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raeerdna's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
I was expecting so much from this book and maybe that was my biggest mistake. I heard it has a big twist and maybe because of that I could tell the ending from page 65, so that pretty much ruined the rest of the book for me but I tried to enjoy it as must as I could and just pretend like I didn't know what would happen. I liked the writing but sometimes felt like it was boring or repetitive.
Anyways, I found myself in this book a lot, again.. so it was nice to see my thoughts written, even tho it felt gut wrenching.
Another good story of why we shouldn't play God.
Anyways, I found myself in this book a lot, again.. so it was nice to see my thoughts written, even tho it felt gut wrenching.
Another good story of why we shouldn't play God.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Minor: Animal death
ludmireads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I hated the main character, she was whiny and as some other character said, she just wanted everyone to pity her, she was also really, really, really annoying. She was just a rich privileged girl who didn’t realise she was privileged.
The side characters (or the Liars) were all bland and without a personality and didn’t add anything to the story really. I had exactly zero emotional attachment to those characters.
The story itself wasn’t bad, I certainly wasn’t expecting the plot twist at the end (wow, still recovering from that) but it would be much better if the main character wasn’t as annoying and the characters were more complex in general.
The pacing was great - it’s one of the books you could finish in one sitting.
The side characters (or the Liars) were all bland and without a personality and didn’t add anything to the story really. I had exactly zero emotional attachment to those characters.
The story itself wasn’t bad, I certainly wasn’t expecting the plot twist at the end (wow, still recovering from that) but it would be much better if the main character wasn’t as annoying and the characters were more complex in general.
The pacing was great - it’s one of the books you could finish in one sitting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, and Suicidal thoughts
markitherainbowreader's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I kind of like the writing. I love the short chapters. I feel like the beginning was strong and the stakes of Mystery were set high. The ending does have this sort of shock value but it still feels like a puzzle piece that doesn't quite fit with the rest.
I feel like there's very little plot besides the Mystery. Which means there's quite a few empty spots that are just...boring. Although the vibe of a place and time kind of covered in brainfog does fit the narrative, it's not enough to truly draw you in. The reimagined fairytales and dramatic analogies of Cadence's pain weren't terrific, but it was a nice shift from the bland narrative going through most of the book.
I feel like there's very little plot besides the Mystery. Which means there's quite a few empty spots that are just...boring. Although the vibe of a place and time kind of covered in brainfog does fit the narrative, it's not enough to truly draw you in. The reimagined fairytales and dramatic analogies of Cadence's pain weren't terrific, but it was a nice shift from the bland narrative going through most of the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape
itsjusterika's review against another edition
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I didn't expect the plot twist.
why did she call her mum Mummy it was so weird.
why did she call her mum Mummy it was so weird.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Chronic illness, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Classism, and Racism
Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Addiction
serotonone's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical trauma, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Death
Moderate: Racism and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racial slurs
abbyycadabbyy's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
1.0
I don't really know to begin with this book. I don't regret reading this book. I wanted to see what the hype was about surrounding this book, and now I can give my opinion about it.
The writing style made this book super hard for me to read. It was choppy. A lot of sentences were spilt into two different sentences, like they were incomplete thoughts. (For example: Gat and I. Rode on the boat) For me it was hard to understand what was going on. For the first like 50 pages, I couldn't even comprehend what I was reading.
For a little context so you understand, cady has 2 cousins her age, Johnny and Mirren. Johnny has a best friend named Gat. Thay all go to an Island their grandpa owns every summer. Also, this book is split up into parts. Just so you can get an idea this is how long each part was. Part one is pages 1-44. Part two is pages 47-64. Part three is pages 67-164. Part four is pages 167-219. Part five is pages 223-250.
So, I felt parts 1-3 were a little confusing. You go through each summer with Cady until you get to summer 15, Cady's accident. Then it gets pretty confusing after that. Cady doesn't remember what happened on summer 15. She doesn't go to the Island until summer 17. All the time in between summer 15 and 17 were jumpy and I didn't really understand what was going on.
Part 4 and 5 talk about the accident. What happened and how it happened. I think these Parts saved the book, if there wasn't those Parts the book would have been a one star for me.
There is only 250 pages and if a book takes 170 pages to even just get interesting, I would say that it isn't a good book. I read a few different reviews saying like part 5 gets super good. But I feel like yes part 5 is good, but it defiantly doesn't redeem the whole book.
The writing style made this book super hard for me to read. It was choppy. A lot of sentences were spilt into two different sentences, like they were incomplete thoughts. (For example: Gat and I. Rode on the boat) For me it was hard to understand what was going on. For the first like 50 pages, I couldn't even comprehend what I was reading.
For a little context so you understand, cady has 2 cousins her age, Johnny and Mirren. Johnny has a best friend named Gat. Thay all go to an Island their grandpa owns every summer. Also, this book is split up into parts. Just so you can get an idea this is how long each part was. Part one is pages 1-44. Part two is pages 47-64. Part three is pages 67-164. Part four is pages 167-219. Part five is pages 223-250.
So, I felt parts 1-3 were a little confusing. You go through each summer with Cady until you get to summer 15, Cady's accident. Then it gets pretty confusing after that. Cady doesn't remember what happened on summer 15. She doesn't go to the Island until summer 17. All the time in between summer 15 and 17 were jumpy and I didn't really understand what was going on.
Part 4 and 5 talk about the accident. What happened and how it happened. I think these Parts saved the book, if there wasn't those Parts the book would have been a one star for me.
There is only 250 pages and if a book takes 170 pages to even just get interesting, I would say that it isn't a good book. I read a few different reviews saying like part 5 gets super good. But I feel like yes part 5 is good, but it defiantly doesn't redeem the whole book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Animal death and Racism
Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts
fabycamurugy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, and Dysphoria
katherinek's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This absolutely tore me into pieces. It was so beautifully written and I didn’t expect the ending at all. The characters felt so real. Some of the metaphors confused me, though, which took away some of the shock factor for the first plot twist for me because I found myself going back trying to figure out if it was real or not. The middle also slows down just a bit, but after the ending I realized why so many of the seemingly unimportant details in the middle were actually so important. This is one I would totally go back and reread to try and find all the clues I missed— How they never went to dinner, they didn’t want Cady to jump off the rocks, the kids seeing ghosts, none of them receiving her gifts or responding to Cady’s emails, Aunt Carrie walking around at night, the lie about the donut shop, why Grandad kept calling her Mirren, etc etc. I don’t think a book has ever made me cry as hard as this one did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Dementia, Drug use, Alcohol, Racism, Death of parent, Classism, and Medical content
Minor: Cancer and Suicidal thoughts
krystaltyong's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Racism, Dementia, and Toxic relationship
mattiedancer's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Writing: 5⭐️/5
Hmm. How to discuss this without spoiling it or ruining the fun of reading it? I think, very plainly, I’ll say it’s some of the most technically controlled and interesting writing I’ve read in a YA novel.
Characters: 4.75⭐️/5
Again, I’m going minimal with this review. Don’t expect anything, but do understand that the characters will jump off the page.
Plot: 4.5⭐️/5
No way to talk about this one. Take the mark as it is, but go in expecting nothing.
Post-Reading Rating: 5⭐️/5
Stunning.
Who Should Read This?
- Fiction fans
- Fans of gossip girl vibes, but looking for more serious themes
- Someone looking for a well-balanced book with virtuosic writing control, well-developed characters, and an interesting plot
Final Rating: 4.75⭐️/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Chronic illness, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship