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stephanieluxton'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
4.25
Things I liked:
- The characters were great and felt realistic. We had time to get to know and love them before anything seriously terrible happened to them.
- The magical realism elements were really fun.
- There was a lot of tension! I genuinely didn't know what direction the story was going to go in. There wasn't a dramatic twist or anything, but I didn't predict the ending.
- The villains were scary. I didn't feel very scared when reading this book, but the first encounter the MC has with the villain is very stressful and tense.
- It all felt fairly original.
- We weren't overloaded with exposition. We slowly figured out what was going on as the characters did. I appreciated this!
Things I didn't like:
- As can be expected in a horror novel, theres a few upsetting/disturbing scenes.
- I get a little flustered in books when people have serious injuries and can just carry on like they're not in an absolute world of pain. Again, this seems typical in horror/thriller novels.
Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Self harm, Violence, Stalking, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Police brutality
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Medical content, Car accident, Blood, Cursing, Rape, Misogyny, and Alcohol
Minor: Incest and Cancer
Animal death:ranocchietto's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The book deals with cycles of trauma, growing up and the loss of innocence, and how people close to us make a difference in our lives, it was quite moving at times.
I would say my main problem was with the pacing, it felt unfocused towards the last third, it would have benefited from fewer digressions. I also felt the tone towards the end didn't match the tension the author was probably going for, but it didn't really spoil the experience for me.
Do check the content warnings before reading, it can get a bit heavy. The fatphobic undertones made it quite uncomfortable for me.
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, Gore, Child abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Cancer, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Incest