Reviews with content warning for Schizophrenia/Psychosis - Meddling Kids

I don't know what I was expecting going into this book but it was not what I got. Every page shocked me. A bit wordy and heavy on metaphors. Unexpected queer rep.

Content Warnings

sn8man's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

dexkit10's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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tak_everlasting's review against another edition

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funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

I liked the ambition with the mixed writing styles, but it didn't ulimately serve a purpose or add to the story. Also, this author clearly thinks that he is not writing women in a way that objectifies them- he totally is. The way they described themselves was iffy, but the way they described each other was worse. Especially the

romance between Kerri and Andy.

The story itself was fun, although it was very much a play through of action movie tropes, which was then pointed out in numerous 4th wall breaks. The plot carried the characters, rather than the other way around.

The characters were functional, but their dynamic didn't feel complex enough to have been actual childhood friends. Also Peter, the dead guy, tends to be really slimey toward his supposed friends.

This is somewhat weakly explained because we learn later that he isn't the real Peter. A twist dampened by the fact that Nate suspected that from the beginning, and never tells the rest of the team that he is seeing their dead 5th member.

Overall the writing felt underedited. The conclusion felt unfinished, especially with a lot of the stuff around Peter remaining unclear

when did he start betraying them? was the "ghost" even part of him, or was it all manifested by the villain?

The strongest scene in the book is when they have to explain to their mentor figure that Peter died.

which is unfortunate, because the mentor also dies and we feel nothing from them- either in the moment, or processing it after. the same goes for learning that their dead childhood friend had his corpse stolen and reanimated, with the express purpose of luring them to the lake and murdering them. is it just me? or should your characters have some complex and messy feelings about that?

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scrambledark's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

matcha_cat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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preciouslittleingenue's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

4.5

Oh this was just so FUN!

It's totally not something I'd pick up on my own. The presence of tentacles on the front cover, making it a "monster book" would have immediately put me off it if it wasn't a rec from a friend. And let me tell you, I am so glad they did recommend it.

The start is STRONG and throws you right into it without mincing words. It's almost like you've been thrown a pile of newspaper clippings and have to piece it together as the narrative unfolds and then watch it all fall into place. Loved that. At first this stylistic choice made me feel very removed from the characters, but this didn't last long at all. I was DOWN BAD for Kerri and Andy. Right from the beginning where Andy has that incredible passage personifying Kerri's hair...I knew I would go down with this ship. I, myself, have been head over heels for far too many curly redheaded femmes. Nate was not *unloveable*, but he just didn't shine like the girls did. But that's okay. It's about time the sapphics outshone the men in a novel, especially one written by a man!

The mystery had me guessing! And I wasn't right at first! It definitely ended up being more whacky and goofy than anticipated, but when the book is a direct reference to Scooby Doo and there's a literal Zoinx river...I didn't care too much haha.

So many of Andy's one-liners had me rolling on the floor. I bookmarked them in the audiobook but it returned. Will add later. The group banter was excellent. The METAPHORS had me laughing. The way he described a thought being stopped from coming out of Andy's mouth like a person being stopped by a burly bouncer...WHO COMES UP WITH THAT! It's brilliant and so funny.

The hurt/comfort bed sharing scene???? I WAS ON MY KNEES!

Thoughts on certain aspect of twist ending:

Important to note: Lindsay Ellis has a great video unpacking this topic, but the twist ending DOES contribute to the harmful stereotype that all trans women are just evil men dressed as women, who dress as women for the express purpose of doing said evil. Of course I don't think that was the author's intention, but in the world we live in, we need to at least acknowledge that these tropes can still find their way into media, however innocent and dormant they seem.

Other than that! The twists were GREAT. Only saw them coming like a page ahead of when they actually came. And the VERY LAST ONE AT THE END. I WAS GIGGLING LIKE CRAZY. WHAT A WAY TO END.

I should have known that the SCOOBY DOO BOOK would have a talking dog.

This is what I'm talking about. A level of unhinged I would never usually go for but I'm so glad I did. Amazing. So close to perfect.

Content Warnings

thechocolatefinger's review

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

1.25

It was written like a sequel to Scooby Doo and clearly inspired by it:
Peter = Fred (leader)
Kerri = Daphne (popular) + Velma (smart)
Nate = Shaggy (on drugs and vaguely mentally ill)
Tim = Scooby Doo (dog)
Andy was just a tomboy and didn’t reflect any of the characters tbh

The writing style was like half normal speech and then written like a script sometimes. It was inconsistent and annoying. There was some breaking-the-4th-wall metaphors and descriptions which were funny though

Overall it was bad and it was so clearly man writing lesbian relationship
The trans character wasn’t even trans unless it was so transphobic that the writer thinks trans people choose to be trans
it was a

Ace Ventura film

vibe of transphobia

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