Serra Elinsen

Mixed feelings about this. Been waiting to read it for years. I was watching the show as Lindsey and Nella were figuring out if they were gonna go with the Lovecraft Mythos and was pretty into it all but I somehow delayed buying the book. Maybe I should have tried it when I was really excited about it.

I wish they had released it openly as a parody, accepted the publishing deal and gotten an editor. It has many funny parts and the "subtle" critique of the genre is ingenious. I rewatched the series before starting it and this turned out to be a huge bonus since it not only made me feel "in on the joke" but also helped me pay attention to the structure of the book and how each element is taken from an existing cliche of popular teen paranormal romance novels.

The main problem with Awoken is that it needed a re-write or an editor to cut out some mundane parts, like 3 pages of clothing descriptions. Some of these parts that are more faithful to the teen-romance formula act like a giant pause button to the flow of the text.

On the other hand the other big problem this book has is that it's not faithful enough to the formula. It had WAY more plot than the usual novels of the kind and was really consistent with the Cthulhu Mythos. This made it obvious that it was a parody written by fellow nerds. Only it wasn't supposed to be that way; the intention was to be believable as a Twilight knockoff.

This imbalance of not being 100% one or the other (parody or teen romance) was very annoying. The book's still enjoyable but it has many boring parts that slow down the reading process and take a lot of the fun away.

I wish it were better, my expectations were too high and were inevitably crushed. I don't regret buying or reading it though.… (mere)

Awoken by Serra Elisen (the nom-de-plume of Lindsay Ellis, Antonella Inserra, and Elisa Hansen) is the rare parody that stands as its own work of fiction rather than simply riffing on the original. Unlike Harvard Lampoon’s Nightlight, Elisen’s Cthulhu-themed story breaks down the problematic tropes of the teen supernatural romance genre, including the romanticizing of controlling & abusive boyfriends, tokenism of BIPOC characters, and the subtle endorsement of young women forgoing their agency in order to be with a man. Even as the story uses these tropes to advance the plot and comment on the genre, the tone of the story makes clear that Ellis, Inserra, and Hansen do not themselves endorse it. In-jokes from their respective YouTube work abound, including main character Andromeda “Andi” Slate loving Phantom of the Opera and the use of antiquated language in places when characters exclaim something. Those familiar with their work will enjoy these references, but a knowledge of the authors is not necessary to appreciate them. Best of all for horror fans, Elisen invests a great deal into accurately referencing parts of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, directly quoting Lovecraft’s 1928 short story “The Call of Cthulhu” and his 1936 novel, The Shadow of Innsmouth: “ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.” As a self-aware parody of supernatural teen romance and its own story, Awoken is a lot of fun.… (mere)