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meganparfitt'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
Minor: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
kassidyreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault and Alcohol
winifara's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
mattiedancer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
- Those looking for a unique fantasy read
- Those who love unconventional worlds
- Fans of enemies to lovers
- Young adult readers who want a memorable world
- Death, murder, violence, blood, grief, injury, fire, confinement, toxic relationships,
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body horror, Trafficking, and Car accident
theblerdnewsletter'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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Classism
deadearbuds'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
3.5
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Violence, Trafficking, and Death of parent
frantically'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
4.75
There's so many characters in this book who would've been better suited as a YA-saviour, there's Ness' best friend, Priya, whose biggest dream is fighting the Nightmares or the charming vampire Cy, who Ness is starting to like more and more. But we're stuck with Ness — and it's great!
It was so fun seeing her work around trying to do everything on her own. She makes other people work for her, put her info out into the world without risking too much herself. She's isolated, doesn't want anymore friends than she already has and where there's danger, she's already running away from it.
What I also loved was that all this "not like other people" business didn't at all turn into "not like other girls", which we often see with FMCs.
The world Schaeffer has creted is intriguing and offers enough potential for so many more books. The Nightmares, how they are created and why, all gets more and more mysterious and I'm so ready to see where this story takes us next!
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Trafficking and Alcohol
lilifane'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
3.0
But objectively, there are some flaws. Mainly the writing, I guess, it's not the strongest. It's on the simple side with lots of repetitions, not only certain recurring scenes and thoughts (which can be explained with the protagonist's mental state) but also words and phrases (which is a little more annoying).
My favorite part of the book was probably the anxiety representation. The protagonist has an anxiety disorder, and I think the author does a good job of showing how this can affect so many aspects of your every day life. How part of your brain knows there is probably no danger, but your body is still in hide/flight mode, and you can't do anything about it. But then maybe, in this specific world, the anxiety is actually warranted? Because there are random monster attacks, gang shootouts, people turning into literal monsters without warning, corruption so bad that you can end up in jail just because you didn't have enough money to bribe a random police officer passing you by. But then again, everyone just accepting this as normal and going about their day worked for me. I was enjoying the humor and lightheartedness of the narrative, they just took away from the atmosphere of the setting.
There were also some dialogues that felt a little forced and out of place. Yes, I do think that discussions about how media romanticizes toxic relationships is important, I just don't think the way it's done here is ideal. I really liked most of the dialogues and bonding moments between the characters, though. Was really rooting for Cy's and Ness' friendship development. And the discussion about how lonely and isolated you can feel because of trauma, trust issues and anxiety hit a little too close to home.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Police brutality and Trafficking
azrah786's review against another edition
2.5
CW: violence, gun violence, blood, injury, gore, body horror, murder, death, death of parent, child death, grief, police brutality, animal cruelty, kidnapping, panic attacks/disorders
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Despite the promising initial concepts and the Gotham vibes of the setting I did not enjoy this one. I feel like this story had so much potential but for me the primary plotline just bored me to tears.
I think a lot of this comes down to the protagonist. Now there are times when books have leading protagonists who aren’t the “chosen one” or have anything special going on that have been written really well but I sadly didn’t find that to be the case here. Ness very much felt like a side character in her own story to me throughout the whole book, nothing about her journey ever stood out and just felt very minor in the whole scope of things especially when there are more interesting things occurring in the background.
I managed to push through because I wanted to see who was behind some of the more unknown elements of these background plot points but the story never fully followed these other elements.
Ness’s perspective just felt very repetitive and it got tedious fast and I also found literally every supporting character to be more interesting than her. The relationships that formed between the characters were well written but I don’t think they were given enough room to grow.
So it’s safe to say I won’t be picking up the sequel.
Final Rating – 2.5/5 Stars
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Police brutality
kirstenf'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
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol
Minor: Police brutality and Kidnapping