Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Fraternity by Andy Mientus

4 reviews

courtknee__vn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense

• 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

4.5

This book kept me so hooked! It was definitely a difficult read at times because it deals with some really difficult topics including homophobia, death, bullying, racism, and abuse to name a few. I loved the dark academia setting, it was especially perfect for this time of year! At first, I honestly thought this was set in college because the characters just seem older than 15-16 but it didn’t deter from the YA aspect. I loved the audiobook, it had multiple narrators so it made it easy to distinguish between the 3 povs! I also really liked all 3 of the main characters and being in each of their heads was such a different experience but helped really round out the story! Overall, I just really enjoyed this one and definitely recommend!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

goldenlake's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Biphobia

pkc's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I thought this might be a spooky witchy occult book, which it was in lots of ways, but it was also a gorgeous found family queer story set at a time when such found families were looked up derisively. The book is set in 1991, while America and the world still reels from the impact of AIDS at Blackfriars School for boys in the fictional town of Adders Lair in Massachusetts. It was a book that was shocking, scary, joyful, funny, sexy. Any superlative you can think of probably applies here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Thank you to RB Media through Netgalley for the audio arc! 
All opinions are my own.

I LOVED the narration! Having each MC have their own narrator enhanced the story.
This was a great book and very true to the times in terms of how queer people were treated. And that the author didn't shy away from the language. I loved that it was set in 1991 as it was able to include more queer historical elements, as the author said than 2001 would have had. 

The main characters were great. Very lovable, I think Leo was my favorite. They were very well fleshed out. I just wish that some of the other characters besides the primary 4 were more full characters. Like maybe if the bully had a more extensive backstory. Or more from Lucas would have been great! 

I'm a sucker for dark academia which is probably one reason why I really enjoyed it. It was a great setting, but I also enjoyed the parts outside of it. I like that this tackled hard topics as well as being funny. 

Overall a great book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Drug use, Racism, and Vomit

Minor: Racial slurs

This is mostly in a historical context, so it's true to the times in which the book takes place the 1990s.