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gcarney15's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
wortfluesterin'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
This book (series) is very bad. Bad bad. I can’t even begin to LIST the triggers, everyone who said there were a lot was absolutely correct. Wasn’t expecting to be this repulsed after the “tame” first book.
The characters still don’t really have personalities (or very confusing one), the rep is MORE THAN PROBLEMATIC and I would like to punch someone because who in their right mind thought “this is an appropriate way to portray queer people and mental illness”
I also don’t know what to do with my life now.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
jjnich's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
fa1ryts'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
the whole team slowly getting close to each other, andrew slowly starting to trust neil and not holding back and them starting a (complicated) relationship 3
this is the best enemies to lovers slowburn hard pining i hate everyone but u extreme version book ive read
its also the best book out of the whole trilogy !! there wasnt rly much happening in the previous ones but this one covered the story really well
i INHALED this book in a night and i couldnt stop reading shaking crying screaming i need more andreil i need a movie or series adaption @netflix
i also found most of the characters likable ! they all had a depth in their pain and together they managed to start healing and became a family
i just feel like the author couldve squished in like 20-30 more pages just so we could see where andreil's relationship was going and what happened after the game and maybe like a few pages of just happiness bc the characters deserve nothing less
and also there were quite a few times when the description took too long and i wasnt rly invested in most of the exy games BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT
happy pride to andrew and neil
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
reygov's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault
jenny_librarian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Everything I ever heard about this before picking up the books for myself was how much people love Neil and Andrew together. Well, I can tell you: I don't see it. You could say it's my aroace-ness that makes me blind to those things, but I have plenty of ships I love to prove you wrong. I just find that Neil and Andrew have absolutely no chemistry, and I think part of the reason is that we never get any real insight into Andrew's thoughts because the books are written from Neil's perspective.
Now, I'm not sure I should wish we'd gotten Andrew's perspective because I think the author made it pretty clear she's not exactly an expert on mental illness. It's never named what Andrew has (as far as I'm aware), but the whole medication thing was a huge red flag on the amount of research she probably put into that storyline.
But enough about that supposed OTP. You know who had real chemistry with Neil? Kevin. I kid you not, for the whole first book I tried to make sense of why everyone shipped Neil with Andrew while Kevin was right there. And I forgot he had a girlfriend until the 2.5 seconds she appeared around the 75% mark. I swear, the author made her up just to prove Andrew was the only choice.
I would have LOVED to see Kevin and Neil as a couple. Of course, it would have made everything around them go down in flames, but at least it would have been entertaining and I would've enjoyed it. As it stands, I was more interested in seeing what would happen with the mafia storyline (fiddled out too easily) and the championship (suspension of disbelief required, big time!) than any interaction between Neil and Andrew.
And while I'm ranting, let's talk about the whole school and Exy thing.
1) no way would Neil had been allowed to continue playing with the way he disregarded his studies. That might work in a school where the athletes are champions and revered by all, but it's made clear from the get-go that the Foxes aren't that respected. I wouldn't have minded as much if we hadn't seen classes at all or if Neil had actually studied, but the author makes it seem like he NEVER works at all for class, barely even listens when he attends. Making that little effort in college will get you failing grades for sure.
2) the championship rules (like the whole sport, to be fair) made absolutely no sense. To have a round of 2-out-of-3, then most points, then a death match in a tournament is too many rules. Can you imagine that in real life? Only people into fantasy sports and analysts would understand it. It would never work!
3) the way the Ravens can basically do anything they want. If they're the best team in the nation and their stadium is home to the national team, they'd be under constant scrutiny. Yet, they get away with pretty much everything until Neil and Kevin (and eventually Jean) make their big reveals. Seriously, you're telling me absolutely no one would have ever suspected the cult-like team to use psychological torture on their players? Come on.
I almost forgot an important point: consent. It's supposed to be super important to Andrew once his relationship with Neil develops. Which is hilarious because he completely disregarded Neil's consent when they drugged him in the first book. And even in this book, when Andrew basically forces Neil to drink after he said multiple times that he doesn't. So what if he's not on the run anymore? He said no, you respect it. The whole idea of consent seems to be important to the author only when it comes to sex, and it's a big problem.
So yeah, I don't get the hype. A compelling read, but nothing as amazing as the superfans would make you believe.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Abandonment
cozybookseller'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
katerina_l'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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
natnat_7'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
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Police brutality, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Outing
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
violet_oops'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence