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bookishperseus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
morebedsidebooks's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, and Blood
Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Transphobia, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Classism
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and War
Ableism warning is to err on the side of caution, for disability framed as a punishment near the end.oddlyghoul's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Violence, Blood, and Dysphoria
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Classism
caprivoyant's review against another edition
4.0
And! I'm going to push back on one scene. When Pet was about to show its true face to Hibiscus, internally I was begging "please don't disfigure him, please don't disfigure him, please don't disfigure him, you've done so well saying monsters don't look any different, please don't disfigure him." And... Well, Hibiscus's eyeballs melted. đŽâđ¨
This just perpetuates the ableist rhetoric that disfigurement or illness is a spiritual punishment or flaw. That this person is *marked* in some way. This book did so well normalizing the disability of someone who needs to use sign language! Is asking for the same for visible disabilities too much, though?
I think the story would have been stronger if he still looked the same but with maybe one almost-imperceptible difference in his appearance but had changed completely on the inside. *Le sigh*
To be clear, still a 4 star read for me. But quite disappointed in how that (spoiler) bit was handled.
Minor: Ableism and Child abuse
vaguely_pink's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse and Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, and Gore
Minor: Ableism, Pedophilia, Vomit, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and War
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Child death, and Blood
amre23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Deadnaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Dysphoria
nannahnannah's review
3.0
Representation:
- the protagonist, Jam, is a selectively mute black trans girl
- her best friendâs parents are polyamorous
There are no more monsters in the city of Lucille. Prisons have been abolished, the police have been abolished, firearms have been banned, statues of colonizers have been replaced by monuments with names of the dead, etc. (you get the idea of the kind of alternate future this presents). Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up in this utopia feeling safe and loved by their parents and peers - until a creature in one of Jamâs motherâs paintings comes to life and says itâs hunting a monster.
Right off the bat, I knew the writing style and I wouldnât mix. A lot of the beginning (which was backstory) came across as preachy - even if I agreed with what was being said! - and slightly condescending. Characters' emotions change within seconds (Jamâs scared of the painting â a couple sentences later she wonders how she could ever be scared of it; Redemption is literally sobbing â one line of dialogue later, heâs like, âWhoa, cool!â). Emotions are told to the reader and only rarely shown: âThe thing sighed and its voice dripped with even more condescension than it had before, which was kind of impressive. [...] And just like that, she was back to being annoyed.â
There are also an incredible amount of redundancies, and epiphanies happen in the most convenient times - sometimes off page. Places where the most impactful scenes could happen, like the one between Jam and Redemption, also happen off page. Their big fight (one thatâs foreshadowed from the beginning) is a voicemail message. It feels like a copout, like the author didnât know how to handle that confrontation.
The book is also very much spoiled when it ruins the âmysteryâ of who the monster is when right after the creature talks about hunting the monster, a new character is introduced. One described as being almost too good to be true. When Jam talks about how safe everyone is, she lingers on this person for about three-fourths of a page, compared to the 3 sentences everyone else got.
These are honestly a matter of opinion. There are some examples of really lovely writing as well (âThe drive to the movie theater was quiet, with only the wind breaking against the edge of the windows. / When they pulled up, Redemption was standing on the sidewalk, waiting, tall and whipcord lean. [...] His hugs were her favorite, solid and strong and never halfway.â). The characters are vibrant too, especially Redemption and Ube, the librarian! And the very last scene is incredibly lovely and almost poetic. There are many things I love - I just feel like the book needs a few more drafts to lock everything in.
But I do need to talk about the ableism. In this utopia where all -isms and hate/prejudice against minority groups have been dismantled, ableism still exists. âCrazyâ is everywhere in the text, itâs hinted that people would still react badly to someone talking to themselves (and this is written out as a joke), and Jam has thoughts like, âIt was possible he thought she was out of her mind.â Normally I wouldn't be this nitpicky, but it feels like a slap in a book where every other groupâs prejudices don't exist.
It's especially true for the ending, where we have the âdisability as punishmentâ trope. I can see how it fits in the story thematically, but it's a really hurtful and harmful line of thought that still exists today. In the end, the monster
Ultimately I do think this book has some brilliant aspects and is a very interesting idea. Itâs maybe just not polished enough.
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, and Pedophilia
nikzzz3's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Ableism