A truly bizarre blend of the early hollywood era and dark fantasy. The characters are compelling and it was so interesting to watch the protagonist deal with the the sexism, homophobia, and racism of the era and the dangers of the fantastical dark side of hollywood. In the way of romance, it has a sapphic romance plot for the protagonist. While the protagonist was faced with plenty of ethically complicated and tough choices, I would hardly describe her as dark or having turned monstrous. Which wasn’t a problem for me, it just might not be what people expect.
Overall I liked the characters and plot well enough and loved the strangeness of the story, but I had some issues with the world. A ton of fantasy elements are introduced without much explanation or mention and then immediately moved on from, never to be mention substantively again. While this meant the story didn’t get bogged down with info dumps, it also made the fantasy elements somewhat confusing for me. I would have loved to have that part of the world be better fleshed out.
Overall I liked the characters and plot well enough and loved the strangeness of the story, but I had some issues with the world. A ton of fantasy elements are introduced without much explanation or mention and then immediately moved on from, never to be mention substantively again. While this meant the story didn’t get bogged down with info dumps, it also made the fantasy elements somewhat confusing for me. I would have loved to have that part of the world be better fleshed out.