Old Wounds by Logan-Ashley Kisner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was really strong. I enjoyed the set-up, character work and action. I liked how the Social Horror elements were more frightful than the Monster bits…
Old Wounds is an intense and engaging YA Horror story featuring two Trans-MCs, who while on a road trip across country, end up getting stuck in a small town where they must fight for their survival.
Max and Erin are estranged friends who used to date. Max wants to go to California and ends up convincing Erin to go with him. Erin is a little confused by this, considering Max broke up with her abruptly 2-years ago.
We follow the kids from the start of the trip through to the bitter end. It was a little awkward at first. They both have a lot of thoughts swirling through their heads, but are getting comfortable communicating with one another again.
I was hooked into this from the start. I felt like the character work, from the first moments, was so well executed.
I loved getting to know both Max and Erin. They’re very different, but have a lot of history and are connected by many experiences.
As I learned their reasoning for making the trip to California, it made me sad, but I could definitely appreciate their reasoning. I think for Erin, she was more concerned for Max than herself. I liked that dedication to a friend.
It doesn’t take long before they get to the small town where they get stuck. This is where the main action will play out. I loved the Horror vibes of that. The creepy small town feel, it was like you could feel the walls closing in on them.
That’s one of my favorite Horror tropes; protagonists ending up in strange town where the locals aren’t behaving normally. You just know that some scary stuff is about to go down. That the MCs are in serious danger.
Kisner nailed that set-up. It was very cinematic.
The kids meet a few locals, after having some car troubles, and they’re told a legend about the town involving a monster. To me, it sounded like a story of sacrifice, but Erin and Max didn’t see it that way. At least not initially.
You follow Max and Erin as things get weirder and weirder, and as their circumstances get increasingly more dangerous.
This is all you need to know about the plot. It gets wild and crazy. It had me glued to the pages. There’s a ton of social commentary and I need to doff my cap to the author for the way it was all presented.
The social elements were seamless with the rest of the narrative. Everything flowed smoothly after the incredible character development and plot set-up. It was easy, as the Reader, to interpret what I believe the author was trying to get across, without it feeling forced.
I’m NGL, this is a heavy read and I would recommend being sure that you are in the right headspace when you read it.
Overall though, I think it was beautifully done. I could have done with a little more towards the end, but that could’ve been because I was attached Erin and Max by that point.
I was impressed by this. I went in with zero expectations and Logan-Ashley Kisner has captured my attention. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
Thank you to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I really hope this book gets the attention it deserves. Well done!