tak_everlasting's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
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romance between Kerri and Andy.The story itself was fun, although it was very much a play through of action movie tropes, which was then pointed out in numerous 4th wall breaks. The plot carried the characters, rather than the other way around.
The characters were functional, but their dynamic didn't feel complex enough to have been actual childhood friends. Also Peter, the dead guy, tends to be really slimey toward his supposed friends.
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This is somewhat weakly explained because we learn later that he isn't the real Peter. A twist dampened by the fact that Nate suspected that from the beginning, and never tells the rest of the team that he is seeing their dead 5th member.Overall the writing felt underedited. The conclusion felt unfinished, especially with a lot of the stuff around Peter remaining unclear
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when did he start betraying them? was the "ghost" even part of him, or was it all manifested by the villain?The strongest scene in the book is when they have to explain to their mentor figure that Peter died.
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which is unfortunate, because the mentor also dies and we feel nothing from them- either in the moment, or processing it after. the same goes for learning that their dead childhood friend had his corpse stolen and reanimated, with the express purpose of luring them to the lake and murdering them. is it just me? or should your characters have some complex and messy feelings about that?Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Transphobia
Minor: Abortion and Acephobia/Arophobia
scrambledark's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gore
Moderate: Suicide
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: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship
Minor: Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Kidnapping, Death, Drug abuse, and Suicide
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:
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Important to note: Lindsay Ellis has a great video unpacking this topic, but the twist ending DOES contribute to the harmful stereotype that all trans women are just evil men dressed as women, who dress as women for the express purpose of doing said evil. Of course I don't think that was the author's intention, but in the world we live in, we need to at least acknowledge that these tropes can still find their way into media, however innocent and dormant they seem.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.
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I should have known that the SCOOBY DOO BOOK would have a talking dog.Graphic: Gore, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Lesbophobia
thechocolatefinger'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? Yes
1.75
Peter = Fred (leader)
Kerri = Daphne (popular) + Velma (smart)
Nate = Shaggy (on drugs and vaguely mentally ill)
Tim = Scooby Doo (dog)
Andy was just a tomboy and didn’t reflect any of the characters tbh
The writing style was like half normal speech and then written like a script sometimes. It was inconsistent and annoying. There was some breaking-the-4th-wall metaphors and descriptions which were funny though
Overall it was bad and it was so clearly man writing lesbian relationship
The trans character wasn’t even trans unless it was so transphobic that the writer thinks trans people choose to be trans
it was a
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Ace Ventura filmGraphic: Violence
Moderate: Outing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, and Sexual content
Minor: Bullying and Transphobia
The transphobia wasn’t even to a “real” trans character but they did out her and then misgendered her they were really annoying vibes to the tomboy girl and it was vaguely transphobic/homophobichauntedboi'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: Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Car accident, Confinement, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and Cursing
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug use
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
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talismansSpoiler
the kids to be part of the ritual.Spoiler
Dunia Deboen to be involved, nor was I expecting her to be Damian Deboen.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
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Dunia/Damian spoke at the end. Like he was trying to be old but hip at the same time. No one, not even a 200 year old dude, is gonna talk that cringy and weird.One last thing. I'm confused about the ending. I get that Tim is Sean's great-grandson. Fine. Makes sense. But
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the spirit inhabiting Tim says he's been possessing all the dogs and that it got easier when Kerri was at college? And then the spirit makes Tim smile "bittersweetly" and says "It's all been done before." Bro wtf does that mean.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, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Blood, Drug use, Murder, and Suicide
Minor: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Transphobia
itsheyfay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Medical content, and Cursing
Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, Transphobia, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Suicide, and Misogyny
Minor: Racism and Kidnapping
gentlellama's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, and Violence
kalzeb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Cursing
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Death
Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Colonisation, Drug use, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury