3readingcircus's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Stalking
emmonsannae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Most importantly, I felt the author took advantage of readers’ suspended disbelief by choosing not to explain key elements, which meant I was never fully bought in to what the plot was doing. And it was predictable—I guessed the major plot twist about 100 pages in. The characters were also fairly one-dimensional. Their motivations felt unbelievable and contrived for the sake of the narrative. Ultimately, I just didn’t feel like the book was well-written. It’s such a great idea for a story, though—I enjoyed the creativity of it very much.
Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
hello_lovely13'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: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Moderate: Infidelity, Murder, and Gun violence
tm400'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
4.0
Spoiler
i love the use of language such as skeleton, ghost, shell, empty, etc when describing wally towards the end of the book, after we've discovered he was the one behind the murders/map disappearances but before they return to agloe. i also really loved the way the story was told, with the intermittent first person chapters from the members of the Cartographers. really helped me immerse myself into the setting!!i loved how this story was written; it was immediately thrilling from the first chapter, and i read it quickly. i found it perfectly paced and loved the storytelling. personally though... i wished a different ending for the protagonist. i do think that this ending was great, and i think that it was still a fantastic ending for this novel. but part of me, the part of me that just read that whole book, wished for something more...explicit is all. i also got confused a few times on characters' motives for why they do the things they do (mainly/especially wally and tamara)
Spoiler
sorry but i also hate that tamara was still alive in agloe at all... i suspected it from the second we discovered she was the only one who didn't make it back to the real rockland after the fire but i was just hoping maybe it wouldn't happen but then it did :/i'm giving this a 4/5 stars, and am definitely looking into more books by peng shepherd to add to my tbr!
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence
Moderate: Infidelity
mckennajoy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Death of parent
hal00alex's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
kelsea'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Spoiler
idea of having a map to access an otherwise hidden room/etc.Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Stalking
spineofthesaurus's review against another edition
Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Stalking
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Classism and Pregnancy
kefowler'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
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Murder
coconutoolong's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Death