Synopsis
There is power in a name.A decade of torture at the hands of the cannibal Lucius has left Amy traumatised. Yet, she remains resilient and is determined to find a way out of his grasp. She will reclaim her freedom one way or another—even if that means becoming someone or something else entirely.
Queer, PTSD & anxiety rep.
Content warning: Sexual themes (nothing explicit), detailed gore, extreme violence & abuse, gaslighting, selfharm, suicidal thoughts, suicide, ritualistic human sacrifice, & cannibalism. There is mention of suggested/threatened sexual abuse but none happens.
Some reviews from GR:
"This dark tale grips you and won't let go. This is one of the stories I've binged upon this year. I was shocked, I was in awe, and I loved the way it was written!"
~
"Love, love, love this book. It's gruesome and you'll probably have to pause a few times to finish it, but it's very much worth it. A friend of mine and I even started a #luciuschallenge to see how many people will be able to finish and how many will nope out. I can't recommend this enough. If you are a gothic, psychological horror fan, you will love it."
~
"An extremely disturbing, unique, and gripping read that I recommend to anyone who likes dark fantasy and horror. "They Call Him Lucius" is one of my favorite horror books of all time, in fact. I'm not at all a fan of paranormal books, but this one breaks all the annoying tropes and manages to be just plain terrifying while still having likable characters...and some characters you will absolutely hate (cough, Lucius, cough). What I love about Shimaira's writing is the natural diversity of her characters. We have lots of LGBTQ+ people and several polyamorous relationships. In this book, the biggest concern is about not getting tortured by a possibly-immortal psychopath; who you kiss really doesn't matter. And I'm completely here for that!I definitely recommend reading "My Lord" in addition to this book, although you can read them in either order. I liked "My Lord" better because it didn't terrify the living daylights out of me, so I felt less anxiety while reading it, haha. Some characters appear in both books, although they have different names, and I enjoyed "Lucius" even more the second time through after having read "My Lord." It's so fun to hunt for those little Easter eggs.I will continue to read everything in the Transcended universe and shriek at everyone to check out Shimaira's writing, because she deserves to be a famous author that everybody knows about. I really think her books are that good!Definite trigger warning for some serious gore. It actually gave me nightmares."