strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The love story is not the main focus of the book seeing as it is not a romance and it is really barely there at all. Frankly, these girls have other, bigger things to worry about.
This is a horror story with a lot of body horror and murder so just be prepared. An infection has spread through the girls on an island and changes their bodies in terrible ways. It is a little Lord of the Flies esque in the way that have to fight for food and survival, but their bonds with each other are stronger.
I personally thought the ending was very satisfying and ended exactly how it needed too. However it is an ending that leaves interpretation to the reader so if you don’t like that don’t read this book.
Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Vomit, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicide
Minor: Self harm and Cannibalism
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Honestly, most of what I didn’t like was the ending. We got no answers for anything really, and it left with absolutely no resolution. It just felt like it was dragged out and then it just ended. The switching POV I normally really like just didn’t work for me; they just seemed too close to one another and a few pages in I’d forget which character it even was.
(First Person POV)
Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Torture, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal death, Confinement, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Ableism, Vomit, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Cursing, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, War, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, and Eating disorder
greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Cannibalism, Confinement, Suicide, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Child death, and Death
lizzyc_16'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
4.25
Spoiler
for example, reese, byatt, and hetty highkey just rode a boat away from all their friends who were being LITERALLY BOMBED and the book fricking ended there -_-Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Medical trauma
Minor: Cannibalism, Torture, and Vomit
nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
•
Some quick notes:
- lgbtq+ characters (including the MC)
- weirdly the author uses the word “sliver” so much in the descriptions of the book that it’s almost comical
- some of the characters lack depth. for instance Byatt really just feels like a plot device and feels like she’s only there for other characters rather than being a fully developed character herself (which is weird because she gets a pov). she does get backstory and a personality but something about it feels surface level
- it dragged in some places
- I really wanted it to explore more of the tox and what was happening. it felt like we only got a little taste of explanation and then nothing more
- really cool concept
- very dark and creepy :)
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Medical content, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Cannibalism