I really like the premise of this book so I’m super bummed that I didn’t really like it. It should have been a slam dunk for me: LGBTQIA+ rep, culty vibes, religious trauma… I eat that right up!

Unfortunately, I just could not get into it. I don’t need main to be likeable, redeemable, or even relatable, but I did not enjoy reading about this one. I’m kind of unsure how to explain what it is about her I disliked, but I was frustrated by how much she annoyed me. I think part of it was that she made so many assumptions women she didn’t know. Her jealousy is an obvious reason for that, I just didn’t like the way it was done.

I also found a lot of the dialogue very strange. At one point, the MC is talking to an older trans woman at a party, and their conversation is so disjointed, I had to reread it a few times. Neither woman responded to the other one in an appropriate way and it didn’t really make sense - it felt like they were having different conversations. This issue wasn’t limited to that one interaction. A lot of the dialogue felt like the people were talking at instead of to each other.

At about 30%, I decided to do a sort of skim-read because I wanted to know what happened, but I didn’t want to be with the MC any longer. I understand Ash’s motivations and I think that aspect of the story was interesting, but ultimately, the writing and the characters themselves just weren’t for me.

this was everything that I wanted from the description and was invested in the tension and horror element that was going on. The overall feel worked with this concept and the use of demons was so well done. I was invested in the characters and thought the overall feel worked in this universe. I was glad everything was beautifully written and a realistic concept. Grace Byron has a strong writing style and loved the way the characters spoke in this book.

I sometimes struggle to put my thoughts into words when it comes to novels like this. I tend to enjoy books that are a little bit raunchy, and I appreciate lewd storytelling—especially when it centers marginalized groups—because there’s a kind of power in that honesty. This book had some of that, which drew me in.

One thing that surprised me was how late the supernatural element, specifically the demons, came into the story. For about 85% of the book it seemed like the "demons" were metaphorical, representing inner trauma or emotional baggage. When the actual demons appeared, it felt more like an attempt to inject horror into the plot rather than something that added real depth. Personally, I didn’t think the supernatural twist contributed much to the story.

What I did enjoy was the exploration of relationships, especially the one between the main character and Ash, the commune’s leader. I'm always interested in reading about power dynamics, particularly within queer women’s relationships, and this book gave some interesting moments in that regard. The conversations between Indigo and the main character also stood out to me as thoughtful and compelling.

Overall, though, the story didn’t really stick with me. It was easy to put down, and when I came back to it, I often forgot what had happened. The plot wasn’t especially engaging—it mostly centered on a group of queer women with traumatic pasts, all living together and navigating their complicated, sometimes toxic, romantic histories. A lot of their interactions came off as tense or petty, which could be interesting, but here it started to feel repetitive.

I devoured Herculine—a sharp, fast-paced nightmare glittering with insight about desire, trauma, and the unique joys and disappointments of t4t intimacy. In a literary landscape long-plagued by bloodless depictions of contemporary transsexual life, Herculine splashes onto the scene sparkling red and wreathed in viscera.

It took so long to get to the horror and “yellow jackets” of it all I kept feeling like I picked up the wrong book.

I received a free copy from Saga Press via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date October 7th.

I requested this book because I was intrigued by the trans horror premise. In Herculine, the unnamed trans narrator is attempting to pursue writing career in New York, where she is haunted by the demons that taunt her when she's half asleep. When she suddenly loses her job, she impulsively takes an ex up on her offer to join an all trans girl commune in rural Indiana, where things are not as they seem...

Herculine is a novel where the horror feels more inspired by literary fiction than the orderly explanations of urban fantasy. Even the goriest horror sequences in the book feel much more metaphorical than scary, and all of the fantasy elements are possible to explain away as the narrator's hallucinations or schizophrenia. The literary fiction feel is emphasized by the prose--Byron has a gift for excellent turns of phrase. There's a particularly good passage where she links the narrator's pushy landlord with a description of god as the heavenly landlord, and then quips that her mother taught her to pray for rent money. However, Byron also has a bit of a tendency to dedicate large passages to philosophizing, which may not be to everyone's taste. I wouldn't say Herculine navel gazes, but it certainly glances occasionally at the midriff.

The plot itself is more metaphor than campy horror novel. We learn that demons are tied to people in their worst moment of trauma, and haunt them in attempt to steal their souls. Here, trauma tears apart the trans woman community literally, in the form of demons eating people. Our unnamed narrator is a prime target for demonic manipulation: haunted by the conversion therapy she suffered through as a teen, bitterly jealous of other women writers posting about their successes on instagram, and scraping her way through living in New York with ketamine and parties full of people she despises. And the trans utopia her ex promises her doesn't turn out to be much better...

A dark and spiky trans horror book about intracommunity violence. It leaned a bit too far into litfic stylistically for my taste, but if that's more your thing, you may enjoy it.

Full on fever dream read!
I really enjoyed the details and tone of the story overall. However, the pacing seemed stalled and at times sentences felt too wordy and repetitive. I also wish the horror elements were a little more spread throughout the story instead of just the last few chapters.
In general the plot is unique and I would like to give this one another shot maybe as an audiobook for summer.

Thank you Saga Press for the ARC🖤

Grace Byron is an incredibly talented writer. Her prose is beautiful and poetic at times. Her writing quality deserves a 4-5 rating, but I do feel as though the book itself needed more revision.
I'm hoping the ARC isn't the final version being published. There was a lengthy opening of the character's life in NYC, and immediately after arriving at Herculine the pacing, plot, and sense of the author guiding us disappears. Transitions between scenes and chapters are jumpy and left me checking if I had accidentally skipped pages, and the scenes with the demonic rituals are rushed through. In the first half, the narrator's personal hauntings and such are EXCELLENT--scary, visceral, we are there with her! But this aspect seems to dissipate and even when literal demons are evoked and insane things are occurring, I struggled to picture and grasp the severity of the moments. I think that with revised pacing and more continuity of the narrator's personal hauntings we might be able to succumb fully to this commune.
Thank you for the ARC and I look forward to reading more by Grace!

I requested this book before it had a cover and I have zero regrets. This book will have you hooked immediately! This book felt like a fever dream! This is a book everyone needs to read

Our main character is invited to an all trans girl commune from her ex girlfriend..... red flag from the beginning but I couldn't stop reading!!!!
When you read this.... take your time and truly digest the horror occurring at the commune.... Im at a loss of words on how to describe this book and the events that took place. Similar to Blair Witch, I feel each person should read this book and see if we have similar concepts of what we read or did you experience something different from the mysteries Grace put us through.

It was… fine. It’s pretty slow and a little too niche for a debut author. The point of the plot doesn’t come until way too late in the story, and breaking down other trans women within the community took up a lot of the beginning half. I understand that it’s easy to go after people in your own circle, but in a state of the world where trans people are actively being hunted by politicians and alt-right ideologies, perhaps ranking levels of transness and thus what is “more trans than you” isn’t the way to go.

I went into this book expecting a campy, queer horror story with a sharp edge and compelling characters, but unfortunately, it fell short on nearly every front. While the premise had real potential, the execution left much to be desired. The narrator in particular came across as grating, often embodying the "I'm not like other girls" trope in a way that felt condescending—especially toward other trans characters. Rather than building complexity or nuance, the character's voice just made me angry.

I found most of the cast insufferable, which made it difficult to stay engaged. The pacing was uneven, with a plot that seemed to stall just when it should have been building momentum. The ending felt rushed and abrupt, leaving little payoff after pushing through a frustrating narrative. Additionally, the repetitive and excessive use of certain language (especially one particular word) became increasingly distracting and took away from the overall reading experience.

In the end, this book didn’t deliver on its promise for me. While I appreciate what it was trying to do, the tone and characters made it a tough read, and it never quite found its footing.

Thank you NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC.

This book felt too long and too short all at once... We spent more time in NY than I'd expected, then almost no time getting to know the girls. When something happened to one, then a few of them, I couldn't find myself caring.

The horror was perfect in NY. The smallest hint of a demon following the MC and the dread around it that she's grown used to. I was surprised this didn't come up again later on.

Then there's nothing until nearly the end, when so much is happening it's hard to keep track. I had to re-read to even figure out how it all ended.

I wanted to love this book but came out feeling meh.

Sometimes you're a trans girl whose toxic ex has started a trans lesbian commune out in the middle of nowhere, and shit sucks, and you decide why not, let's go and take a look at the commune? Except oh shit your ex may have really done it this time, because there's real cult vibes going on, and you have to deal with your own hauntings (thanks conversion therapy!) to be able to deal with the wider demonic shit happening. Moves fast because U-Haul lesbians, and absolutely goes off the rails in the best kind of way. Highly recommended read this fall.

The horror works best first before the demonic deals the commune members make are revealed, when it’s just the mounting unease, then in moments like rituals with Dagon where the demons’ capricious and cruelty alongside the gifts they offer to create the sense of a horrible balancing act, but one someone could convince themselves they can benefit from if they are careful. Later when everything goes off the rails and people start dying left and right, demons are running rampant, it feels like too much happening without substance.
Some pieces of life on the commune, the relationships between the inhabitants, mixing support and toxicity, and the cult behavior the leader, Ash, had cultivated even disregarding the demons, could also be enjoyable, but weren’t explored much. The narrator's introspection on her experiences as a trans woman raised by a fundamentalist Christian mother, her past experiences with cults and conversion therapy gave her an interesting view on the commune -- half cutting through the idyllic portrait of trans community, self-sufficiency, and pure T4T love with a practiced eye for the darker side of things and half an increased vulnerability and longing to believe in Ash's vision.

Well, this book may not have been written with me in mind as its intended audience but I sure as hell enjoyed it. I found the writing style to be interesting and enrapturing. It was a unique plot that one I wasn’t sure was going to work, but made for a fun read.

I hate to say it, but I'm disappointed. The writing was just felt like a wattpad fan fiction, and it was just trying way too hard to seem raunchy.
I was so excited for this read, and I was really looking forward to the trans commune plot, but it just fell so short.
Some of the descriptors were okay, but the premise just felt like it was thrown down and stomped on. This could have been an amazing and shaking horror, and I see glimpses of that peaking through, but it just doesn't focus on that enough for me.
I love character development, but the main character's "whatever" attitude, curse filled vocabulary, and sex-driven lifestyle just put me off from the beginning and I never grew to like her.

another excellent horror novel for the ‘trans sapphic girl in a toxic yuri’ situation enjoyers, and idgaf if i’m the only one who is a part of that club. this felt a little disjointed at the end but overall it worked really well for me.

4.5/5

Herculine's narrator loses her job and has a demonic experience in the bathroom of a club, so she finally decides to take her ex girlfriend Ash up on her offer to visit her all trans-girl commune. The demons are nothing new, an ongoing presence since her experience with conversion therapy, but they are usually relegated to sleep paralysis demons she can fight with holy oil. With no job, shitty exes, and not much to lose, she finally takes the plunge. However, when she arrives, nothing is really as it seems, and she hasn't left the demons back in New York after all.

What follows was a frankly haunting and disturbing experience, that was so vividly written. This book was truly unlike anything else I have read, and I say that as a compliment. I can't speak to how well it captures the experience of being a trans woman, but the insight into the narrator's character was so interesting and raw. The book doesn't shy away from the horrors, both from the demonic experiences but also from the all-too-human experiences the narrator has had. The prose was accessible but challenging, so this book will definitely warrant another pass or two to really parse out some of the other details.

All of the characters were so messy and distinctive in their own way. Everything is upside down, and everyone felt so real and so human, as it were. Even the conceit of Herculine (the commune) itself is so human and real, to make a deal with a demon to fit in, when you've felt like that isn't possible any other way. The demon involvement also felt so familiar to me as a lapsed Catholic.

I have read some of Grace's articles prior to reading this book, and I really enjoy her style. I'm so glad I had a chance to read this ARC, and I am grateful to Saga Press, Grace, and NetGalley for the chance to review it!

First of all, thank you to Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for the free e-copy of Herculine by Grace Byron for review. Herculine was a fantastic debut that will surely keep me invested in what Grace Byron does next. Herculine had a wonderful and very unique plot that kept me thoroughly engrossed in what was happening next. On top of that, which I thought was the best part of the novel, is the great character development. The narrator was a fully fleshed-out character that you come to sympathize with as they navigate a harsh world and learn to cope and thrive in it.