scifi_rat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Prose: 3★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 5★/4.5★
Characters: 3.75★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 3.5★
Graphic: Body horror, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Violence, Deadnaming, and Vomit
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Murder, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Self harm, Cursing, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Outing, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Genocide, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Racism
runes_reads'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
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Gore, Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, War, Grief, Violence, Vomit, Death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia
Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual content
punchofwishes'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
4.5
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Genocide, Deadnaming, Gore, Religious bigotry, War, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Transphobia, Death of parent, Death, and Body horror
fromthefoxhole'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? It's complicated
5.0
We watch as Benji, our trans masc main character, escapes a Doomsday cult committed to seeing the end of days through any means necessary. He's been fighting his entire life, though, so it's no surprise the fight is what pushes him forward.
He finds a home with ALC, a rag-tag group of queer kids who found themselves together when the world ended, and he sees himself in Nick, the autistic boy leading their battle party. He wrestles God, he wrestles the Flood, the sickness that rots away at him from the inside out, and he wrestles himself. What hope is there for absolution amongst the carnage?
I'm not kidding when I say this book is everything to me. I highlighted massive swaths of text, whole chapters even, captured by how relatable Benji is to my own history of fundamental religion being at odds with my queerness. Benji's victories became my own, his failures that much more painful.
White's prose is relentless, interwoven with twisted scripture and teachings, filled to the brim with references and callbacks. Everything within the story is connected, joined together at odd angles and dripping with sick. It's disgusting, it's visceral, it's stunning. A perfect match to those same things within Benji.
I'm never going to stop thinking about this book, and none of you can stop me!
Graphic: Deadnaming, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Transphobia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Genocide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Body horror, Vomit, and War
simplythegirl'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Vomit, Violence, Suicide attempt, Gore, Torture, Medical trauma, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Dysphoria, Grief, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Murder, and Physical abuse
Minor: Animal death and Gun violence
lim's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Transphobia
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Child death
Minor: Suicide attempt and Sexual assault
vulgarboy'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
3.5
The handling of queer folks, POC, and neurodivergent folks was pretty spot on. Some things were a bit blunt, such as an autistic character having a stim toy being acknowledged for the first time, followed by an immediate "he's autistic" exxplanation. Neopronouns were used, which I haven't seen before. There's a clear amount of care with these characters, but it fell short a few times. Benji's deadname being in the book doesn't sit right with me (a transmasc person), as well as it being used approximately eight times. Yikes.
All in all, an excessive amount of vomit and gore aside (both of them happening Constantly), I didn't hate my experience. This story sure did happen.
Graphic: Homophobia, Ableism, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Vomit, Child abuse, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Racism, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cannibalism
asterreadstoomuch'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
5.0
Graphic: Deadnaming, Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Body horror, Gore, and Vomit
thearieslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
I really loved how inclusive and diverse the characters were within this book - it made me so happy to see. The chapters were quite short and easy to get through fast. This book made me cry because there was one moment in particular that was absolutely beautiful and warmed my heart.
I quite liked how this book used multiple POVs (Benji, Nick and Theo), however one of them I didn’t see the point as to why it was there as we only heard from that character once - it didn’t feel like it added much.
I think this is the one time where I wish the book was longer because I would have loved the ending to be longer to see how certain things would play out as it felt unfinished.
Also, there was an error within this book - on page 359 it says “castinga” but it should be casting a.
⚠️ TWs: gun use, murder, transphobia, derogatory language, misgendering, domestic abuse, self-injury, attempted suicide, victim self blame, terrorism, religious abuse, abusive parents, forced detransition, threats of transphobic violence, deadnaming, profanity, vomiting, body horror, racism, physical assault, ritual of absolution, strangulation, ableism, hanging, blood, dysphoria, mentions capitalism, sexual situations, grief, genocide, homophobia, death, alcohol use, martyr and colonialism ⚠️
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, Vomit, Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, and Transphobia
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Colonisation, Genocide, and Ableism
spooderman'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
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexism, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Genocide, Child death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Hate crime, Grief, Medical trauma, Deadnaming, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Deportation, Misogyny, Body horror, Mental illness, Gun violence, Self harm, Transphobia, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, War, Ableism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Torture, Mass/school shootings, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Stalking, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Slavery, and Cannibalism
Minor: Terminal illness, Sexual content, Rape, Miscarriage, Lesbophobia, Eating disorder, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt