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disnelyse'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: Death, Mental illness, and Violence
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Transphobia
courtwj's review against another edition
3.25
Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
matcha_cat's review against another edition
- 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? No
2.0
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
readerfromtheblacklagoon'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
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
preciouslittleingenue'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
4.5
It's totally not something I'd pick up on my own. The presence of tentacles on the front cover, making it a "monster book" would have immediately put me off it if it wasn't a rec from a friend. And let me tell you, I am so glad they did recommend it.
The start is STRONG and throws you right into it without mincing words. It's almost like you've been thrown a pile of newspaper clippings and have to piece it together as the narrative unfolds and then watch it all fall into place. Loved that. At first this stylistic choice made me feel very removed from the characters, but this didn't last long at all. I was DOWN BAD for Kerri and Andy. Right from the beginning where Andy has that incredible passage personifying Kerri's hair...I knew I would go down with this ship. I, myself, have been head over heels for far too many curly redheaded femmes. Nate was not *unloveable*, but he just didn't shine like the girls did. But that's okay. It's about time the sapphics outshone the men in a novel, especially one written by a man!
The mystery had me guessing! And I wasn't right at first! It definitely ended up being more whacky and goofy than anticipated, but when the book is a direct reference to Scooby Doo and there's a literal Zoinx river...I didn't care too much haha.
So many of Andy's one-liners had me rolling on the floor. I bookmarked them in the audiobook but it returned. Will add later. The group banter was excellent. The METAPHORS had me laughing. The way he described a thought being stopped from coming out of Andy's mouth like a person being stopped by a burly bouncer...WHO COMES UP WITH THAT! It's brilliant and so funny.
The hurt/comfort bed sharing scene???? I WAS ON MY KNEES!
Thoughts on certain aspect of twist ending:
Other than that! The twists were GREAT. Only saw them coming like a page ahead of when they actually came. And the VERY LAST ONE AT THE END. I WAS GIGGLING LIKE CRAZY. WHAT A WAY TO END.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Lesbophobia
brichneyfloss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Murder
ilaxaria's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, and Transphobia
dfrancis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Transphobia and Alcohol
hauntedboi'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
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Panic attacks/disorders
ash_ton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
First, though, no matter how much I complain, I did like the book. I like the concept of the
These are things I know others have talked about, so I'm just going to be another voice agreeing with them. The random insertion of the script format throughout the book wa sso jarring and unecessary. It did nothing for the storyline. If all the dialogue would have been in script format, sure. But that would've sucked and I would have hated it lol. In the same vein, I hated the amount of ridiculous "big" words added that seemingly were only there to beef up the sentences. Also, the made up words as well. Myriaphonic, as far as I can tell from googling, is not a real word. After some clicks, I found out a miraphone is a type of tuba, so maybe that's what he was going for? But like, bud. Pick something else.
The one random 4th wall break 75% into the book was also super jarring and unnecessary to me. If you're going to break the 4th wall, only doing it once isn't gonna cut it. Is the book self-aware or not?
My one last small gripe is how
One last thing. I'm confused about the ending. I get that Tim is Sean's great-grandson. Fine. Makes sense. But
Bottom line: I liked the book/story, I just mostly hated some of the writing style. Usually, I can get over that and in this case I did. I'd still recommend it, especially if you like Scooby Doo and/or retellings.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia