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tetedump's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Racism
allergy reactionelyssarenae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Otherwise, an intriguing premise and good writing! I give the first three sections a 4/5⭐️ and the last section a 1.5/5⭐️ for a 3.5/5⭐️ overall.
Graphic: Car accident and Death of parent
Moderate: Physical abuse, Cancer, Suicide, and Animal death
Minor: Self harm
sknappy1's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Transphobia, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Chronic illness, Cancer, Classism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Animal death and Vomit
gattolinos_nerdy_nook'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? It's complicated
3.0
Though out this book I was waiting for something more engaging for me to happen. Characters came and then left so quickly that you don't have time to feel attached to them. This makes it hard later in the book to even care about the characters because they won't be relevant in two chapters time (an exaggeration of time but they did come and go quickly). I found that I had no real connection to the story as Kalki was not a very interesting character despite his circumstance.
So for this book I thought it was interesting at times, hence the 3 stars and that fact that I didn't DNF it, though by the end it does leave for more to be desired as the ending felt very unsatisfying to me.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Transphobia and Animal death
littlekinggone'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
4.5
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, and Religious bigotry
miki_fourinterests's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Infertility, Grief, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, and Animal death
spinesinaline'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
4.5
This was very, very good and I loved how the story just so slightly shifted and revealed where we were headed as we got further in. Even the subtle aspects of the book, like what each section title ultimately represents, are so important to the story and our ultimate understanding of it and I loved these little nods that we discover throughout! So many of my thoughts are related to the latter half of the book so I’ll refrain from sharing too much to avoid spoilers but if anyone’s read it and wants to chat, let me know!
I was definitely not prepared for the twist, though of course we have hints of ‘what the heck is going on’, but the power of this writing comes not only from the author’s surprise in this twist but the implications of what these new discoveries will mean for Kalki’s sense of the world. Ultimately the book moves from a curious and fantastical story of a child god, to exploring more worldly concepts with Kalki as our eyes and ears.
The book is told almost primarily chronologically but there are a few moments within chapters where we’re suddenly in the present day with Kalki as he reflects back on his story. While I do like having this additional context of his current knowledge and hints of where he ends up, the present day moments were so infrequently mixed in, and usually within a flashback chapter, that it felt an odd change of the flow of the story.
The ending is where I have more issues, which of course I’ll keep vague to avoid spoilers. I was prepared to leave the book with many unanswered questions, which felt very realistic in how people’s lives progress, but the ending then hints that there are even more hideous secrets being kept. Except that after all these hints, we just get more of the same so the scene felt rather pointless, and then the book ended very abruptly.
This is still a book I’ll be thinking about long after I’ve put it down but I wish it could’ve embraced being open-ended more. I also really appreciated that the author ends with a land acknowledgment and includes many recommendations on Indigenous authors to check out.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, Car accident, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Vomit