dirtyseagull's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.25
So here's the thing about this book, its a great follow up to the first in the "Series" as it were, because even though its a prequel its main focus for most the story is the world building and establishing what kind of New York these characters are living in and subsequently, dying in.
Not really a spoiler, its in the title.
But here are some very minor spoilers if you wanna keep reading. You are getting a lot of the same here as you did in the first novel, just longer. There's backstory, more world-building, and a shit ton of callbacks to the first novel (and little easter eggs) which give context for who these characters were that were either mentioned or featured in the first story.
These mostly work in service of the novel but sometimes feel like they are just kinda cameos for the sake of cameos and they could have been cut down or cut out. The only other thing that really makes me think that this could have been better is that the story itself, while different and heart wrenching feels far less emotionally powerful to me.
Not really a spoiler, its in the title.
But here are some very minor spoilers if you wanna keep reading. You are getting a lot of the same here as you did in the first novel, just longer. There's backstory, more world-building, and a shit ton of callbacks to the first novel (and little easter eggs) which give context for who these characters were that were either mentioned or featured in the first story.
These mostly work in service of the novel but sometimes feel like they are just kinda cameos for the sake of cameos and they could have been cut down or cut out. The only other thing that really makes me think that this could have been better is that the story itself, while different and heart wrenching feels far less emotionally powerful to me.
Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child death, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
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