Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

21 reviews

csandra_10's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

5.0

What a bloody read omg. Set in an exclusive private school of ANA this is a trippy mystery which follows Sade trying to figure out what happened after her roommate dissapears 24 hours in.  

The secrets in this are dark, with trigger warnings at the start definitely necessary to take caution of if they could be upsetting. The untouchable elite always elusive it’s shocking to see how everything may be linked.  Full of death, assaults and drugs it’s horror to the core and each persons secrets is heavier than the last. 

I didn’t see the plot twists coming especially towards the end, but was warned by the slow burn sapphics we get to see grow throughout the book as well as how it addresses just like in ace of spades how minority voices and issues may not always be treated equally and the issues that this can bring besides the blatant racism.  

Overall I loved this, and was happily suprised as I felt ace of spades was overhyped so despite loving the plot description of this I was cautious going in but I am glad that I have Faridah another chance as I will definitely be tuned for her future releases now. 

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ella_ruby's review against another edition

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

3.5

Plot: 4.5/5
Execution: 3/5

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indiasorcha's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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? No

4.5


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bologknees's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Sad but great. Sad it didn’t last forever 

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jmdryden's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • 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? Yes

4.0


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aristaeus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • 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? It's complicated

5.0


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itzbrianna's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

“But the thing about grief was that even one hundred good days were sometimes weighed down by an overwhelming guilt of forgetting.”

Where Sleeping Girls Lie is a riveting mystery that takes place at Alfred Noble Academy (ANA). Sade, the protagonist, joins the academy to start her junior year of high school after being homeschooled. On her first night there she makes friends with her roommate Elizabeth, but it’s short lived once it’s revealed that Elizabeth is missing. 

This novel is a slow burn mystery that takes its time leading up to the climax of the story. Every so often, my own theories of what happened to Elizabeth changed as we learn that ANA has way more secrets than a missing girl. 

Faridah perfectly weaves the process of trauma and grief in the characters journey so much so that I felt it heavily at times while reading. I enjoyed how this book kept me guessing and though the reveal was a bit predictable, the execution made it all worthwhile. 

In terms of character development? Not as strong as I would’ve liked. Naturally we get most of Sade because she’s the protagonist, but the other characters who seemed to be her partners in crime aren’t as fleshed out as I would’ve liked.  

The pacing? It started fast for me and then seemed to slow down a lot around the middle. And then picked up right at the very end. It seemed A LOT could’ve been cut out to make this book a bit shorter to help with the pacing. 

Overall, I enjoyed this and would read again to see if I feel the same way. If you enjoy descriptive storytelling in a dark academic setting, then def read Where Sleeping Girls Lie. 

BUT wtf happened to the dad??!

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shugentobler's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

Another win by Faridah in my opinion! When opening, this book was immediately VIBES. Dark academia, autumn, mean girls. I loved it! 
And who was my favorite? Definitely Persephone. Giving Prudence from CAOS, girl slayed me when she said for Halloween she wouldn't be
going to a party, but watching all the Halloweentown movies
girl after my own heart! 

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lovelikethiswillendintragedy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

Absolutely wonderful :0
I was worried for a bit that a trope that I *despise* (
A male love interest that’s covered in red flags but still ends up with the main character
) would happen, but nope!
The guy is actually a creep, and way worse than what she thought.
I feel kind of bad for being relieved, because the outcome was way worse for the characters that were involved, but I am just so damn tired of the alternative where
the guy is really such a good guy and everything’s fine with him.
 
But enough about that. The characters are wonderful, I thought it was interesting that the iconic popular girl trio wasn’t mean like I was preparing for them to be. They’re actually really sweet and it reminds me a lot of my school!
I loved Baz’s reactions to things, he managed to be the lighthearted “funny character” while still being down to earth and bringing the focus back to Elizabeth when necessary. Absolutely wonderful chaotic good boyo and I love him with my entire heart.
All in all, this book wasn’t what I expected. (Don’t get me wrong, I expected to love it, just not for it to play out the way it did.) The themes the author intended were strong throughout the book, and I read it in like a week, it was so good. 10/10, Baz can steal my soul if he wants, he deserves it

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