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mahi_nad's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
2.75
2.75 stars.
REVIEW:
Raise your hand if you immediately guessed who the killer was.
C'mon, I know you did.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
The way Murphy wrote the POVs in this book made it GLARINGLY obvious who the killer was. The way Liz just... wasn't scared at all in her normal POVs. It immediately set off my spidey senses. As I read on, I could tell she knew something, and then I realised she's most likely the killer. To be fair, I had just gotten off reading Silent Patient, so that could be why I guessed it almost immediately. Reading on just added fuel to fire, and I genuinely got bored of the book. I knew who did it, and I didn't understand why. It didn't make sense until the very end, which I guess is good, since it has a tiny little surprise (she has psychotic episodes).
One thing I didn't understand though. During a psychotic episode, she wrote "Dead Girls Can't Win" on the fogged up mirror in the bathroom, but then later she didn't remember it? And was "scared"? I genuinely had to stop reading and think about why she would be scared. I don't know enough about psychotic episodes to have a strong opinion on it, but something about that didn't sit well with me.
Also, the way the book flowed was too stilted for me. Something about the transition between LIz's POVs and the "murderer's" POVs broke the flow of the narrative. Also, the "murderer's" POVs literally sounded like a 3rd grader wrote them. I don't know why. Once again, gave me the impression of someone coming up with this story on the spot and writing down the first draft, then publishing it.
That being said, this book felt as though Murphy thought of a cool plot twist, and wrote the story around it. I'm not saying it's entirely bad, but for it to work, it needs to be done right. This book just didn't deliver it.
One good thing that happened in this book is Liz and Cole's relationship. I have to admit, it was pretty cute. As someone with a severe dust allergy, the fact that Cole went with Liz to that EXTREMELY dusty room was adorable.
But Liz, c'mon. He's most likely going to find out soon enough. The killing of head girls suddenly stops with you? Sure, she (blamed it? might blame it? I don't remember) on Dr. Patel, but if you really think about it, even if you didn't originally guess Liz, it becomes pretty clear who did it.
You know there's a problem when the romantic side plot is more compelling and captivating than overachievers dying in horrific ways.
BOTTOM LINE:
Could have been executed better, not as interesting as I thought it would be
AGE RATING:
13+
REVIEW:
Raise your hand if you immediately guessed who the killer was.
C'mon, I know you did.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
The way Murphy wrote the POVs in this book made it GLARINGLY obvious who the killer was. The way Liz just... wasn't scared at all in her normal POVs. It immediately set off my spidey senses. As I read on, I could tell she knew something, and then I realised she's most likely the killer. To be fair, I had just gotten off reading Silent Patient, so that could be why I guessed it almost immediately. Reading on just added fuel to fire, and I genuinely got bored of the book. I knew who did it, and I didn't understand why. It didn't make sense until the very end, which I guess is good, since it has a tiny little surprise (she has psychotic episodes).
One thing I didn't understand though. During a psychotic episode, she wrote "Dead Girls Can't Win" on the fogged up mirror in the bathroom, but then later she didn't remember it? And was "scared"? I genuinely had to stop reading and think about why she would be scared. I don't know enough about psychotic episodes to have a strong opinion on it, but something about that didn't sit well with me.
Also, the way the book flowed was too stilted for me. Something about the transition between LIz's POVs and the "murderer's" POVs broke the flow of the narrative. Also, the "murderer's" POVs literally sounded like a 3rd grader wrote them. I don't know why. Once again, gave me the impression of someone coming up with this story on the spot and writing down the first draft, then publishing it.
That being said, this book felt as though Murphy thought of a cool plot twist, and wrote the story around it. I'm not saying it's entirely bad, but for it to work, it needs to be done right. This book just didn't deliver it.
One good thing that happened in this book is Liz and Cole's relationship. I have to admit, it was pretty cute. As someone with a severe dust allergy, the fact that Cole went with Liz to that EXTREMELY dusty room was adorable.
But Liz, c'mon. He's most likely going to find out soon enough. The killing of head girls suddenly stops with you? Sure, she (blamed it? might blame it? I don't remember) on Dr. Patel, but if you really think about it, even if you didn't originally guess Liz, it becomes pretty clear who did it.
You know there's a problem when the romantic side plot is more compelling and captivating than overachievers dying in horrific ways.
BOTTOM LINE:
Could have been executed better, not as interesting as I thought it would be
AGE RATING:
13+
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship
_0_phoenix_0_'s review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
shaunaxx's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
aahrobot's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I enjoyed this book! I finished in one sitting because I absolutely needed to get to the end! Thrilling for sure!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
captaincrabs52's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Lame twist……
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
resiii_05's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Vomit
michellebub's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
It was a good book, but the ending , if u could only forget the last 10 pages.
Now to the actual review:
I must say, in the beginning I didn’t think I’d like this book and that it would be a disappointment but it’s actually interesting and I wanted keep on reading. I guess I just wanted to find out who the killer is.
This book reminded me of the naturals, I know a lot of people say it’s like the secret history but YA, but I haven’t read that yet so I can’t compare them. But the gifted kids that go to a special school and are in an exclusive program part reminded me of the naturals.
I loved that it was fast paced and that it was such an easy read I just would have liked for it to be longer.
But I loved the serial killer vibes, and the billy loomis reference from ghostface. And the killer reveal was definitely unexpected.
Now to the actual review:
I must say, in the beginning I didn’t think I’d like this book and that it would be a disappointment but it’s actually interesting and I wanted keep on reading. I guess I just wanted to find out who the killer is.
This book reminded me of the naturals, I know a lot of people say it’s like the secret history but YA, but I haven’t read that yet so I can’t compare them. But the gifted kids that go to a special school and are in an exclusive program part reminded me of the naturals.
I loved that it was fast paced and that it was such an easy read I just would have liked for it to be longer.
But I loved the serial killer vibes, and the billy loomis reference from ghostface. And the killer reveal was definitely unexpected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Mental illness
izziejasminedelilah's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I actually did not expect the plot twist in the book that much, it occurred to me that maybe I was on the right track but it did have some good twists that threw me off
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder
lindseyb317's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
The most insane plot twist ever was not expecting that lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
There were twists and the why of the murders (which to me was stupid, but the mental health part of it was interesting), but it would have been better without the part mentioned in the spoiler. So if you want to read this I recommend a physical or e-copy of the book.
Narrator Rating: 4 stars
The actual narrator was good. Just that choice by the publisher was the issue.
Extra ratings: Fluff - 0/5 Heartfelt- 1.5/5 Helpful -NA Horror -NA Inspiration -NA Love aka Romance- 3/5 Mystery -4/5 Predictability -4.5/5 Spice-0.5/5 Suspense -2/5 Tear- 1/5 Thrill -3/5 Humor-0/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship