micaelamariem'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, War, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
squinnittowinit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Original review:
Overall, this is a good story with a (unfortunately) very relatable setting: an oppressive society that treats certain people as lesser due to something inherent that they cannot control. I felt the author's pain and anger surrounding this real-world issue in the writing, and perhaps if this had been my first exposure to the mindset of the oppressed group, I might have found it more impactful. However, I personally found it a little tiring for specific reasons that I will mark as a spoiler below.
Again, it is a good story, just one I've seen many times already. Nothing about it surprised me and as much as I was rooting for them, I didn't love any of the characters by the end. I'm not sure if you're supposed to or not.
Spoiler
The specific reasons I found this book to be tiring have a lot to do with the main characters. All three were naive to a fault, and retained that naivete throughout the entire book, even as their views on certain things changed. I suppose it's realistic, as they are all teenagers and teenagers are very naive, but I found it very frustrating to read about them doing impulsive and very ill-advised things over and over again and then only afterwards thinking that they might have been bad ideas.Next, there is the issue of trauma. This is a book based in racial trauma, which makes it automatically not a fun read for me. Again, I really want to stress that I'm not saying it's bad, but it's very real, and it's hard to laugh at any of the jokes or moments of levity when the whole book is about oppression and I already experience oppression nearly constantly in my real life.
Next, as I said above, nothing about this book surprised me. I was never on the edge of my seat or uncertain about the fate of the characters, because I've seen this story so many times. It hit all the beats I was expecting it to, and the only death I didn't predict was a character that I didn't care about at all.
Finally, the romance. I'm all for a good romantic subplot, but I couldn't get behind this one. It was going for "enemies to lovers" but was done with no subtlety, I felt like I was being bashed over the head with foreshadowing about this relationship. Then, the actual enemies to lovers part happened seemingly overnight, and they suddenly didn't hate each other anymore. The romance gave me some emotional whiplash and made me feel like I was missing time.
Graphic: Death, Child death, Racism, Genocide, Classism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, and Murder
Minor: Ableism, Vomit, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia
puggreader'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Genocide, Murder, Child death, Death, Torture, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Vomit and Sexual harassment
robinks'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? Yes
4.75
Also, the complexities of revolution against oppression were present in the characters’ struggles and conversations, which inspired me to consider these same complexities in reality. I want to know more about this world, and I want to know what happens next!
Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Kidnapping, Racism, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Grief, Slavery, and Stalking
Minor: Trafficking, Vomit, and Sexual content
desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
1. Please read the authors note, if you've read the story.
2. This was fascinating, the story and it's characters took so many turns in their character development. It all made sense though. There was a lot of hurt and grief in a few days storyline. The characters also had noticeable trauma, and all handled it differently, which is very good writing, because I've also read books where that was completely disregarded. So all in all worth the read, I think it's better to read it not spread out over months though.
3. Crooked Kingdom vibes at times.
"Everyone else feels like being caught in the rain. You're the whole tsunami."
Moderate: Slavery, Child death, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, War, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Death
bookwitch934's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Racism, Gore, Genocide, Body horror, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Slavery, Death, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
This book was really good, but super heavy.green_amaryllis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death and Vomit
alyssasaurus'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, War, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Racial slurs, and Torture
sarah984's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Then I hit the halfway point and the plot ground to a halt to do this extremely generic reylo-style romance (complete with force bond and nonsensical insta love) and then just one stupid thing after another happened and all of the goodwill the first half had generated burned off immediately. There is an extremely graphic torture scene involving one of the female characters that is told through the lens of how the most boring male character in existence feels about it.
I also don't like books where the oppressed people are shown to be extremely dangerous, especially when the author is clearly linking their plight to real-world oppression, and this got worse in the second half.
I liked the plot twist at the end (though it was really unclear why that happened) but not enough to save the reading experience for me.
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Police brutality, Physical abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Self harm
Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Trafficking, and Sexual content
wendy_05's review
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Vomit, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent