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parasolcrafter'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
going through the story as benjis body is rotting from the inside, transforming into something he never wanted to be, never asked to be, never consented to be is such a horrific way of showcasing what its like to be trans and to not be allowed to be yourself; what forcing down the purest version of yourself does to you, how it can kill you. it was done so beautifully and so tragically and it just...illustrates it so well. the ultimate conclusion of benji becoming seraph, the end form of what he was turning into the whole story, was done so wonderfully, as well; how he gets taken over by rage and bloodlust when hes back in the cult he was raised in, how seraph awakens then as hes back to the abuse and transphobia he was raised in...it truly is poetic. he ends up the savior the Angels raised him as, only he's not their savior and he never was.
and nick...oh, i truly do love his character so much and i only wish we got into his mind more because hes such a beautifully written autistic character, which is, sadly, a rarity. hes so authentically written and represented and i felt so much of myself in him and his subtleties. his hatred of being touched, his stimming, his masking, his constant need to have it all together even when he wants to fall apart...it was so well written and i truly appreciate him so much. hes so, so special đź’–
this book has so much heart and hope, and even though the story is over, i know these characters can claw into the dirt and pull themselves from the Hell theyve been plunged into. i know that they can survive and, as said near the end, maybe they can even grow up. its the least they deserve.
the small issues i have with this book - i felt the writing was a bit weak at points and i wish benjis time in the ALC was a longer portion of the book because i do feel that part was lacking; we dont get to know much of the other characters as much as i'd like - definitely dont retract from how much i enjoyed it because what the book does and the story it tells are much greater than any flaws it has. thank you Andrew Joseph White for this wonderful book đź’–đź’–đź’–
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Animal death
ktv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, and Colonisation
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
alexsartifacts'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
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
tea_coffee_sam'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
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism
biancafrancisco'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
4.0
The way the books touches so many themes - genocide (quite relevant to today), religious as a tool of imperialism and oppression vs individual expression, eco-facism, the weaponization of ideology to frighten people into obeying, a contageous virus, trans experiences, and the MC's relationship with his body, how it is gendered but also through its mutation (this is done in a very reflective and surprisingly tender way) - and a ton more, was really interesting.
The three things it could have done well with were:
1. A better fleshed out world, it seemed a bit weird that we barely knew what was happening outside the city and that even within it was like only a group of teens and some kind of nationalist type group existed;
2. Better fleshed out characters, in the middle of all the action I feel like there was a tiny scene or two thrown in there about them hanging out and getting along, but we barely saw any of their personalities beyond "this is their sexuality/identity, this is their ethnicity and here is one personality trait". I recognize this can be hard with so much else going on, and it is a debut so I'm confident their next works might improve on it;
3. It really bothered me that, for people who have been surviving for 2 years in shitty conditions, they showed zero attempts to improvise and adapt?? Are you telling me they couldn't have made reusable pads (this one really stood out to me) or any type of agriculture, etc? One of the kids came from a doom prepper family! And either way, people are nifty and crafty and it would've been so interesting to see the ways the ALC organized and became self sufficient. It just seemed really unrealistic that they basically depended only on the Vanguard's supplies. Also, the initial "there's not really anyone in charge here, we're all contributing" was such pandering to this idea of an anarchist community when during the rest of the book no one, besides the Watch a bit, had any say in any decision - might as well have kept that out. I understand these weren't the main themes the book was meant to focus on but it wouldn't have been that hard to add a thing here or there to make it more plausible.
These weren't egregious enough to bother my reading experience. On the contrary, I loved reading this book and did it almost all in one sitting. The message came across really well and I liked the premise and setting of the world. It kind of reminded me of The Last of Us - gory but very meaningful. There was so much love in this story and a lot of moments stuck with me.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Colonisation and Classism
winterhartarts'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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
brynalexa'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? No
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Sexism, Sexual content, and Alcohol
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: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Ableism, Genocide, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Colonisation
sapphicacademic'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism
This book is, despite its fantastical elements, about the reality of being queer. The author has really good trigger warnings detailed on his website/goodreads.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: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Lesbophobia