Old Wounds

By Author / Illustrator

Logan-Ashley Kisner

Genre

LBGTQ+

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Usborne

ISBN

9781835400944

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

12-09-2024

Synopsis

OLD WOUNDS...new monsters. Two trans teens end up in a small, isolated town, where they must escape the locals who plan to sacrifice them to an ancient monster that only eats girls... This is the freshest YA horror thriller of 2024, perfect for fans of Darren Charlton and Aiden Thomas.

Erin and Max are two trans kids, just trying to get to California. Max is desperate to finally be able to transition, and Erin is longing to understand why she's on this trip to begin with, after Max suddenly broke up with her two years earlier. But when they find themselves stranded - and eventually separated - in the creepy woods of rural middle-America, they suddenly have much bigger problems.

First, there's the creature that, according to legend, feeds on girls, hunting them through the shadows.
And then there are the locals, who are searching for a female sacrifice. If either of them hope to survive to see the sunrise, Erin and Max will have to come together and stop running: from their attackers, from each other, and, ultimately, from themselves.

Logan-Ashley Kisner is a ReadingZone Featured Author: Find out what inspired Old Wounds

"Terrifying, tender, and unflinchingly honest. Old Wounds demands your attention from the very first page and never lets up." Rory Power, New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls. "Wholly original, endlessly subversive and genuinely terrifying." Laura Steven, author of The Society for Soulless Girls. "A terrifying, masterful debut... Old Wounds is a gripping exploration of gender, sacrifice and the real monsters we're running from." Lex Croucher

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Reviews

Stephen

Set in small-town America, Old Wounds is a creepy, thrilling and thought-provoking novel following trans teens Erin and Max who are trying to get to California. Erin isn't quite sure why she's here as she's not spoken to Max in the two years since they broke up, but Max needs to get there to finally transition. It's a long drive and as they make their way through rural Kentucky, things start to feel a little strange, then become a little strange and then a little deadly. It's not just that the car had broken down (twice) in the middle of nowhere and now in the woods, or that it's getting dark and they threw away their phones to avoid being tracked by the parents. Erin is sure she has seen something - a beast outside. And that's before the locals turn out to be looking for a sacrifice for the beast - a female sacrifice. Erin and Max will have to fight for their lives to make it through the night, but what will be their biggest enemy - the locals, the beast or themselves?

Old Wounds is the kind of novel that pulls you into it and keeps you engrossed in the story. It's skillfully written and told from the two main characters' point of view, a chapter a time. I found this helped pull the story along but also allowed the two voices of the characters to come through and for them to give voice to their own trans story and to how they have both ended up in a car on the way to California and being stuck in rural Kentucky.

This is where the creepiness starts to come in; the author really builds up the feeling of foreboding as things start to go wrong and the pace of the story really picks up! I loved the tension created especially the scene where Erin is left in the car alone in dark, and realises there is something outside... my heart was racing at that point!

The characters of Erin and Max are quite different and I couldn't help but feel for them, and I just wanted to give max a hug and tell him he'll be ok. Both are dealing with different issues, having had very different experiences with their trans journey. Every trans person's journey is different and this book really gives a window into the experiences of being a trans teen today.

The novel does get uncomfortable at times, especially with how Max and Erin are treated by some transphobic people, and the story does also touch on other issues including suicide. There are trigger warnings at the front of the book and links to advice and support in the back of the book, too.

Old Wounds is brilliant novel with a creepy, horror road-trip-gone-wrong vibe. It's also an emotional journey and will also stay with you for some time after you've read it.

352 pages / Reviewed by Stephen Leitch, school librarian

Clare

Erin and Max are two teenagers at different stages of their gender/identity journeys. For Erin, the changes appear outwardly seamless and accepted but for Max, the struggle continues. Although they used to date, two years have passed when Max unexpectedly asks Erin to accompany him on a road trip to California, where he hopes salvation and acceptance lie.

With deep feelings lingering, Erin loyally and perhaps recklessly decides to join him. But the journey from Columbus, Ohio to Berkley, California is a long and fraught one and that's before you throw in terrifying beasts and even more terrifying locals... Erin and Max seem to seem destined to perish in some ominous mid-American backwater unless they can outwit their human and not-so-human foes.

The horror in Old Wounds is sufficiently grisly and there's a clever gender identity twist that propels and complicates the plot, but it's Max and Erin's emotional journey that forms the core of the story. There are lots of neat parallels between the horror faced in the woods and real-life challenges of transition and although Max and particularly Erin can seem rash in their decision-making, you can feel years of sentiment behind it.

This is a thoughtful and entertaining read and a gently subversive addition to the YA horror canon.

352 pages / Reviewed by Clare Wilkins, school librarian