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amoonymess'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
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Outing, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
iam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Sports plots aren't usually something that draws me, but the team dynamics, and the sports obsession as a background and driving motivation for the characters worked out very well.
For anyone interested in this, please check out content warnings first. The first book is already intense but starts comparatively tame. Going to include content warnings for all books in the series for this one.
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Hate crime, and Car accident
dmcki'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria
Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Self harm, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Abandonment, and Classism
adrienanthony's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
My list applies for the entire series. Absolutely not for the faint of heart, take care of yourself. If literally any of this bothers you, do NOT read this or any other book in the series, I am so serious.amelierawr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
(in the following I will mention drug abuse and sexual assault)
This was garbage, yet I still enjoyed the read. It has so many problems that I don't know were to start. The plot is alright overall, your typical dark fanfiction shit, but it was intriguing enough to keep me reading.
It's fast paced and has a lot of issues plot wise, but I can look past that. What bothered me the most and caused actual problems were the damn characters. I think i never felt so much hatred towards a whole cast.
I went into the book knowing the trigger warnings so it luckily didn't catch me off guard, yet I think Im allowed to take issue on how such triggering topics got handled. It was bad- like really really bad.
The main cast is a sports team put together by the coach, who gives people that went through a lot in their life another chance. They all have some issues, but that doesn't excuse their behaviour in any way.
My main problem lies with the 3 cousins. In one scene they force feed the mc drugs and held him down when he tried to flee, one even sexually assaulted him later on, yet they never really face any consequences. The coach does scream at them, as they've done something similar to another player too. But they don't face any risk of being thrown out the team at all.
I get that coach tries to give everyone second, third or even fourth chances, knowing they wouldn't get them elsewhere, but that's just ignorant and hurts to see. It never get's really addressed in the book of how disturbing that was, even the mc "brushes it off" a few days later.
Im just disappointed. The only bearable characters were Matt and Dan, kudos to them for having mental heath issues but still knowing how to treat others like human beings. /s
Putting your characters through the most traumatic shit imaginable doesn't equal good writing/dark fiction.
The "romance" was a complete disaster, because it's based on exactly those unresolved issues. If the author had more interest in actually establishing the characters and not focus on how corny and dark they can go, I think this would have been much much better.
I don't have a problem with reading about toxic relationships in general, but at least make it understandable why it is the way it is, like how they cannot break up even when the relationships hurts one of them/ both in the end.
++positive thing was the great dynamics the characters had, even when most of the dialogue was insulting I genuinely laughed at some of those interactions.
torn between either giving a 1/5 or 4/5, which is why I will let it stay unrated
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism and Homophobia
Minor: Misogyny
emilymarbeck'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
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
jjnich's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, and Alcohol
valiiidus'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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
bigpenis'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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
illgiveyouahint'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
4.0
I really love Neil as a character. I like that despite being so careful and running on survival for so long, there's this thread of oh he wants people to care for him and wants to have somewhere to call home and wants to have friends and just wants to stop running and have a life. And it's not too pronounced since his issues are too big (especially at the start of it) to allow too much of it, but it's there.
I really enjoy Wymack and Neil's relationship. I mean Wymack is fun with all the Foxes 'cause he's just the tired older fatherly figure to them, but he's just so goddamn tired of Neil's whole thing. Like you can tell that at any given moment he just wants to scream at the kid "Let me love you and care for you and give you home and safety, you goddamn idiot!"
Also the slowburn of Andrew and Neil is also fun of course. Like you don't realise it on the first read but it's so clear on the second read how much Neil is focused on Andrew. And not just because Andrew causes him most trouble in the first part of the book, but he's already so attuned to Andrew.
The Neil and Kevin relationship is an interesting one. Kevin being so determined to make Neil into a champion but having only the Raven's way of leadership to go on, Neil on one hand wanting it so bad but on the other hand knowing it can never be.
Oh, and I'm also taking note of the Kevin & Andrew relationship that is fascinating in a different way. Kevin knows where to push Neil but he knows he can't move Andrew unless he gives him good enough incentive.
Point is there's a lot of good dynamics to look at.
With all of that being said, there's some issues I am gonna continue being uncomfortable with. The villains of the books being Japanese is just :// Nicky's 'I'm gonna flirt with any boy within vicinity" also bothers me a lot 'cause it's such a stereotype. I'm not sure about how the portrayal of Andrew's psychological problems and the effect of his medication is making me feel.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide, Vomit, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Murder, and Outing