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melodyseestrees's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Dementia, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Racism
Minor: Violence, Murder, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, and Ableism
Bo has a scene where there is a stick stuck in his hand and his wrist is also broken. Brandon and his boss have a toxic faux friendship where drug use is common. Blue and his family have a history of verbal aggression, if not abuse, and he struggles to maintain/fix his connection to his family- there is a tense Christmas Dinner scene. Blue is nonverbal but this is "fixed" with some sort of implant in his neck.evelphysicist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Drug use
pond_newt's review
- 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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Dementia, and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Pregnancy, Racism, and Violence
imds's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Racial slurs, Dementia, Body horror, Gaslighting, Drug use, Sexism, Grief, Racism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Abandonment, and Torture
Minor: Biphobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Suicide
kurumipanda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Drug abuse, and Drug use
violeteel's review
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Minor: Drug use
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
4.5
Content warnings: death of a parent, grief, mild blood/injury detail, dementia, sexual content, drug and alcohol use
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
tigger89'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
4.5
But describing it that way makes it sound like a sad book, which it wasn't. It read like the kind of thriller where you've got all the puzzle pieces almost from the start, and the tricky bit is putting them together in a way that makes sense to get from A to Z. I wasn't particularly surprised by any of the reveals, but I also didn't mind; I was invested in uncovering the how and the why, rather than the who and the what, if that makes sense.
One thing I really appreciated about this book was the depiction of Brandon as not only bisexual, but as an unapologetically messy bisexual. He doesn't have his anything together, and as the narrative unfolds it begins to make sense as to why. If you're looking for a competent, well-put-together protagonist, this isn't the book for you. But his bad decisions are the journey, and I couldn't help but feel a certain fondness for this disaster of a man, even if I didn't agree with many of the actions he chose to take. I also had a lot of thoughts about whether or not he did the right thing, in the end. I'm still not sure I've reached a decision on that.
Something I didn't mind but that will be a dealbreaker for some is the technology. It's definitely closer to the "reverse the polarity!" end of the sci-fi spectrum, which is to say it's barely explained and doesn't even pretend to be plausible. I though it suited the novel that way, but if you're someone who likes fictional technology — or magic pretending to be technology — to be explained to you, be warned this is not that kind of story. You kind of have to just accept it for what it is.
I enjoyed this debut, and would be interested to see what the author might come out with next. And hopefully the marketers leave his summaries alone in the future, because no reader likes getting to the end of a book only to realize they've been mislead!
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Dementia
Moderate: Car accident, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Alcohol, and Drug use
Minor: Ableism