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erebus53'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
4.25
The backdrop is clearly superheroic. You have a fictional city called Merit, which is an unremarkable, American town. The main characters have alliterative names, or names or descriptions that have significance to their powers, but from the get-go all the Vs made me feel like this is a lot more like Alan Moore than Stan Lee. For starters the "heros" are sociopathic before they even get started. There is nothing quite normal about these two college room-mates.
The story is tropey enough that it's fairly easy to get a handle on, even though it's told non-chronologically. Entire sections are flashbacks to 10 years ago. There are short memories that are repeated in different chapters.. one of which was long enough that I thought I might have accidentally lost my place and be reading the wrong bit. That was mildly irritating; a phrase can anchor something poetically without an entire callback.. that might work better if it was a movie (montage it, pitch it a little lower, put some echo on or something?) or maybe a graphic novel.. (make it yellowed like old paper.. or throw the colours out like a faded photo with no blue in it..)
The middle part of the story begins to lag a bit. But it picks up a little more as the things start to culminate. I do wish the ending felt a little more planned but it starts to become a little unclear what is going to happen. I do like that the story feels out the edges or limitations of the powers that people have, and explores a little of the synergy you can get when more than one person with a gift is working together. I think it would be marvelous if there were more people with normal strengths rather than uncanny things, but that is still included in the story.
This is a very different story to something like Hench (which is about jobbing for the supervillains), and has some similarity in YA stories like Songbirds and Snakes in which the mindset of the main character is toxic and dangerous. There is some bloody violence and necromancy in this story, so if you don't like dark then this isn't your book.
Clock this one up if you want to do a reading challenge where the hero is a bad guy, and it's set in a City starting with M (yes that's a challenge prompt for the 52 BookClub Chanllenge 2024).
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Suicide, Stalking, and Suicide attempt
cowardlyteaman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Fucking hell, this was a WILD RIDE.
I love every single one of the characters, and I love the way this book kept me hooked 100% of the while.
Even though Victor is «edgy» in a way, it just makes sense for him in such a good and logical way. I'm not annoyed or icked by it, I just like his character.
Loving the way Mitch's character is built up, too, and of course Sydney.
I especially loved Eli and Serena as villains, too. Nothing I love more than a sexy and crazed religious man and a fem-dom.
For a while, I was conflicted on what I thought about people being revived. However, I don't think it matters here? In all other media, it seriously bothers me, but in this book in particular, who lives and who dies isn't really what keeps you on edge, it's how the characters' relationships with each other develops. I absolutely love the dynamic between each and every character, I CANNOT stress any more how much I LOVED reading this.
Ditched Norwegian, maths, and economics class for this book.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
maddiela's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder
jgalla's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
fiizso's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
lizziaha's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Car accident
innae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
ladynavalon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
donatio'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
I loved the writing style and how she skipped back and forth between the past and the present. The characters were well-crafted and I found a connection to every one of them, especially Victor's group of strays.
It was not really action-packed but I still loved how the story evolved.
Before reading one should check the trigger warnings, because it gets dark at points and "There are no good men in this game" is quite true. The mix of flashbacks and present might be annoying for some people too.
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
paulinabemu's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Minor: Physical abuse