wyabook234'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
3.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Bullying, Racism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Murder, Classism, Colonisation, and Gore
Minor: Xenophobia and Police brutality
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Racism, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Violence, Sexual content, and Vomit
greasertrashh'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? It's complicated
4.75
The addition of racial tension and generational trauma in a tale that many readers are at least partially familiar with allows the reader to immerse themselves further into the commentary of the novel and creates a more powerful statement which was only enhanced by the “podcast” episodes discussing the incident between chapters.
I rated this a 4.75 out of 5 because, unfortunately, I was hoping for a bit more from the ending. The plot ends in a great place, but somehow felt a bit rushed. May update to a 5 star rating as I revisit the novel.
The audiobook version of this was incredible, featuring a multi-narrator cast, sound effects, etc. Highly recommend both print and audiobook formats.
Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Body horror, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Gore, Grief, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Classism, and Racism
caseymac's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Blood, Racism, Death, Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Gore, Vomit, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror
Moderate: Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
tifftastic87's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I wanted this to be a five star, but I think it missed a few key points for me.
I really loved the idea of a new twist on Carrie, bringing in an issue that is in our forefront right now and especially in 2020 when it seems like this book was written. I really appreciated the telling of a story about how mean high school girls can be to each other from the perspective of a female writer, but I think the story fell short here. There clearly was intersection between her being a woman and her being bi-racial that given the length of the book could have been used much better.
The main reason I say this is in Carrie the tension in Carrie's home is created by her mother being afraid for her purity and uses her religion heavily to keep that. She believes that any form of sexuality, including puberty, is sinful and is extremely abusive from that angle. Likely because of how she was treated by Carrie's father. In The Weight of Blood, Maddy lives with her father who treats her as his personal housewife because he clearly is one of those men who "long for a simpler time." He only watches old movies, listens to old music and is against new technology. This is never explained really, except that he does it to protect Maddy. He believes if he can teach her to dress and act like *white* homemakers from the 50s, he can protect her from what people will think of her being mixed. My confusion is that Maddy's femininity doesn't play that big of a role in her character development, except that it gets Kenny's attention. We get the root of all of Maddy's father's abuse and it is
Spoiler
because she has the same powers his mom hasKenny is convinced by his girlfriend Wendy, who very much has a bit of white savior in her as well as "I don't see color" kind of attitude. She is also very hard to like, even though she gets the best redemption arc, because she is the type of girl who just does everything to have the dream future with the dream guy. Her life revolves around Kenny and Kenny's revolves around football. Kenny shows the most character growth in a way, because he starts trying to push back against his life being determined for him but that is only because he falls for Maddy. And he falls for her because she is "not like other girls." Which is not just me being snarky, it is literally written in a book published in 2022. I have no words, I thought we were past this or at least trying to be. There is also quite a bit that reminds me of those 2000s nerd to hottie movie transformations, because he starts noticing how pretty her eyes are when she starts to not wear glasses and then we get talks about her small frame and thin figure when she starts wearing skirts and "men's undershirts." Honestly, I am kind of sad that Jackson didn't bust out a blue chambray workshirt on us. I think the interactions between Kenny and Maddy and the insta-loviness was just a little too tropey for me.
I also really did not like the explanation we got at the end from Maddy's father on her true roots. It really felt like we were supposed to excuse his abuse of Maddy because he had his own trauma. Abusers often abuse, I don't think we need to be reminded of this and be given a seen where we are supposed to feel pitty for him.
Maddy did a lot of what she did for Kenny, which is from my memory a change from the original story. Carrie did it for herself. She may have had feelings for Tommy and she lashed out from being tricked, but its not the same as what happened here, I mean
Spoiler
Maddy only snapped out of her grief enough to survive because she was told Kenny was aliveI will say, Jackson can write. I appreciated her flow and descriptions the pace was nice and characters were developed, even if I didn't like the direction they were developed in. I really hated Jules, right down to her court testimony. I very loudly made a grumbled exasperated sigh noise of disgust when reading that part actually. I was actually upset with what happened to Kenny after the incident in the barn, and it wasn't all just in reaction to the type of event it was. I genuinely cared about him. I do wish we would have got more of his mother and sister, I liked them. His dad is a dick though.
Graphic: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, and Gore
pandact'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? Yes
The plot is almost like
Spoiler
Wicked (2003) with the themes of Riot Baby (2020) and epic gore. Two things bothered me though: why did Wendy think fake dating would help her? Also, I guess it's cool to have an extra with a hearing aid, but why did Maddy stop needing glasses when she got powers and a boyfriend?The universe sings to meeee!
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Hate crime, and Child death
Moderate: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Animal death, Death of parent, Classism, Outing, Mass/school shootings, Grief, Car accident, and Body shaming
Minor: Ableism
readswithcat's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Racism, Bullying, Violence, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, Classism, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, and Confinement
Moderate: Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Animal death
bites_of_books'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? It's complicated
5.0
The supernatural aspect of this book was done so well, it doesn't overpower our main character and also gives us a lot of intrigue as to what really is happening with her powers. This has been described as a Carrie retelling and I feel like it keeps the spirit of Carrie while Jackson gives it her own twists and style.
I listened to the audiobook, which was awesome because it has a whole production with almost a full cast, and really helped immerse me in the story.
This is a very difficult book to read because there is a lot of outright racism, bigotry, mysoginy, etc etc. Do take care when reading, check for all content warnings!
I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys horror that focuses more on the horror that humans are capable of and also if you want characters who are multidimensional and who go beyond what you expect from them.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Violence
tlaynejones's review
5.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Child abuse, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Fire/Fire injury
lasafica_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Suicide, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Cancer, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Religious bigotry