sennaje's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Grief, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Homophobia
peppermintprose's review against another edition
- 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
After a few chapters I started to get a better feel for their individual personalities and could enjoy the slow-burn of their kinda enemies to friends to lovers relationship.
I really felt like I was going on a journey with Andrew and Jamie, exploring the world they were living in and their quest to get to some place better. It was wholesome and nice to read a dystopian post-apocalyptic novel with some lgbtqia+ rep.
The only complaint I have is about the world building. It felt like it heavily leaned on the experiences of the past few years with COVID and the reader had to create a lot of the backstory based on those experiences. That held things together when I read it now in 2022 but I don't know how that's going to hold up in the future when things may change (hopefully) and fear of a pandemic isn't fresh in the readers minds.
But for right now in 2022, I enjoyed this book.
Graphic: Death, Injury/injury detail, Blood, Violence, Grief, and Gun violence
Moderate: Stalking
redheadorganist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Child death, Grief, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia
ishouldreadthat's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia, Gun violence, and Injury/injury detail
chris_reads'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
4.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Blood, Confinement, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Homophobia, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Upset that this wasnt never ending
Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, Death, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Blood, Terminal illness, and Violence
ramalam98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
For once the pop culture references didn’t annoy me! It actually felt pretty realistic for teenage boys to use them as a coping mechanism in this setting.
This was tense yet so heartwarming and now I’m feeling gay and emotional. It had some really good messages about hope, good people, shitty governments in pandemics, and love.
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, and Medical content
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/injury detail, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Vomit, and Gore
Minor: Suicide
davidbythebay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I was kept guessing from page 1 about what was going to happen next. Some things did happen as I hoped/predicted, even if not in the way I originally thought. Other things came out of nowhere. No matter what, it was intense in all the best ways. I legitimately YELLED at the book at one point - no spoilers! - and pleaded with the author as though I was Annie Wilkes in Misery. Had things not gone to my satisfaction, I don't know if I wouldn't have gone full Wilkes. Thankfully, things worked out better than I could have hoped.
The pacing of the book made me hesitant a good amount of the time. It flew by to the point where what I thought the ending was going to be would have occurred only 50% of the way through the book. Yup. I was convinced that the story arch was one particular thing and that it was being resolved at 50%. I was pleased to see that there was some legs to the second half of the book - and I do mean a nice set of legs. It was almost like this was two books combined into one in that there were almost two different plots that were seamlessly and masterfully stitched together. Brown's book doesn't feel like two books smashed together. At the 50% mark I started wondering where we were going to go next. The second half naturally came out of the first half and transitioned smoothly.
Brown skillfully maintained the tension and begged the reader to turn the page. There was not a stray word nor a stray moment in this piece. I have to say, this was a masterful M-M Romance. Hope and the discovery of what love and what makes a home is the center of this novel. I have discovered a new book that I have fallen in love with. I hope that this author, whom I now adore immensely, will write again in the future. Whether it be in this universe or another, I want to see more from Erik J. Brown!
WARNINGS: Be of the mindset that you can handle discussions of a deadly super flu, detailed descriptions of illness and deaths, violence, some gore, death of family and loved ones, homophobia, and medical discussions.
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Terminal illness, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Bullying, and Violence
Minor: Suicide
captainoliimar'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
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Classism, Blood, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Body horror, Injury/injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Animal death, Gore, Medical content, Homophobia, Suicide, and Hate crime
Moderate: Racism, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Kidnapping, Bullying, Torture, Outing, Misogyny, Ableism, Vomit, Stalking, and Police brutality
kynthebookworm'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Injury/injury detail, and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Vomit