zombiezami's review against another edition
3.0
However, by the end, I felt it was too tropey, too focused on romance, and relied too much on deus ex machina
Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Blood, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Cursing, and Child death
Moderate: War, Torture, Racism, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content
zoepagereader's review
- 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
Graphic: War, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Racism, Blood, Body horror, and Classism
tahsintries's review against another edition
3.5
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Confinement
Minor: Racism and Classism
tina94's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Confinement, and Excrement
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Body shaming and Chronic illness
paperbrownies'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? No
3.0
- f|m
- bi/pan oriented demiace fat mc with anxiety, possibly demiace love interest, bi/pan sc, nonbinary sc using they/them pronouns
cw: colonization, alcoholism, confinement, execution, vomitting, gun violence, blood, hp references, racism, panic attack, genocide
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, and Racism
Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
caseythereader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Genocide, Racism, Violence, and Panic attacks/disorders
kaseybereading's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, and Violence
booksthatburn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I love Ellie and I like Morris, their relationship takes enough time to deepen for it to not feel like trauma bonding, which is really important given the massive power gap when he's part of the alien invasion and she's trying to survive. This does a lot of great things well that I haven't seen much in YA, from frank and non-judgmental discussions of whether they've had other partners, to actually addressing how dressing for the apocalypse results in some physically uncomfortable and very hodge-podge outfits.
This has lot of really great characterization. Ellie repeatedly uses a calming technique to try and avoid panic attacks in stressful situations, or try and calm down when one is starting. I loved this narrative choice, because it conveys how anxious she is without constantly relaying her anxious thoughts. Switching between two narrators helps keep the lying from getting too stressful, especially when there are things that Morris doesn’t feel like he can tell Ellie, or Ellie isn’t ready to trust Morris with. They’re reliable narrators as individuals, but not always to each other, especially in part two, but part of the point of the story is how they work though that and learn to trust each other as they get closer. Part One felt a bit uneven with a lot of infodumps and a lot of explanations. It was trying to handle a lot of world-building really quickly, and it did a pretty good job, it just wasn’t to my personal tastes. Part Two had more room to maneuver now that the backstory was set up, and got into the first phase of the adventure. It also features a different kind of tension between the protagonists. Part Three focuses on the way their relationship is changing, and Part Four is about a final confrontation and what happens next. I liked the second half better than the first, but the plot arc is solid and I'm pretty happy with how it turns out.
I think I would love this book rather than just like it if I cared more about music. The story is extremely up front about being a love/save-the-planet adventure about connecting through music and books, and I loved the book bits and didn't care about the music bits, but they seemed to be well done. It's definitely a me thing, not anything wrong with the story. If you're a bit meh about music and connecting with people through it, then this won't be the book for you. If you're reading this review and slightly aghast that anyone wouldn't care about music, then you'll probably love this.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Genocide, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, and Vomit
TW for Harry Potter reference (pages 68, 179, 363, 409, 425).