Amelia is a ripper, a monster who feeds on violent people who have so thoroughly forsaken love that they’ve burned away their souls. Unseen and unnoticed by most of society and living as both hunter and hunted, the only emotion rippers feel is anger. But Amelia is different from her fellow rippers and also feels happiness and sadness, fear and love. To her mother, Danjay, that makes Amelia the strangest of all monsters.
Driven from their home by religious zealots, Amelia and Danjay must learn to survive in the city of Medea, where violent men rule and kill anyone who opposes them. Worse, Amelia has never hunted on her own, and her mother is ill and growing weaker by the day. Only a chance encounter with a human who can see Amelia gives her any hope that she might be able to save her mother.
To succeed, Amelia must learn to hunt in an increasingly dangerous city brought to the brink of war by the corrupt, rich and powerful. Amelia will also have to discover if her differences from her fellow rippers makes her weak, as her mother believes, or if she can instead be a new kind of monster that the world has never seen before.
Jason Sanford is three-time finalist for the Nebula Award and an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Born and raised in the American South, he currently lives in the Midwestern U.S. His life's adventures include work as an archaeologist and as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Jason's first novel Plague Birds will be released by Apex Books in September 2021. He has published dozens of short stories in Asimov's Science Fiction, Interzone, Analog: Science Fiction and Fact, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fireside Magazine, and other places. Books containing his stories include multiple "year's best" story collections and The New Voices of Science Fiction.
Jason’s awards and honors include being a finalist for the Nebula Awards for Best Novella, Best Novelette and Best Short Story. He has also won two Interzone Readers' Polls for best story of the year and been a co-winner of a third Poll. Jason's other honors include receiving a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, being nominated for the BSFA Award, and being longlisted for the British Fantasy Award. His stories have been named to multiple Locus Recommended Reading Lists along with being translated into a number of languages including Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Italian and Czech.
I received this as an unsolicited review copy from the publisher and while it's not something I think I would have picked up on my own, I decided to give it a read because I'm being more intentional with knocking out the arcs I have and saw no reason to slow that roll right now.
It's a quick read for two reasons: (1) it's barely over 100 pages and (2) it's all surface, no substance. If you're looking for something to check a box on a reading list, or you want something light that you can power through in a few hours, this would be a good choice.
Ultimately, it's monster vs man but with a monster we've never encountered before. Oh, and there's a little monster-rom com sprinkled in there too, I guess, for funsies.
So basically, the girl is a monster who can pass as human but with magic powers and millions of teeth who, by nature and necessity, is compelled to devour men of violence, which they dub Alexanders. Her ill and aging mom teaches her to hunt so she can be self sufficient. On their first hunt together, girl and mom kill a guy who beats his family, then wipes the wife and son's memories and charms them into letting them crash at their place. The girl and the son hit it off, bff style, reading penny dreadful books in his mom's shop while her mom sleeps off the hunt and heals, because hunting and using magic drains you, and soon the girl decides she has to hunt on her own to allow her mom to conserve her energy, and to bring back the bad guys she kills so her mom can eat, because eating Alexanders replenishes their powers and strength.
Meanwhile, a bad priest and even badder cop are aware that these monsters exist and are keeping an eye out for them, and while trying to avoid being caught by them but still needing to prowl the town for Alexanders to eat, the girl befriends another of her kind, and then all kinds of hell breaks loose.
That's the book in a nutshell. Am I giving too much away? I mean, much of this is on the back cover and it's a novelette and I'm aware that I'm probably making it sound more exciting and interesting than it really was. The writing wasn't doing it for me and the whole thing was just kind of meh. The characters are flat as pancakes and so is the world they are navigating. I nearly DNFd it a few pages in but stuck with it because it wasn't like it was a huge time commitment. That sounds horrible doesn't it? But you guuuuuuys, DNFing is so haaaaard!
"Once a person bent the world too far through hate and anger and violence, all that remained for them was us." (Pg 3)
Seventeen year old Amelia is a ripper, coming of age. She learns the ropes from her mother, but is not experienced enough to go out on her own. The rippers move through the world unseen unless they want you to see them, and then they erase all memory of themselves from your mind. They hunt and eat those that their kind call "Alexanders", the violent individuals who have lost their humanity.
"....I tasted every emotion there was.... these emotions were becoming stronger." (Pg 14)
Amelia is different, though, strange for her kind. She feels more than she should for a ripper... and she wants more than she should desire. She is curious and has many questions. With her mother's health declining and having found a "home", she is befriended by a human boy who can somehow see her.
"I smiled. Sometimes, he let me gnaw on his arm to ease my hunger. I had to be careful not to bite too hard -- while I couldn't eat him, my teeth could still hurt him." (Pg 50)
But her inexperience and uniqueness is something other rippers see as a weakness, something that could draw danger and/or attention to their kind.
With the help of a reluctant ripper, Amelia learns to navigate the ins and outs of being a ripper. The city, however, is full of religious zealots making each venture perilous, and she can't quite seem to unlock a certain power -- to open a portal -- that all other rippers possess.
I thought the way the book read and came across was a fair representation of the young age of the narrator, albeit a few years younger, maybe. It was also very sweet reading the innocent interactions between Amelia and Abner.
The rippers sort of remind me of sin eaters, except rippers eat the sins AND the sinners. Amelia gifted the sinners with their sins as she ate them, making them feel all the horrors of their wrongdoings as they died. Poetic justice.
This book kind of gentle-fies horror, bringing forth the morally grey aspect, making you empathetic toward the monsters to where you want them to and hope they can find their HEA.
ARC courtesy of Apex Book Company and Jason Sanford. Voluntary review.
We Who Hunt Alexanders is a horror novella, written by Jason Sanford, published by Apex Book Company. A little cozy and dark story focused on a coming-of-age arc and mother-daughter relationship, exploring rage and violence; a fast-paced and interesting read, which ends being comforting despite how bleak the background might look.
Seventeen-year-old Amelia is unusual for a ripper; she's able to experience a full range of emotions instead of the only anger other rippers feel. Together with her mother, she has fled to Medea after religious zealots forced them from their previous home; her mother, Danjay, is trying to make her learn how to hunt Alexanders, violent humans that enjoy harming others. However, they are not yet safe in Medea, as Danjay is really ill, and Amelia will need to become stronger and learn how to be a proper ripper while trying to protect her mother from those that persecute them.
Amelia doesn't fit as the prototypical ripper: she's unable to summon a bloodmaw, but the progressive decay of her mother will put her in the situation of having to ask for help. She's able to feel more that anger, and that makes her a really strange monster; she wants to take care of her mother and those that protected her, even if that means risking her life to stop the persecution. Abner plays a good role as the person that understands her, also balancing the harshness that the other ripper that appears in this story, Ziee, who passes from antagonist to reluctant ally. In general, we can see a relatively well-fleshed cast with such a short length.
Sanford manages to pack so much lore in this novel: not only we get to know about the rippers and their bloodmaws, but also the reason for the name of Alexander; and how there are a dangerous class of people, the incendaries, who rippers can't touch but that can manipulate Alexanders to do violence. The pacing is fast, but didn't feel rushed; the length is pretty much in the spot it should be.
We Who Hunt Alexanders is a novella that knows how to play to its strengths, especially putting the emphasis on the complicated mother-daughter relationship and in the difficult period that is the pass to adulthood; and honestly, horror is one of the best genres to reflect it. A really well executed novella by Jason Sanford!
Thanks to Apex Books for an advanced copy of this novella, “We Who Hunt Alexanders.”
I’m giving this book a 3.5 stars. This was a cozy little dark fantasy book centered around a coming-of-age story and the mother-daughter relationship between Amelia and Danjay.
The two women are “rippers,” meaning they hunt and eat “Alexanders,” who tend to be violent men. It’s a fairly straightforward commentary on good and evil in the world. While I thought the characters could have been a little deeper, this was a nice few hours of reading. Would make a great spooky summer beach read! If you’re into that kind of thing!
A big thank you to the publisher and author for an ARC for a blurb!
WE WHO HUNT ALEXANDERS is a fast-paced novella interlaced with mystery exploring rage, violence, the abuse of power while unpacking new truths and unravelling the previously known. It is a bloody yet comforting story about learning to love and trust after being taught to harden against the cruelty of the world and the difficulty of solving problems if you can’t reach the rotten roots and only trim its branches
First of all, I received an advanced copy of this book from Apex magazine. Thank you, folks! In We Who Hunt Alexanders, Jason Sanford adds a new creature to the pantheon of “movie monsters.” His rippers are beings that feed on violent people who have lost the ability to love and, thus, have burned away their souls. In a fictional city of Medea, based roughly on Victorian London it seems, a mother and daughter ripper attempt to make a new life after being chased from their rural village by religious zealots. The book covers their adventures in the first few months in the city. The novella is an extremely fast read. It is only 122 pages, but Sanford’s writing style is very readable, and he keeps the action moving at a steady, loping pace. The characters have enough depth that they are interesting, but Sanford does not over explain his characters either. I did notice after I read through the book the first time that I thought I had missed information, perhaps, because of the surprise of being at the end so quickly, but I did feel that I needed more information about the rippers, their powers, and the world in which they live. Where did these powers come from? How are the individual rippers all connected to the other dimension (Is it Hell?) through their blood maw? It does seem at times, like 1960’s comic book superheroes, that the rippers have whatever power they need to survive whatever challenge needs to be met in the moment. If sequels are coming, their abilities, capabilities, and the limits of their skills and talents must be explained. Characters who are invulnerable and can easily overcome any challenge seldom remain interesting for very long. The rippers seem more of a threat to themselves than do their human antagonists. Also, I wondered if I missed something about the world of Medea in which the characters live. Is it supposed to be like Victorian London? If so, the language and the cultural attitudes of the characters are somewhat anachronistic. Some of the “social justice warrior” attitude was ham-handed. I felt, at times, like I was listening to a sermon about what jerks people are. Now, I want social justice for all and especially for minorities and any people/beings who are treated poorly because they are different. I am simply not sure that rippers deciding who should be killed and eaten is the type of justice with which I can agree. Granted, they are monsters. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. I was entertained, and I never felt like I might want to skip a sentence, paragraph, or page. Only after finishing the book, did I start thinking that maybe I had missed information or explanation about the time, place, and creatures’ powers. Rereading it, I found that I had not missed it. It wasn’t there.
Picture this: a millennia-old monster who turns invisible at night and can change your memories, hypnotize you, and swallow you whole, sending you to a hellish alternate dimension where millions of teeth will shred you to pieces. You’ve just met the protagonist of Jason Sanford’s We Who Hunt Alexanders.
Seventeen-year-old ripper Amelia and her ailing mother have just arrived in the city after being chased out of the countryside by a bishop investigating several mysterious deaths. However, Sanford introduces an important nuance in his novella: rippers’ magic does not allow them to eat humans. Rather, they eat “Alexanders”, a term for those so violent that they have lost their own humanity. Therefore, rippers are a righteous punishment, their powers fuelled not only by their hunger, but by their own anger.
Amelia is struggling. She doesn’t feel a connection to her inner world yet, her mother's health is worsening, and in the process of pursuing them, the bishop is cultivating a dictatorial political hold on the city that feels scarily familiar. Moreover, Amelia feels emotions that she shouldn’t as a ripper, but she can’t seem to stop. She’ll need all her strength—and her differences—to survive.
While the “not like the others” trope can feel a bit hackneyed, especially when it comes to Amelia experiencing normal human emotions, Sanford presents a fantastic monster concept. He also skillfully drip-feeds information on how the rippers’ powers work and what their limitations are, rather than info-dumping and pulling the reader out of the story. The scenes of Amelia and other rippers tearing into Alexanders are just as brutal as they are satisfying.
However, We Who Hunt Alexanders is far more than just splatter; it deals with religious and domestic abuse, sexual assault, homophobia, police brutality, and the way in which some people capitalize on moments of fear to brutalize others. Sanford’s criticisms are direct but poignant, and his emphasis on building community and friendships shows a tempting vision of how the world could be a better place.
If you’re looking to read a horror novella with heart—and many, many teeth—then We Who Hunt Alexanders is the book for you. While it may not solve the world’s problems, it nonetheless provides an excellent catharsis for those who wish for justice.
In We Who Hunt Alexanders, by Jason Sanford, we meet three rippers – monsters who feed on irredeemably bad men (and, very occasionally, women): ancient Danjay; her novice daughter Amelia; and Ziee, a spiky acquaintance who grudgingly takes Amelia under her wing.
Unusually for a ripper, Amelia experiences the full range of emotions, whereas Danjay and Ziee can only feel anger. What’s more, while rippers can generally make themselves invisible to the warm people whose homes they squat in, Amelia and Danjay’s new teenage housemate, Abner, can see them, and even bonds with Amelia over their shared enthusiasm for penny dreadfuls.
The city of Medea, where mother and daughter have fled after religious zealots forced them from their previous home, is far from a refuge, however. A church demonfinder holds a great deal of power locally, and as an incendiary who doesn’t get his own hands dirty, he’s not technically an Alexander, so can’t be dispatched by the rippers. Can Danjay and Amelia survive, despite their respective frailty and inexperience?
I found We Who Hunt Alexanders a fun and unexpectedly heartwarming read. Right from the start, you can’t help but be on the rippers’ side, as Amelia is such a compelling, endearing narrator, and the type of people rippers target aren’t exactly a loss to the world. In fact, it’s rather satisfying seeing Alexanders get eaten by monsters!
Despite the constraints of the novella format, Sanford not only successfully realises the characteristics, rules, and lore of rippers – the many-toothed personal “blood-maws” they summon from hell to help them with their kills are thrillingly gruesome, and I enjoyed the explanation of why their victims are called “Alexanders” – but also the Victorian-coded city, and the broader world of the story, where many other supernatural entities also happen to exist.
More than anything, though, this is a coming-of-age story. At the beginning, Amelia has never killed an Alexander herself, is late developing the ability to summon a blood-maw, and suspects her capacity for feeling is a liability. Over the course of the book, she finds a true friend in Abner, gains Ziee as a mentor, learns about her mother’s life before she knew her, and – without giving too much of the ending away – discovers that difference can be a strength.
As suggested previously, though, Amelia doesn’t find it easy to get Ziee on her side – in fact, rippers being extremely territorial, Ziee initially nearly kills Amelia when she happens to visit the building where Ziee lives.
Between rippers’ adversarial relationships with one another, and the risks they have to take to keep themselves fed, there’s a lot of tension and danger to keep you turning the pages, culminating in a dramatic and gory finale.
We Who Hunt Alexanders is an imaginative, suspenseful, and surprisingly touching coming-of-age horror novella.
"Just as there are rules that govern the magic powering our lives, so too are rules for Alexanders. Once a person bent the world too far through hate and anger and violence, all that remained for them was us." - Rippers
The world has gone too far with its atrocities and dominance over those who are weak which has forced them to be empty of empathy and love. But how to bring the balance now? Are there hearts reversible from hatred to love? Or have they so far lost their sanity that they have become the monsters who can only be avenged by another monster?
'We who hunt Alexanders' is not just dark fantasy fiction. It is the reality, the truth of this world where humans have lost their purpose and emotions that actually make them the most amazing creation of God. They are becoming worse than monsters in the name of superiority, religion, and what they think is right rather than what morally is right.
Amelia is a ripper, different but still a ripper who feels emotions other than anger unlike her momma who's centuries old and still somewhere believes in old ways. Ruined by the wrong thoughts of Bishop and vita dei, they have to leave their happy home and find another. Their body needs to feed on Alexanders to be in a working form and they found all this in the city of Medea.
But are they safe? Will they be able to get a stable happy home for their survival?
A fight between Rippers, Alexanders and Incendiaries to maintain the balance of love and hatred in this world. Confused by the terms, then check out the book.
When I first started this book, I thought it would be like the usual monster and human fantasy drama but while reading I realized it is way more than that. The author has done a fantastic job with its plot and his vivid imagination has given this book an edge. The connection to today's world while also creating the dark horror is commendable!
This book is definitely worthy of your TBR and shelf.
Apex books was kind enough to send me an ARC for review which I am glad they did. We who hunt Alexanders takes place in an undetermined time and place, but it is definitely Earth in a more midieval time. It is a world where monsters are a part of society and they have their role to play. Amelia is a young Ripper and we meet her hunting an Alexander after fleeing to the city after being chased out of their village by religious fanatics. An Alexander is a violent human being and enjoying that violence. Later we learn how Rippers came about this name, but Amelia’s mom, Danjay, is not willing to tell. So I made up the theory that Jason Sanford had borrowed the name from a Clockwork Orange. I found that fitting, although not chronologically correct.
This hunt will change the live of Amelia and her mom as she meets Abner, the son of the Alexander. Abner and his mother take Amelia and Danjay into there house. Regretfully, the religious fanatics lead by Bishop Stoll have continued their chase into Medea. So, Danjay and Amelia are nowhere near safety.
Rippers protect themselves with magic that renders them unseen. Amelia is a bit lacking in some parts of Ripperdom and Abner is able to see her. The ensuing relationship and the fact the Amelia actually feels emotions leads to developments that will forever change the capabilities of Rippers and what is possible in the world.
For me this novella shows the power of diversity and what it adds to a conservative worldview. It takes brave people, often young, to break the mold. Amelia and Abner are those brave people. And this is their wonderful tale of growth and delivering change in a hostile world.
🫣 𝙒𝙚 𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙃𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝘼𝙡𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 Amelia is a monster— a ripper. She and her mother, Danjay, hunt and feed on people know as Alexanders (mostly evil men who have no love left in their souls). Most rippers only feel one thing, anger. But, Amelia is different from other rippers. She can feel things like love and happiness. Amelia is the strangest of monsters. Both Amelia and Danjay are driven from their home by religious zealots and now must learn to survive in a new place, while still staying in the shadows to remain undetected. Danjay is going weaker and weaker, and Amelia still has not come into her powers fully. Amelia befriends a human and meets another ripper who may just be her best hope in helping her mother and surviving. This book is one part coming of age, one part good versus evil, and one part exploration of the morally gray. The rippers are ridding the world of evil one terrible person at a time and making them feel the pain that they inflicted on others as they drain the life out of them. As a reader, you’re left to ponder who is the real “monster” in this scenario…the rippers who are literally saving people from pain and hate or the Alexanders who are perpetrating the evil? As Amelia and her human friend, Abner, grow closer, they both also come into their own…Amelia in realizing her true abilities and strengths, and Abner in becoming comfortable in his own skin and with who he truly is. I flew through this novella and really enjoyed its simplicity while also carrying a certain depth through character development that really does get you thinking…what makes a monster? 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5 *Thank you @apexbookcompany and @jasonsanfordsf for this #gifted copy!
It’s been weeks that I’ve been meaning to write a review for We Who Hunt Alexanders, and yet it lives within me. Like a clattering maw of teeth and hellfire, I think of it each time I read a headline about someone harming innocent people. I think of it whenever I get hungry, really hungry, and contemplate how satisfying it must be to endlessly digest psychopathic monsters. I think of it each time I see two kids huddling close, hands interlaced, eyes only for each other, and worry for their safety and happiness. I think of it each night I tuck my own children into bed and wonder if I’ve given them the tools they’ll need to protect themselves in a cruel and hypocritical world.
We Who Hunt Alexanders is the perfect read for those who are tired: tired of being tired, of being angry, of feeling helpless, of hating others. For those baffled by the casual cruelty they see daily. It’s short, but rich with characters you love and a world both magically different, yet unnervingly familiar. It packs a punch that will bruise you, but satisfy by leaving you feeling that at least this once, finally, the monsters among us have something to be afraid of.
I finished “We Who Hunt Alexanders” by Jason Sanford. This publication is a novella. It would be a short novel in Germany because the definition of a novella is too tight in Germany. This novella is 33000 words long, so it has the approximate length of a German dime novel. Amelia and her mother are rippers. Rippers are monsters in the gestalt of female humans, who nourish on evil people by devouring them alive. They are chased by a group of religious zealots. Mother and daughter flee to the next bigger city to look for shelter and protection. The story takes place in Victorian England, which is to be discerned from the many sold Penny Dreadfuls in every shop. Amelia is also reading these booklets now. Amelia evolves herself, finds friends and there is a big showdown against the most dangerous and most evil adversary. The novella was compelling and fits perfectly in our time full of reactionism and revisionism. Long story short, that means it is cool to find certain groups, deem them as inferior and thrash them instead of improving the lives of all people.
I am super thankful for this gifted copy from Apex and Sanford!! I still can not get over how stunning this cover is!
This was such an interesting read, and definitely a change of pace from what I have been reading as of recently! In we who hunt Alexander’s we step into a world of an undetermined time and undetermined place. We do not know exactly where we are but what we do know is that Amelia he is about to have her life changed!
I absolutely love the world that Sanford builds within this novella! The amount of world building truly develops you within this world and keeps you immersed in the story! It was also interesting to see all of the character growth in such a short novella! I love being able to see how the characters grew and expanded from start to finish!
I was honestly blown away by this book. The world building wasn’t so intense that it took half a book to understand but was somehow still one of the most interesting worlds i’ve read about. The character growth in this novella was also insane and i was pleasantly surprised about the emotional journey this had me on i smiled A LOT and i even teared up some. I love Amelia and Abner. And even more than those two i loved Amelia’s relationship with Ziee. This is definitely on my list of top 5 reads for the year. If you’re looking for a novella that has funny banter,sadness, secrets, and drama i highly recommend.
Jason Sanford's fictions tend to skitter across genre boundaries and defy easy categorization; that's why I picked this up even though I don't read a lot of horror, gothic, or dark work. And this one doesn't disappoint. There are horror and gore aplenty, but Sanford doesn't glamorize or wallow in those aspects. At its core this novella is about less-than-perfect people coming to terms with a a grotesque and dangerous world, finding kindred spirits and searching for a way forward. It's a thought-provoking and satisfying read.
This was such a good read. It was interesting from start to finish. Thank you for sharing this story with the public. I have recommended it to several of my friends
Thank you apex books for sending me an early copy!
“I needed to eat him. I wanted to swallow him whole. The world would be a better place without him.”
Rippers are human creatures who consume Alexanders, a specific group of violent men. After being chased out their village by the church, Amelia and her mother flee to another, but the powerful religious men follow.
This novella explores a lot of themes about change and power in a religiously lead world, while also telling a compelling story of a teenage girl discovering herself, her power, and her own ideals. The setting brought to life was mesmerizing.
Thank you to Apex Book Company for the opportunity to read this novella.
Set to be released around the end of July 2025, We Who Hunt Alexander's introduced me to a world that had me wanting more!
Amelia and her mother are unseen and unnoticed monsters who feed on violent people. The monsters who kills the monsters.
Without giving too much away, I really loved the concept of these beasts who destroy evil and corrupt individuals. However, sometimes the worst individuals, are the ones who keep their hands clean.