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booksandbesitos'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
4.25
The characters are both neurodivergent and I liked the representation but I did feel like a lot of their inner thoughts turned into explaining their brains to the reader. I wish that it would’ve been shown in a different way rather than just “saying” it to the reader. There’s a few times where it’s shown in conversations between the characters, in things they do, or in experiences they have, and I liked those moments better. The telling made it hard to pinpoint if this was a YA book or a Middle Grade book. I enjoyed it either way though.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Misogyny
talonsontypewriters'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
3.5
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, and Medical content
Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
Needles/injections (HRT).lopeared's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism and Bullying
Moderate: Hate crime, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
Minor: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail
discarded_dust_jacket'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
3.5
“So many of us are haunted by versions of ourselves we wish we could exile. But the pieces of our beings don’t pull apart that easily. If we try to unweave ourselves, we unravel at the edges. So we all do the work of reconciling who we are now with the ghosts we once were.”
It also highlights, quite powerfully, how the bad thoughts and emotions that we attempt to suppress will only reinsert themselves with more force the more we refuse to deal with them.
“Once you get past the fear of being seen, you can get to the part where you know you’re not alone.”
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, and Transphobia
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
caseythereader's review
- 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: Ableism, Bullying, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment
ashylibrarian'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
3.0
I love the trans rep. I love the neurodiversity rep. I love the relationships, platonic and romantic. I love the way in which Lore calls out the education system's flaws in teaching reading. Everything else just fell flat. I didn't feel like a lot happened and I was a bit confused by the world under the water.
This won't likely be a go-to recommendation for me, but I'll keep it on my list.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, and Transphobia
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Violence
hobbithopeful's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved the way gender and its fluidity was discussed in this book, how some days they felt more boy and more girl, and how they interpreted it in terms of "70% boy today".
I have always enjoyed all of Anna-Marie McLemore books, and even though this one followed heavier topics and had a more serious tone, I still had a great time reading it, and it left me with a lot to think about.
The Cover
I adore this cover! The colors on the bottom look so dreamy and trippy and creates an out of body feeling for the illustration. The symbolism of them both being in the water with barnacles growing on them, with maybe an allusion to the fact they are both partially emotionally drowning was extremely well done. It is also a pleasant surprise to see brown characters *actually* be brown and not be white washed.
Cover by
Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Transphobia, and Violence
30something_reads's review
4.25
When the guy looks at me, he sees a brown girl. And I am a brown girl, just like I’m a brown boy, just like I’m both and neither, in different proportions depending on the day. I’m the gradients of blue and green and violet and silver that the lake turns.
This is one of those books that I am so glad exists for adolescents today. I wish younger me had these kinds of books with this kind of representation.
On the surface, it’s a story told in dual POV about two trans teens, Bastian and Lore, and their discovery of a mysterious world beneath the lake. But when the world beneath the lake begins integrating with their real world, they must figure out a way to stop it.
This is also a story of two teens meeting and feeling fully seen for the first time by one another. Not only for being latine, queer, and trans, but also for their neurodivergency. And all of the intricate ways they must navigate society- Bastian with their ADHD and Lore with their dyslexia.
Once you get past the fear of being seen, you can get to the part where you know you’re not alone.
The depiction of these characters experiences with ADHD and dyslexia were so poignant. It’s so clearly personal to the author, but it also brought tears to my eyes because my neurodivergent ADHD brain felt so seen in those moments.
How do you tell someone that you had to work to learn not follow every impulse your brain has?... That you came into the world with so much quicksand you needed professional help to learn to steer around it?
Beautiful writing. Wonderful representation. A book everyone should read.
Graphic: Bullying and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
oliverreeds's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
thewoodlandbookshelf's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, and Medical content