A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz🌟🌟🌟💀💔✍A bizarre and fascinating exploration of racism, loss, survival, and youth during the terrors of war. Set in fantastical world, Beckan—a fairy—and her two fairy comrades find themselves the only fairies left in their city after the gnomes and the tightropers take over and start a war, but they are plagued by the death of the fourth fairy in their group and the loss of their overall city. A History of Glitter and Blood is quite the metaphor. Definitely not for the lighthearted. Throughout the book, there is a lot of cursing, prostitution, death, and grotesque situations (like gnomes eating parts of fairies, and those fairies feeling those parts being eaten forever), but those elements were some of my favorite parts. Moskowitz does not hold back, and to me, that is praiseworthy. She does not fear the ugly truth in poetically describing horrors. But that’s not why the book is bizarre. The novel is written in ways I can’t explain without spoiling a lot of the exploration of her world, but the story is told in a very unusual perspective: both from the story itself and from a character who is actually writing the novel, so it breaks the fourth wall often and not always with complete clarity, which adds an eeriness I enjoyed. Fellow writers will enjoy this book a lot, mainly because the jokes surrounding how to write a novel are priceless.That being said, it’s very much chaotic, even though it’s obvious this was done purposely and to add an authenticity to the situation in which the book was being written. There’s also photos and notes throughout the tale, which was great (and definitely unique), and all of these elements add up to a dizzying yet interesting portrayal of how racism morphs during destruction of cities and people. I sometimes wished for more grounding details, but I also understand that it was written this way to mimic the character writing the story under the stress of war. Many of the story’s elements I loved and disliked, but every single one had an obvious purpose. After reading it, it’s incredibly difficult to explain how I feel, because the book’s structure is so complicated, but it’s lovely and brilliant and extremely disturbing. The three stars is mainly because I wanted MORE—especially more physical details of the world, since I’m a big world-builder—but I also wanted more in regards to Beckan and Scrap, because I felt more emotions for Tier and Rig as well as Cricket and Josha, which is fine, but I felt like I was at a loss for something more emotional toward the end. Now that I said that though, I still believe Moskowitz is a mad genius.~SATRecommended to: Readers who enjoying writing styles that break the fourth wall, include pictures and excerpts, and challenge the usual writing structure. Must not be bothered by adult topics and detailed scenes in regards to sex, prostitution, cursing, cannibalism, death, and other war-related topics. Those who are open-minded to metaphors about our world but in strange fantasy settings.Favorite Quote: I don’t think those who die are any better than those who stay alive. They just look better. They can’t mess anything up anymore.