biting, and then suck the blood). This whole side is not very explored, because it is a short book, but I liked what it had.

I really liked Holly and her boyfriend Cain, I found them very cute and I was hoping that nothing would go wrong (lol how deluded). The secondary characters are not wonderful, but neither are they hideous.

I remove half a star because I wanted that Lila's story to cross more with Holly's, and I thought the ending was a little quick (I wanted more description in the scene, because she is very fast and could be extended) but I liked what happened.

Thanks a lot to netgalley for a free ARC (though it came out december 1st and I'm kind of late) of this book. As always these are all my honest opinions.

The Mellification is a story about a vampire society. They live together and have a lot of traditions that in some cases seem quite nice, but in others actually... well they're interesting for sure. One example is the fact that when you love someone, they will be buried alive and you will have to try and find them as a sign of your love. The core value among them is patience. But the main character, Holly, is getting frustrated by how patient he is expected to be. He is supposed to receive a 'vampire name' which everyone else got, but he has no idea when he will get it and it keeps getting delayed.

Then there's also another story being told in a type of flashback. Though it wasn't always clear to me how the two were connected, I did really like reading it. Especially the way time effects it, vampires being immortal and everything.

Since it's only 200 pages I won't give away much about the plot. Even though I haven't really been a fan of vampire stories, I thought this one was really interesting. It has some actually cool cultural habits and I also really liked learning about the things vampires can and can't do.
And the main character is trans, the main romance is between two men and the other romance is a sapphic one. The way these people got to know each other and developed was hilarious and amazing to read.

The ending is kind of frustrating, I WANT MORE!!! But it's a really good fit with the dark feeling this book gives off and though I would absolutely love to read a sequel, I think it works.

Another fascinating and intriguing volume into the realm of vampires, further increasing the lore of the mythic creatures. A fun, quick, and interesting read into vampire traditions through the eyes of a young Trans Vampire named Holly. All he wants in the world is to change his name to begin his new life. A name that will help erase his pasts and the last connection that ties him to his previous life as Holly. Time and time again Holly gets denied a new name in the special rites, and finally gets fed up enough to make a move. But there is an ever present danger looming over the Vampire colony. Will Holly fulfill his plans in time to free himself of his past and his name?

A great coming of age tale, suitable for anyone, slightly creepy, humorous, and absolutely fascinating.

Holly is a transgender vampire living in an underground society meant to protect vampires from those meaning them harm. His greatest wish is to finally receive his new name, a traditional act done by the lead vampire, something he is refused more than once. Strange things start occurring in the colony, and the eerie story unfolds. This is a fast paced book set mostly in a New York Cemetery, with the mysterious rooms hidden underground. I liked the mythology of vampires in this world, the different perspectives (especially Lila’s), as well as the general weirdness of the story. It was really entertaining. My biggest complaints were that some of Cain (Holly’s partner)’s actions weren’t understandable and that the ending was too open und a little rushed. It is certainly a testament to the author that I wanted more of this book than I got. This is the only book I can think of in which a character turns into a swarm of bees, and I love that about it. A pleasure!

I'm really not sure how I feel about this one. I greatly enjoyed the queer representation throughout, and the characters themselves were decent (if a little flat at times). However, the pacing was a bit rough and I always felt like I was missing just a little bit of information. I expected a bleak ending with the way the book was trending, but I'm not sure I cared much for the way it was implemented. Ultimately this was not a title I'd recommend to others without a fair bit of warning beforehand.

3/5

***Special thanks to NetGalley and Independent Book Publishers Association for Providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

I liked this book overall. The plot and characters were engaging enough, but I had problems with pacing throughout the novel. In addition, I was not a fan of how the story was concluded and felt that it fell flat. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

I would recommend this book as a unique, supernatural read

I loved the book. It kept me reading until i finished it. a unique take on vampires with a great protagonist, Holly. And a fantastic side story. which I really want to find more out more about. I am definitely interested in reading a second part to the story. I really liked how familiar the characters felt and were so well developed. I think the strength of the book is in it’s unique take on vampires and it’s characters/representation. The only thing I would say is that at times the pacing felt off, a lot happened at the end that seemed somewhat rushed. However, I am still loved every bit of the story and want more. ♡

This was a really interesting read! I liked the unique take on vampire mythology and Holly was an incredibly relatable protagonist. It was a nice quick read, but I think my one complaint was that it was maybe a little bit *too* short and ended fairly abruptly. I'm a sucker for a good dark ending though, so I'm still giving it four stars.

This was a nice, quick and easy read. The set-up was interesting, the idea of combining mellification and vampires was unique, and I liked the LGBT+ representation, which I was pleased to see extended to more than just the main (trans) character! However, this felt a little like a rollercoaster that spends a lot of time setting up a massive scare only to turn out to be a tiny hill at the end. The author spent a lot of time establishing interesting characters, backstories, vampire lore, and even incorporated a fun "jumping between different characters in different time periods" element. But the mystery and suspense of the honey, beehives, referring to the community as a "colony" literally living in hexagons with a "queen bee" in the form of Marlowe, and then eventually the shocker of both Lila in the past and Holly in the present discovering the coffin leaking honey (not to mention Marlowe's weird honey bath) all had me on the edge of my seat, making guesses about what the big conspiracy or reveal would be. But all of this suspense was let down by the ending of the book. It felt really rushed and incomplete, and a lot of seemingly random things happened that felt more like plot devices to quickly end the book than a satisfying conclusion that the rest of the book deserved. All of a sudden, this rebellious and strong willed Holly just meekly accepts this massive betrayal and getting buried? The trial itself lasted all of 2 pages, and we never even saw the resolution of some of the characters and side plots introduced earlier: what happened to Lila after Claudia left? Who was the Lizard King? What happened to Marlowe's wife? ? Was she in the coffin? What did Marlowe mean when he said the honey was how he "maintained his power"? What's the backstory??? The sudden inclusion of the clearly neo-Nazi-esque "vampire hunters" at the end was completely out of left field, not to mention the end raid scene, which felt almost like the author got tired of developing the plot and just wanted a quick and easy way to end the story already—a real shame because there was so much potential in the first half. Intriguing set-up, disappointing execution.

The Mellification has a great premise, a trans vampire struggling to get rid of the last trace of his human life and chafing against the traditions of his colony. In execution, I wish this story was just a little longer. I think all the elements were there, but I would have loved to have seen more. We were introduced to some fascinating side characters, but some of them never intersected with the Holly's main story. The ending made sense to me, I just would have liked a little more time to connect with the characters.

The mellification by Nat Buchbinder.
This was a good read. Likeable story. I did like Holly. Just found it a little slow. I didn't like the ending. 3*.

This wonderful novel follows Holly, a vampire indefinitely awaiting his new name from the colony that he inhabits, as well as the other vampires in his world. It is an extremely engaging and addictive read, with a well-thought-out plot and enticing developments throughout.

I was also delighted to see so much queer representation in one book—the characters were written as humans (well, as vampires) and while their goals sometimes revolved around pursuits in relation to their identities, it never clouded the novel. It all felt so perfectly natural.

The only thing that I wish that this book could’ve done was end on a more satisfying note. Although it was an ending (and not a bad one), I feel like it could’ve been more. Otherwise, it was a beautifully written book. I look forward to reading more works by this author.