_rowantree_'s review against another edition
Graphic: Blood and Bullying
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, and Child death
Minor: Body shaming, Death of parent, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Ableism, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Incest, Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Homophobia
happyhilly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Bullying, and Blood
hayli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Sexual assault, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail
risaleel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, and Blood
kspag206's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
First, the writing style felt inconsistent. I’m not sure if this was due to the two authors or not, but the first 5 chapters were not well written at all. The middle was more captivating.
Second, for a book written in 2007, I have to say the cast of characters is fairly diverse. However it shows that it was written in 2007, and that two white women were very clearly playing on stereotypes of Native American culture, black culture, and gay culture. That being said, to have the cultures represented at all, in positive ways, as lovable characters, is still better than not.
Third, the pace of the story and the character’s moral development and acceptance of her fate/the development of an intense love interest was just felt immature. The whole first book takes place in the course of a week. Without giving away spoilers, there’s so much that happens, it just seems too rushed.
That being said, I loved the friend group, I loved many of the characters, I loved the aspect of fantasy in which normal life is just slightly altered, and I appreciated the different perspective on vampire stories. Worth a read, but also definitely NOT a YA book if you’re under the age of 16
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, and Vomit
_mak_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Toxic friendship, Body horror, and Grief
Moderate: Eating disorder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Drug use, Homophobia, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
Minor: Incest, Child abuse, and Pedophilia
anilein's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Terminal illness, Violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Vomit, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Violence
indiawilliamsrakestraw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Ableism, Alcohol, Sexism, Blood, and Death
msradiosilence's review against another edition
First of all, way to whitewash your main “native” character. Very SMeyer of you. How is it that the other POC character (Shaunee, a black woman) is allowed to have ‘mocha’/‘chocolate’ skin but Zoey goes from ‘tanned’ to ‘pale white’ hm? Sounds very…cultural appropriative, no?
For a book that has a gay character and a black character in the main cast, this book was *checks notes* fatphobic, transphobic, racist, and slut shame-y all in the first 8 pages! And it only gets worse!! This is why I fucking DNFed, because there is much better shit out there.
The writing was annoying as fuck, Zoey was super judgmental and annoying as fuck, all the other characters were shallow and annoying as fuck…did I mention how annoyed I was with this book?
I read it back in middle school (and bc of the blow job scene in the beginning was subsequently banned from reading it) but as an adult I’ve been going through a nostalgia period and this was one of the books I wanted to revisit. Honestly, thanks Mom and Dad for sparing me from the rest of this series.
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Vomit, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Alcohol, and Sexual assault
tashaj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug use, and Sexual content