Reviews tagging 'Death'

Stranger Than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer

6 reviews

besotted's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Drug use, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, and Stalking

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Sexual content, Medical content, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

martyna_m's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Terminal illness and Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia

jenny_librarian's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

Like the title suggests, this reads like fanfiction. And not good fanfiction either. It reads like the self-insert fics I wrote about my favourite singer when I was 17 years old. Which is surprising, considering Chris Colfer does this for a living. I was just killing time writing improbable romantic fantasies without any kind of beta review or editing. And yet, down to the quality of writing, it very much feels like someone found my fanfiction.net account.

It’s not all bad, mind you. It’s compelling and short enough that I powered through it easily. But it’s not good either. It kinda feels like an after school special with the dumbed-down definition of trans, the disabled brother who could be a cardboard cutout for all the time they spend talking about him like he’s furniture, and the author hitting you over the head with life lessons.

I liked some of the humour (Lewis and Clark vs Lois and Clark; Joey’s mind-movie of God, Moses and Jesus trying to tell Christians they actually don’t mind gay folks; the William Shatner Online Institute), but other jokes fell incredibly flat, if not downright offensive (“I always wanted a gay best friend” 🤢).

I wanted to read the Land of Stories, since it’s so popular, but if this book is a faithful representation of Chris Colfer’s writing, I think I’ll pass.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Outing, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Racism, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse and Homophobia

readerforlife's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Racism

gabe7372's review

adventurous hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Drug use, and Terminal illness

bibiprettybird's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing and Drug use

Minor: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, and Racism

One of the main characters, who is extremely flawed and portrayed as not always being the best person

outs two of the other characters, one who is a gay man and one who is a trans man, to their friends. It is really only to the friends, there is no risk of danger for either of the characters, their friends do accept them, and the character who did the outing apologizes for it later.

There is also misgendering of a character who is a trans man, due to the fact that he is not yet out and there are several point of view changes.