caspian_the_pauper'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
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, Death, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Murder, Stalking, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
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
lycanhood's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual content, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Cursing, and Body horror
readwithbells's review against another edition
3.25
It would have worked a lot better for me if about 100 pages were cut. I just didn’t personally care about boys getting hammered for *so long* before anything happens. There were absolutely no stakes for me at all, I could not have cared less about the characters that I even liked.
This book is fine! If you like thrillers and ghost stories, you’ll probably vibe with this a lot.
Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, and Blood
Moderate: Racism
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
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Rep: white achillean-questioning male MC with anxiety, white queer male love interest, white queer polyamorous trans male side character, various queer coded side characters, Black male side character (sexuality not indicated).
CWs: Suicide, death, blood, grief, murder, drug use (smoking and snorting), violence, body horror (including haunting/possession), gore, alcohol consumption, homophobia/homomisia, sexual content, injury/injury detail, vomit, panic attacks, self-harm, cursing, racism (systemic and interpersonal), drug abuse, alcoholism, torture, toxic relationship, toxic friendship. Moderate: confinement, kidnapping, mental illness, death of parent, animal death, biphobia/bimisia, car accident, medical content/trauma, suicidal thought, suicide attempt, psychosis, cancer, fire, transphobia/transmisia, terminal illness. Minor: mentions of slavery.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Death, Murder, Suicide, Grief, Drug use, Violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Homophobia, Alcohol, Vomit, and Self harm
Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, Cancer, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Confinement, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Biphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Transphobia, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical trauma
Minor: Slavery
cheelogreen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Murder, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Grief, Death, Body horror, and Blood
Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Medical content, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Transphobia, and Vomit
killingboys's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship