Description
"Searching for clues about her best friend's mysterious suicide, Danielle ventures to the squatter, utopian town of Freedom, Iowa, and witnesses a protector spirit -- in the form of a blood-red, three-antlered deer -- begin to turn on its summoners. She and her new friends have to act fast if they're going to save the town -- or get out alive"--Amazon.com.
Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
New York, NY : Tor, 2017.
Media reviews
"Killjoy allows the reader to glimpse a beautifully chaotic world, leaving just the right amount to the imagination."
User reviews
LibraryThing member Petroglyph
A fantasy novella in which an egalitarian group of lgbtq squatters and allies occupies an abandoned US town. Some of their leaders have summoned an undying spirit in the shape of a three-antlered deer who helps maintain the near-utopia by slaughtering those who do evil. A moral quandary ensues.
Killjoy presents a fairly straight-forward story in which the moral issues aren’t as murky as she’d like, but which keeps all its plates spinning simultaneously. Not great, but not bad, either!
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Killjoy presents a fairly straight-forward story in which the moral issues aren’t as murky as she’d like, but which keeps all its plates spinning simultaneously. Not great, but not bad, either!
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Novella about Danielle, a perpetual wanderer, who comes to a small anarchist town to investigate the death of an old friend and discovers that before he died he summoned a demon that attacks predators, defined pretty broadly. Anarchy as unachievable but better than the alternatives; violence as
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always wrong but often necessary or at least inescapable. Begins as it means to go on, which I appreciate: “Sometimes you have to pull a knife. It’s not a good thing. I don’t enjoy it. But sometimes you just have to get a knife in your hands and make it clear which way the stabby end is pointing. ‘Let me out here,’ I’d said, before the knife got involved. It hadn’t been a question. Men always assume that declarative statements like that are questions.” Show Less
LibraryThing member james.d.gifford
This is a hard book to describe but an easy book to read. Killjoy is covering a lot of ground in a short narrative, which is hard—the quick pacing makes that work. Because I've read Killjoy earlier (but hadn't realized this was the same person), the themes were familiar. The balance between
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narrative and ideas is the challenge for this book. I think Killjoy makes it work, in the novel form, in part by keeping brisk pace and clear direction for the action. I enjoyed this a lot. I read it in a single sitting. I think other people would do the same. Show Less
LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
This was everything I was promised and more: queer-as-hell anarchists versus murderous demon deer, meditations on the role of violence in a utopian community, two people agreeing that they're too mutually fucked up to be in a relationship right now but they still wanna hang out, obsessive
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sculptures of the murderous demon deer. Just the right combination of serious and aesthetic. I knew if I kept reading Margaret Killjoy novels I'd find one I loved eventually: this appears to be it. Show Less
LibraryThing member amanda4242
What a refreshing change of pace! Most horror stories rely on supposedly intelligent people doing stupid things to drive the plot, but The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion relies on stupid people doing stupid things.
LibraryThing member sturlington
Danielle is a nomadic anarchist who comes to a utopian community in Iowa looking for clues as to why her friend committed suicide. What she finds is that the town has summoned--and many of the residents are now worshipping--a red demon-deer that commands undead animals and rips the hearts of out
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people who seek to harm others. Of course, the deer has gotten out of control, and Danielle bands with some other outsiders to try to unsummon it. Weird and certainly unlike anything I've read before--I enjoyed this. Show Less
LibraryThing member greeniezona
I probably never would have read this had not the cover so strongly reminded me of Forest of Memory, which I really enjoyed, and I'm trying to read most of Tor's novella series. It's pretty far outside of my particular range, what with zombie-like animals, occult summonings, and an anarchist
But there were aspects of this that I really got into. I enjoyed the near-future, post-some-kind-of-collapse setting. I liked the punk/anarchist ethos, the normalcy with which the diverse characters were approached, the big questions on fairness and righteousness, the earnestness of the young and idealistic. And despite my initial reservation, I love the three antlered blood-red deer of vengeance. I need someone to make a figurine that I can buy and put on my bookshelf.
At the same time there were large parts of the story that felt underdeveloped. Parts of the story that were mysterious in ways that felt unnecessary -- like they were just that way in order to drive the plot, not for a reason that actually made organic sense in the world of the story.
That said, I'm way more interested in the next book in this series than I expected to be. If it is a novella too, it will definitely end up on my shelves at some point.
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commune. It walks a line between horror and fantasy that's just a bit more horror than my usual digs.But there were aspects of this that I really got into. I enjoyed the near-future, post-some-kind-of-collapse setting. I liked the punk/anarchist ethos, the normalcy with which the diverse characters were approached, the big questions on fairness and righteousness, the earnestness of the young and idealistic. And despite my initial reservation, I love the three antlered blood-red deer of vengeance. I need someone to make a figurine that I can buy and put on my bookshelf.
At the same time there were large parts of the story that felt underdeveloped. Parts of the story that were mysterious in ways that felt unnecessary -- like they were just that way in order to drive the plot, not for a reason that actually made organic sense in the world of the story.
That said, I'm way more interested in the next book in this series than I expected to be. If it is a novella too, it will definitely end up on my shelves at some point.
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LibraryThing member bookczuk
I think I've found a new author to add to my favorites list. I'm not much of a traditional horror fan, but Killjoy didn't write a traditional horror story. For starters, the main character is homeless, queer, punk traveller, who comes to an anarchist squatter settlement in Freedom, Iowa, in search
I received this copy courtesy of Tor Books, as part of a care package to to keep me from going stir crazy while healing from a broken patella. It made falling and breaking myself almost worth it.
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of answers as to why her best friend killed himself after leaving there. The semi-utopia she finds in Freedom has some deeper darkness below the surface: power struggles, magic, and a demonic bloodred deer with three antlers. All wrapped up in some pretty decent writing. Even better, there's a sequel. Yay!I received this copy courtesy of Tor Books, as part of a care package to to keep me from going stir crazy while healing from a broken patella. It made falling and breaking myself almost worth it.
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LibraryThing member andreablythe
Danielle Cain (a "queer punk rock traveller") is looking for answers regarding her friend's death, which leads her to Freedom, Iowa — a squatter town that professes to be a utopia. However, something's wrong in down, and it's not just the heartless animal life wandering around as though they
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aren't really dead. I freaking love this book so much. It's strange and surprising, while offering a variety of interesting, believable characters. I just sort of clutched it to my chest when it was over, wanting so much more of these people and this world. Show Less
LibraryThing member knownever
As someone who grew up punk this is a fun little book. However, politically it is really off in the weeds, which is unfortunate.
LibraryThing member eldang
I read this in a day and bought the sequel immediately after. I'm impressed with the number of things Killjoy fit into one short book:
* A magical realist thriller about supernatural forces
* A morality tale about careless wielding of power
* A bit of Practical Anarchism 101 (though it may be
* The kind of loving critique of utopian anarchist communes that can only have come from someone who has lived in one and seen the challenges of making them live up to their own ideals.
* A magical realist thriller about supernatural forces
* A morality tale about careless wielding of power
* A bit of Practical Anarchism 101 (though it may be
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bewildering if you have no familiarity at all with the ideas anarchists grapple with)* The kind of loving critique of utopian anarchist communes that can only have come from someone who has lived in one and seen the challenges of making them live up to their own ideals.
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LibraryThing member eldang
I read this in a day and bought the sequel immediately after. I'm impressed with the number of things Killjoy fit into one short book:
* A magical realist thriller about supernatural forces
* A morality tale about careless wielding of power
* A bit of Practical Anarchism 101 (though it may be
* The kind of loving critique of utopian anarchist communes that can only have come from someone who has lived in one and seen the challenges of making them live up to their own ideals.
* A magical realist thriller about supernatural forces
* A morality tale about careless wielding of power
* A bit of Practical Anarchism 101 (though it may be
Show More
bewildering if you have no familiarity at all with the ideas anarchists grapple with)* The kind of loving critique of utopian anarchist communes that can only have come from someone who has lived in one and seen the challenges of making them live up to their own ideals.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LibroLindsay
I loved the setting, but I wanted a little more world-building. I loved the concept, but the ending didn't make sense to me. I think this deserved a bit more than 112 pages.
LibraryThing member et.carole
Leaps and bounds better than other anarchist fiction I’ve read. This was an enjoyable read at a quick pace, with good characters in whom I was interested, but I didn’t feel like we got enough time with them. I would’ve read this book if it were three times as long and it would have been more
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of an experience; as it was it felt curiously like reading a movie. Show Less
LibraryThing member macha
on the one hand, i knew what was going to happen in this novella from the very start; but on the other in mood it reminded me a bit of Delany's Dhalgren and that part was neat.
LibraryThing member xaverie
Gory, creepy, ominous, and queer as hell.
Awards
Shirley Jackson Award (Nominee — Novella — 2017)
ALA Over the Rainbow Book List (Selection — Genre Fiction — 2019)
Language
Original publication date
2017
ISBN
0765397366 / 9780765397362