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avisreadsandreads'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Child death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt
geerbeer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Pro tip: Lees niet de Nederlandse vertaling!
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug abuse and Medical content
Minor: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
It's obvious the author isn't '...'phobic, it's a very queer book. But there are some mentions of queer people not being accepted by others.lilifane's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A small coastal town, family history, mystery and adventure, a treasure hunt, sibling dynamics, a friends group, LGBTQIA representation. And I really really enjoyed the majority o the book. The main character went through some hard hitting things and made some questionable decisions, but I still enjoyed reading from her perspective.
I was disappointed by the last quarter of the book, though. The plot didn't really progress, and then it was suddenly over, but the ending took half an eternity to conclude. Weird pacing and I get the focus was on some important topics, but still, the rest was just forgotten somehow.
But yeah, still liked and enjoyed the majority and the atmosphere was perfect for a summer read.
Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
brookey8888's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
skudiklier'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Biphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Outing
Drowninglipstickitotheman'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The Last True Poets of the Sea is a book about grief. It’s about history. It’s about trauma. It’s about how people carry those things with them from generation to generation. It has some beautifully complicated and at times tragic sibling relationships. It has a teen sapphic romance that feels realistic for the characters and where they are in their lives.
It also has most of the things that one might expect from a Twelfth Night retelling: A love triangle, a shipwreck, a character named Toby, twins…
But all of those parts of the story are remixed to a degree that didn’t really make sense to me. The shipwreck and the twins (and the gender stuff) are in the past. The love triangle is completely different because Violet falls for Liv first and Orion is for some reason straight. Toby is Violet’s uncle rather than Liv’s. Most of the subplots are cut completely, which makes sense but was still sad (well, I didn’t really miss Malvolio, but I wanted a proper Sir Andrew character, goddammit!).
The book still works despite these changes to the source material, and they were obviously make deliberately. They just bugged me as a fan of the original play who enjoys seeing new takes on it.
I also have a couple little nitpicks:
Liv refers to herself and Violet as anagrams. This makes sense thematically, but the names Violet and Olivia are NOT anagrams. This was very confusing because the author could have actually given them names that used all of the same letters!
Also, this is a very white book. It makes sense because it’s set in small-town Maine—maybe the whitest part of the US—but why was Violet always remarking on the fact that random side characters were white people when she and all the other characters were also white people? Very odd.
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia
averyrembish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Medical content, Outing, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
books_and_mags's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death and Suicide attempt
kayles514's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol