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kimberlyswalters'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Torture
Moderate: Alcohol, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, and Vomit
Minor: Car accident and Excrement
victoriarose12's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Torture, and Suicide
Moderate: Child death and Child abuse
breakingbridgesastheyburn'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Child abuse and Animal death
tbd24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I have a difficult time rating this because i feel like, technically, in some ways, it was a pretty good book. The writing was lush and evocative, and sense of horror well maintained and accentuated with moments of humor or banality or otherwise. However, I feel like the book had a lot of problems with realistic character choices. Tyler and Jaden are the only two people who feel like fully realized characters who have motive and personality and make wise and unwise choices. Every other named character makes choices that are convenient to the plot and every unnamed background character (the citizens of black springs, who seem to number in the thousands??) are just a faceless mass of mob mentality. I feel like the author spent little time convincing me that thousands of people would make the irrational choices they did, and more time moralizing that humanity is stupid and hopeless and violent. I am already biased against this opinion so i guess take this with a grain of salt. The last 25% of the book is just hitting you over the head with “people are stupid and violent and humanity sucks”, down to steve’s final decision to
Beyond this, the main problem I had throughout the whole book was the authors blatant sexism. The only woman in this book with anything like power or agency was the literal witch, who’s literally wrapped in chains with her mouth and eyes sewn shut. Every description of a woman fell neatly into category of “ugly old hag”, “mom”, or “sexual object with no personality”. Not even any bitches! Sometimes women would cross contaminate, and be an ugly old hag who was at least worth it for the tits, or a mom who still put out every night for her husband. Even in moments when it made absolutely no sense, the author found a way to get a woman naked (ie;
Anyway yeah I think that’s it. Some very stunning moments of evocative writing. Some equally stunning moments of sexism, nihilism, and general senseless violence. Not really my thing
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child death, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Gore, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Excrement, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Violence
postmortem's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol
kt2e56's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I definitely recommend this one but agree with others about the bizarre fixation on nipples.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
marina_michelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Body horror, Car accident, and Sexism
planetofblank's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
dragana1497's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Animal death, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
entityj'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
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Vomit, Islamophobia, and Alcohol