YMMV / Dead West

• Alternative Character Interpretation: endless possibilities, since Gervas is biased, and an Unreliable Narrator.
  • Shining example with Niall: a cold-blooded Blood Knight and Manipulative Bastard in an innocent disguise, or is he just a confused and troubled young man, who tries to make the best of himself and his abilities? And exactly how oblivious is he about Gervas' feelings?
  • Gervas himself. We don't know anything about him before he met Niall, and he never really explains his reasons for accompany him, and pledge himself to the Porcelain Doctor. Did he really just wanted a worthy cause, or did he want to realize his father's dream? Also, he was very quick to find an excuse not to marry Carolina.
  • Cedric is pretty ambigious. Why does he exactly dotes on his little brother so much? And why does he never marry, while being hasty about arranging a perfect match to Niall? It is just Big Brother Instinct, or is he just controlling his younger brother in every aspect of his life?
• Designated Love Interest: With Carolina and Gervas, it is up to debate how much their relationship is caused by the fact that Gervas recounts these years for his grandson after he married his First Love, and how much is for the fact that Gervas already seemed to be quite infatuated with the Porcelain Doctor by the time he was introduced to Carolina. Most likely, this is deliberate, as Gervas has married Alexandra, and he feels uncomfortable explaining to a tween that grandpa has loved anybody else than grandma and other grandpa. Nevertheless, he declares that he is in love with Carolina as soon as he meets her. She fits his outlines for a perfect wife, that's sure, but still...
• Genius Bonus: Constantly. If you have enough historical knowledge, the novels make more sense, and the text is littered with Shout-Out for victorian literature, plays etc. The author is a scholar, and Shown Their Work.
  • An example: Gervas is quite fond of a certain ballet, Brahma and the Bayader. It sounds quite meek, but it was infamous for its less then innocent costumes and content.
  • Gervas getting some books to read for Niall. The description of them is simply "frivolous", but a few lines indicate that it was porn. Pornographical books were quite popular in Victorian England.
  • The war currently preventing Cedric to accompany his baby brother is the second Boer War.
  • There are quite a few mention of actual military reforms.
  • The Dahomey Amazons.
  • Something from the Black Comedy side: one of the side characters makes an off-handed comment about how he thinks the law in the New World is strange; while he is glad that homosexual love got okay from the officials, he thinks they've gone overboard with necrophilia. In real life, there are a couple of states in the USA which allowed necrophilia (but they also had desecretion laws, so there is that).
  • Another one: there are only slight changes in history and religion. If you know about the Nephilim, you understand easier why are the aristocrats are the ruling class. Jesus was an aristocrat in this world, and indeed, he is related to King David by his mother.
  • There is a reference to Le Chevalier d'Eon, who also exists in this world. He is also portrayed as a Wholesome Crossdresser, as he was in reality, but the character who mentions him makes the mistake referring to him as he was female. The Porcelain Doctor corrects him, stating he was a man, supported by his autospy. Le Chevalier d'Eon actually was a crossdressing man, and although he pretended to be a woman for the rest of his life after his discharge, his autospy revealed he was a man, and had "quite prominent male genitals".