_rowantree_'s review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Bullying
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, and Child death
Minor: Body shaming, Death of parent, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Ableism, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Incest, Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Homophobia
anilein's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Terminal illness, Violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Vomit, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Violence
sneakyhobbit's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
This book is bad, and I can (and will) list all of the reasons why.
1. The writing style. The main characte of Zoey is meant to be 16 but she thinks and acts like a 13 year old. Quotes which show the writing style can be seen further below.
2. Slut shaming and pick-me girl energy. Zoey is constantly insulting other women. This is meant to be a book for pre-teen and early teen girls and provides them with a terrible role model. Quotes showing this are below:
"Kind of like those girls who have sex with everyone and they've that they're not going to get an STD that eats your brain and stuff. Well, we'll see in ten years, won't we?"
"Yes, I was aware of the whole oral sex this... Of course there are girls who think it's 'cool' to give guys head. Uh, they're wrong. Those of us with functioning brains know that it is not cool to be used like that." ~ so many things wrong with this quote
"Actually, she reminded me of a young version of Sarah Jessica Parker (who I don't like, by the by - she's just so... so... annoying and unnaturally perky)."
"Well, I guess being the next Nicole Kidman wouldn't be bad (not that I plan on marrying and then divorcing a manic short guy)" ~ might as well shame short guys while we're at it
- "I lined [my eyes] with a smoky black shadow that had little sparkly flecks of silver in it. Not heavily like those loser girls who think that plastering on black eye-liner makes them look cool. Yeah, right. They look like scary raccoons."
3. The LGBT+ (or lack thereof) representation. There's only one LGBT character and he's the embodiment of a gay stereotype.
4. She's an OP mary-sue
5. The r****d slur is used multiple times
The only reason is got 1 star instead of 0 was because the concept of the world was kind of interesting. It doesn't make up for all of the other issues though.
1. The writing style. The main characte of Zoey is meant to be 16 but she thinks and acts like a 13 year old. Quotes which show the writing style can be seen further below.
2. Slut shaming and pick-me girl energy. Zoey is constantly insulting other women. This is meant to be a book for pre-teen and early teen girls and provides them with a terrible role model. Quotes showing this are below:
"Kind of like those girls who have sex with everyone and they've that they're not going to get an STD that eats your brain and stuff. Well, we'll see in ten years, won't we?"
"Yes, I was aware of the whole oral sex this... Of course there are girls who think it's 'cool' to give guys head. Uh, they're wrong. Those of us with functioning brains know that it is not cool to be used like that." ~ so many things wrong with this quote
"Actually, she reminded me of a young version of Sarah Jessica Parker (who I don't like, by the by - she's just so... so... annoying and unnaturally perky)."
"Well, I guess being the next Nicole Kidman wouldn't be bad (not that I plan on marrying and then divorcing a manic short guy)" ~ might as well shame short guys while we're at it
- "I lined [my eyes] with a smoky black shadow that had little sparkly flecks of silver in it. Not heavily like those loser girls who think that plastering on black eye-liner makes them look cool. Yeah, right. They look like scary raccoons."
3. The LGBT+ (or lack thereof) representation. There's only one LGBT character and he's the embodiment of a gay stereotype.
4. She's an OP mary-sue
Spoiler
She's been a fledging for maybe a few weeks and has already learnt that she has power over 5 elements, likes the taste of blood, gets extra tattoos, and has a coloured in forehead tattoo. This is book 1 of 8. I can't even imagine how much worse it will get.5. The r****d slur is used multiple times
The only reason is got 1 star instead of 0 was because the concept of the world was kind of interesting. It doesn't make up for all of the other issues though.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
The book uses the r****d slur multiple timesindiawilliamsrakestraw's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Ableism, Alcohol, Sexism, Blood, and Death
honeybakedreads's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The last time I read this series was back when it came out and I have grown significantly as a human since then. I came back to read it again and actually finish the series to see how it ends and it's been painfully difficult to continue. So many slurs, so much slut shaming. It's very early 2000's southern highschool. And I say that as someone currently living in the city where the series takes place. I definitely understand why the series isn't recommended by many.
Content Warnings
Minor: Classism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Cultural appropriation
msradiosilence's review against another edition
I’m 95 pages in, and the last book I DNF’d was Allegiant 9 years ago, but I fucking CANNOT with this book.
First of all, way to whitewash your main “native” character. Very SMeyer of you. How is it that the other POC character (Shaunee, a black woman) is allowed to have ‘mocha’/‘chocolate’ skin but Zoey goes from ‘tanned’ to ‘pale white’ hm? Sounds very…cultural appropriative, no?
For a book that has a gay character and a black character in the main cast, this book was *checks notes* fatphobic, transphobic, racist, and slut shame-y all in the first 8 pages! And it only gets worse!! This is why I fucking DNFed, because there is much better shit out there.
The writing was annoying as fuck, Zoey was super judgmental and annoying as fuck, all the other characters were shallow and annoying as fuck…did I mention how annoyed I was with this book?
I read it back in middle school (and bc of the blow job scene in the beginning was subsequently banned from reading it) but as an adult I’ve been going through a nostalgia period and this was one of the books I wanted to revisit. Honestly, thanks Mom and Dad for sparing me from the rest of this series.
First of all, way to whitewash your main “native” character. Very SMeyer of you. How is it that the other POC character (Shaunee, a black woman) is allowed to have ‘mocha’/‘chocolate’ skin but Zoey goes from ‘tanned’ to ‘pale white’ hm? Sounds very…cultural appropriative, no?
For a book that has a gay character and a black character in the main cast, this book was *checks notes* fatphobic, transphobic, racist, and slut shame-y all in the first 8 pages! And it only gets worse!! This is why I fucking DNFed, because there is much better shit out there.
The writing was annoying as fuck, Zoey was super judgmental and annoying as fuck, all the other characters were shallow and annoying as fuck…did I mention how annoyed I was with this book?
I read it back in middle school (and bc of the blow job scene in the beginning was subsequently banned from reading it) but as an adult I’ve been going through a nostalgia period and this was one of the books I wanted to revisit. Honestly, thanks Mom and Dad for sparing me from the rest of this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Vomit, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Alcohol, and Sexual assault
nyctxnthus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- 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? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Ableism
booktrotting's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Screaming. What an absolute hot mess this book is; just the thought of the assembly process of this book - a middle aged woman writing the words “boobies” and “poopie” over and over and her 20 yo daughter deciding to keep all of that in in the editing process- absolutely sends me. It is also absolutely crammed full of stuff that absolutely would not fly now - all the teens in this book are absolutely rancid. There’s something mesmerising about this book that keeps you drawn in though, what a wild time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming
Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death, and Fatphobia
helenoodle's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
listen. i got given the whole set of these books when i was definitely too young to have read them. i knew they were fun trash, i needed a fun trash book!! if you can get over the Very Clearly Written In The 2000s writing style, where zoey is a 'not like other girls' girl, it's fun and fast and entertaining. is it very deep and reflective and world changing? no, but i did read it all in one go. as i said tho it is very Written In The 2000s - lots of slut shaming and abelist language etc. which i guess is representative of teenagers in a high school and, u kno, The 2000s, but it's still a bit of a shock when you see it.
anyway, fun fast vampyre (not vampire, dont get it twisted) teenager is Special and Different fiction.
anyway, fun fast vampyre (not vampire, dont get it twisted) teenager is Special and Different fiction.
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, and Stalking