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mynameisrebecca's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Ableism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry
on_your_raedar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Fastest summary: this book is about Eli, a college student, that does his thesis on extraordinary (EOs) people and his roommate Victor, the POV you spend majority of the book in, work together to test Eli’s theories into practice to see if they can make EOs. Victor accidentally kills someone with his gift and Eli turns him in and goes on a self righteous kick using religion as his motivator. You spend the whole book waiting for the V and E show down.
I’m not sure if the intent was to make Victor a likeable character but I really liked him. Mitch was easily my favorite character, I really hope the6 make this into a movie or tv show and get his character right because I’d love to see him. Sydney was a solid character, she’s really young so I’m excited to see her growth if she’s in book 2, especially with
Needless to say, I have book 2 ready to start and also another book by the author. I could easily see V.E. creeping into my top 5 authors and I’m ready.
Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Gun violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Grief, and Gaslighting
chronicacademia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
- I really liked some of the side characters, particularly Mitch, Sydney, Serena and Dom. I think in the case of the first three, we got a more throrough look into their lives and how circumstances changed their lives. Are they the most interesting characters of all time? No, but they were better than the two men who were supposed to be the focus of the book in my opinion.
- It did get interesting with the countdown to Vic and Eli's showdown towards the end of the book.
- I think Dom's powers were very interesting (reminded me a little of Homura's time stop powers from Madoka Magica) and my favourite of the bunch, and I would have liked to have seen the full extent of their powers.
Cons
- The two main leads felt kind of generic and cookie-cutter compared to characters and I feel like I've seen characters based in this concept of intimate enemies done infinitely better in other pieces of media. These guys feel like all edge, little substance (mostly on Vic's part with the latter).
- Eli's religious bigotry compounded with his mental health issues just came off as a lazy excuse to make him "the truly evil character" and frankly ableist concerning the latter (i.e. the "he's evil because he's crazy" stereotype). With the former I feel like there wasn't much exploration into what made him that way, and I feel like he just ended up repeating the same hollow sentiments of God wanting EOs dead because they're freaks etc. over and over. This could have been improved by exploring his religious upbringing more, which I think could have lended some more opportunities for darker moments.
- Speaking of, I don't like how Dom was introduced so late into the story and ended up being treated more as a get-out-of-danger-free card instead of a fully fledged character which is especially damning when he is physically disabled.
- I think the timeline constantly jumping around harmed more than helped the narrative. I think the book took longer for me to read than it actually did because I had to do mental gymnastics to keep track of who did what that I feel like I forgot some important details along the way.
I think the way Serena was killed was kind of out of nowhere and felt cheap. Then again I might be biased because I really liked her character and the ways in which she was lowkey terrifying On a similar note Angie felt like she was just there to be the generic love interest that got fridged partway through the story.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Ableism, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
emily_reads09's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Confinement, and Police brutality