manonh90's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Spoiler
the chapters in the part were Sam and Sadie drift apart being separated in parts a and b was -brilliant-, for exampleThe design of the book itself was nice too: beautiful cover, and the book lies open beautifully.
Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Death, Death of parent, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, and Violence
prynne31's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Chronic illness, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Violence, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Vomit, Gun violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Abortion, Homophobia, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Drug use, and Cultural appropriation
bookswithchaipai's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book follows the deep relationship between Sadie Green and Sam Masur, as they stumble upon fame and success in the world of Video Game creation.
They possess a bond far stronger than physical affection, one of the meeting of the minds and souls. Although they stay apart most of their lives, due to differences in opinions or misunderstandings, when they come together they remain an invincible winning combination.
Making video games lies at the heart of the novel, and the friendships that build around it are complex. Both Sadie and Sam are difficult characters and it is not easy to like them. I felt they were self-absorbed and narcissistic. True to life, their intense friendship is layered, complex and frustrating and has nothing to do with physical love.
At one point Sam Masur designs an entire interactive game so that he can chat with angry Sadie within the game as an anonymous gaming character. The heights of love! That said, you don’t need to be a gamer to enjoy this book, but if you are a hardcore gamer, you will experience nostalgia spotting the mention of some famous games in the market.
I loved The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, and when this book kept popping up on my feed I had to get my hands on it. It is one of those romances which is not about love but about deep friendship and I loved it to bits!
Graphic: Violence and Mental illness
ana_h's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Death, Suicide, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Violence and Abortion
deetabz's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Injury/injury detail, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Car accident, Death, Violence, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Murder
Moderate: Antisemitism, Body horror, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Ableism, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Classism, Alcohol, Cancer, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Vomit, and Cultural appropriation
literarylion's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Pros:
- Creative storytelling, well-paced; I haven't devoured a book like this for a long time
- Incredible character development -- even minor characters are nuanced and three-dimensional
- Innovative plot and setting -- a perspective we don't often see
Cons:
- There was some pretty blatant borrowing from A Little Life, but I love that book, so!
Graphic: Cursing, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Injury/injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Violence, and Vomit
emilycmarshman's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
maddie7217's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Grief, and Gun violence
Moderate: Car accident, Cancer, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Violence
Minor: Pregnancy and Abortion
hancaavdic's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
that could be the only thing I actually really enjoyed about the story, apart from the writing.
This book is incredibly dense; definitely not as dense as A Little Life, if we’re comparing, but it’s nearly there. There are plenty of passages, paragraphs, phrases/sentences, dialogue, etc that I just did not care for. At all. In fact I think there’s a good chunk that could just be cut out from the book because it truly doesn’t do anything for the book, in the end, in my opinion. Like now that I think of it, I’m just asking myself what was the point? Why did I spend my time reading that? I don’t know. I felt like that a lot throughout the book. The structure and organization is weird because it constantly goes back and forth between the past and present and then at times—very quickly—it’ll jump to a time in the future, and then you’re pulled back in the present. The structure and organization are just weird; I hated the jumps in the past, and so much of it kept interrupting the flow of the story.
The execution of the story is poor. It feels incredibly pretentious and that it was trying to do too much.
Apart from that, one thing that really bothered me about the story is that with the characters, you wouldn’t know what they were exactly feeling or thinking about unless they actually said it themselves through dialogue. And because of that, when the reader reads through their dialogue, the characters seem to fall flat and almost monotonous. The tone of the language lacks emotion, there’s no spark. Nothing. Unless the character says so themselves, AND/OR when the writing in 3rd person POV is focused on their part of the story. And in other parts, it’ll change to 2nd person to put the reader as if they were the actual character. Again, trying to do too much, and in the end doesn’t add much depth to the story.
Also, final note: if you’re not interested in learning all about video games to the core, this book isn’t for you. I wasn’t prepared for that. I didn’t read the summary (I never do anymore with any book) but I don’t think not even that would’ve prepared me for the extensive talk and history about video games there is. Now I just genuinely don’t know what to do with all this information, and at the same time I don’t even know what I read.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Racism, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Drug use
chichisode's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, and Hate crime
Moderate: Car accident, Genocide, Ableism, Cancer, Abortion, Alcohol, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicide, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Vomit, War, and Violence