chris_reads'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Sexual content, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Racism, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Violence
Minor: Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia
zafi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug abuse
booksbeyondthebinary'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Death
Moderate: Suicide, Murder, and Drug abuse
fieldfarmer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Blood, and Body horror
Minor: Gore and Injury/Injury detail
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Classism, Grief, Sexual content, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Homophobia, Torture, Alcoholism, Murder, Confinement, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Death of parent
Internalized homophobialaguerrelewis'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Murder, Racism, Cursing, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Blood, Violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Sexual content, Classism, Gore, Death, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia
dreareads_'s review against another edition
2.0
What I liked:
- There were creepy (ish) moments,
- Some of the imagery was vivid,
- (I am not a gay man but) The discussion on accepting your queerness I guess was well done,
- Riley: I loved Riley, I wanted to protect Riley.
- It was honest about the racial dynamics of the south.
What I didn't like:
UGH. Where do I begin.
- Andrew: look I understand that he was being hunted, and going through a traumatic time but Andrew was legitimate not a good person. And he BARELY became empathetic towards the end. The lack of action from Andrew had me wanting to throw my book accross the room. I do not understand how this man had any friends. Even when we see him begin to grow it is not enough to make up for the misery that it was reading from his POV. I would not have a problem if he was meant to be unlikable, but Andrew is also presented as a "woke" white dude because he acknowledges his privilege. But even when he does, nothing changes. Not in the way he acts, nor on how the story moves forward.
- Eddie: the more I learned about him the les I cared that he was dead.
- Women: I don't know if the author knows women or hates women but the misogyny in this book was extensive. The female characters were either mean, bitchy, villanous, or non existence. Even the one good woman in the group had barely any personality and was mostly there to enhance Riley's story.
Spoiler
the professor being an ambitious, backstabbing, plagiarizing, racist murderer made sense but the fact that this was the only main female character in the story drove me crazy- Pacing: the first 130 pages of this book are painful to get through. Nothing happens to advance the plot (except for multiple drag races) and we spend all our time with Andrew being a shit person. The second half gets somewhat better but not enough.
- Themes of Privilege: this book obviously wanted to tackle ideas of white privilege and classism but neither of these themes were deeply explored.
Race: We mostly had moments of Andrew realizing that POC were not present in the spaces he was and just feeling kind of bad about it. Other than West, the other two (three? was Del POC? I can't remember) characters of color were barely there to have any importance. The whole plot line with West and race in academia would have been much more impactful and interesting if we had spent ANY time at the university.
Spoiler
we then add that there is ZERO moment in which Andrew considers his own whiteness when accusing West of murder, it just really didn't workClassism: We understand that Andrew is rich because Eddie left all his money to him. We also have multiple instances of Sam and Riley calling out his privilege and Andrew acknowledging it. And... that is all we get. He still treats his position in school with no regards, and faces 0 consequences. He really does nothing to demonstrate us that he is any different than Eddie in his relationship with money.
The story WANTED to deal with these ideas, but it was only at surface level and not very enticing.
- The mystery: It was okay. Took us too long to actually move forward though.
Yeah,
If you loved this book I am happy for you. I personally wish I could go back and literally pick up any other book.
Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, and Slavery
remimicha'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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Murder, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Grief, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Violence, Drug use, Death, Torture, Suicide, Blood, and Homophobia
Moderate: Classism, Racism, Car accident, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Medical content, and Eating disorder
fanboyriot'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? Yes
5.0
Ghosts
Chaotic Gays
Spooky Fantasy
Dark Academia
Fast Cars and Stupid Decisions
I read a review that said this was like a gay fever dream and that sums up a lot of it. The supernatural elements and the overall eerie atmosphere were really lovely. It was well written, however, the romance was kind of meh at first, by the end of the book it was better but it just felt like there could have been more development with Andrew and Sam. Overall, the ending was nice and I would definitely re-read this again.
Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Cursing, Blood, Murder, Suicide, Death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Drug use, Grief, Violence, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Transphobia, Sexism, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Biphobia, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny
thehappylittleelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
One thing I’ll say first: the negative reviews aren’t wrong. Overall, I found it to be a little overwritten, which killed the pacing, especially in the middle parts. Some scenes also felt like repeating old information with only providing the barest sense of progress in plot and character.
However, the whole is better than the sum of its parts. The story pulls you through, despite the slowness, despite the absurd amount of descriptors, an despite a protagonist who barely moves through the second act. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty great. The characters were strong and vivid while the relationships “utterly crackled” to steal a phrase from every reviewers’ favorite adjective to described good books.
If you like a good character study with horror elements, this is a good book for you.
Final Rating; Two lit blunts up. Nine repressed-manly-feelings out of ten.
Graphic: Drug use, Death, Drug abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Sexual content