Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

9 reviews

mainereading's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I am obsessed with Scooby Doo. I grew up watching it since I was a baby and I even named my dog Scrappy after the character from the series. I was really looking forward to reading this book, and it didn't disappoint. I loved it. It was spooky, funny, and it had many Scooby Doo references! Not everyone will enjoy this story or the writing style the author used, but I liked it. I do have some questions and complaints, but overall it was an enjoyable read, and it has become one of my favorite books! Also, this gave me Scooby Doo on Zombie Island and Scooby Doo and the Witches Ghost vibes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

monarchbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

I don't know what I was expecting going into this book but it was not what I got. Every page shocked me. A bit wordy and heavy on metaphors. Unexpected queer rep. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Deadnaming

ryanandrew23's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gore

Minor: Suicide

hauntedboi's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Panic attacks/disorders

ash_ton's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

3.0

Okay so. Originally I had given this book 4 stars but after thinking about it, I lowered it to 3. I couldn't get past a lot of things no matter how much I liked the actual story.

First, though, no matter how much I complain, I did like the book. I like the concept of the 

talismans

even though I know that isn't a novel (haha) idea. I was still shocked and wasn't expecting 

the kids to be part of the ritual.

I also wasn't expecting 

Dunia Deboen to be involved, nor was I expecting her to be Damian Deboen.

Maybe in hindsight it should have been obvious but *shrugs*. So, despite the things I'm about to complain about, I did like the book because the story itself was good, in my opinion.

These are things I know others have talked about, so I'm just going to be another voice agreeing with them. The random insertion of the script format throughout the book wa sso jarring and unecessary. It did nothing for the storyline. If all the dialogue would have been in script format, sure. But that would've sucked and I would have hated it lol. In the same vein, I hated the amount of ridiculous "big" words added that seemingly were only there to beef up the sentences. Also, the made up words as well. Myriaphonic, as far as I can tell from googling, is not a real word. After some clicks, I found out a miraphone is a type of tuba, so maybe that's what he was going for? But like, bud. Pick something else.
The one random 4th wall break 75% into the book was also super jarring and unnecessary to me. If you're going to break the 4th wall, only doing it once isn't gonna cut it. Is the book self-aware or not?
My one last small gripe is how 

Dunia/Damian spoke at the end. Like he was trying to be old but hip at the same time. No one, not even a 200 year old dude, is gonna talk that cringy and weird.

 

One last thing. I'm confused about the ending. I get that Tim is Sean's great-grandson. Fine. Makes sense. But 

the spirit inhabiting Tim says he's been possessing all the dogs and that it got easier when Kerri was at college? And then the spirit makes Tim smile "bittersweetly" and says "It's all been done before." Bro wtf does that mean.

Idk if I'm just stupid, but I don't understand. I don't see anyone else mentioning that part.

Bottom line: I liked the book/story, I just mostly hated some of the writing style. Usually, I can get over that and in this case I did. I'd still recommend it, especially if you like Scooby Doo and/or retellings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia

itsheyfay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Suicide, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Racism and Kidnapping

kalzeb's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Death

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation

connorjdaley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

My fiancé has always been huge into Scooby-Doo, so I had ordered this for her and she really liked it. This Spooky Season I decided to give it a listen instead of a read, and it was a good one. 

For all intents and purposes, this is an adult Scooby-Doo reimagining. There’s some great Easter eggs, references, and alterations. But I particularly liked that the author changed the characterizations of the meddling kids. Although I did find some of it, like the romance aspect, to feel incredibly forced and weird. Still enjoyed the overall changes though. 

13 years after the final case for the Blyton Summer Detective Club, Andy decides it’s time to figure out what went wrong and get the band back together. They are all messed up, and at first I just thought it was going to be a dark story about their combined ptsd, but the story really deviated in at least a somewhat satisfying way. What if they weren’t just meddling kids? What if not every crime had a guy in a mask at the end of it? That’s what this story seeks to show. 

My only real gripe for this one is that the climax builds and builds and builds, and then I personally felt like it fell flat. It actually comes to a close so suddenly that I thought I missed it and re-listened to a full half an hour…I hadn’t missed it, it’s just in actuality, not really there anyway. Regardless though I did really enjoy the rest of the stuff that goes us there. 

Personally a 3.5/5* for me, I wish there had been Scooby snacks…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

emsim's review against another edition

nope. this book is already handling gender, sexuality, and mental health poorly in the first 10%.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment