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annalisaely's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Note, I am not an own voices reviewer for schizophrenia or ADHD, but I have a sister with ADHD and myself have autism, so I am somewhat familiar with the world of neurodivergent people. I really appreciated the way neurodivergent people were treated in this book. It seems very true to life to me as far as how two people with different "alphabets", as they are referred to by the main character, would interact with each other. It also helped me understand schizophrenia a lot better than I used to, if it is accurate. I will admit, unlike many of the people who enjoyed this book less, I skimmed the inner voices sections because I have a lot of self loathing issues and those were not only repetitive and not necessary to understand what was going on but were somewhat triggering for me. I still think they belong there, where a reader can decide to skim them or not, because the main character has to deal with them, and if the reader is to understand how the main character feels, it is good to know how constant these horrible thoughts are. Thrillers are also not my usual genre but I cared enough about the characters to enjoy the process.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit
the main character's inner voices are constantly berating him and saying horrible things about him, to the extent if it were external voices I would call it emotional abuse, and this was a little triggering to me as someone who has depression and has suffered with very negative self-talk.
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