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djmysteryflavor's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Dementia, and Classism
thissagreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
The main character Jay is really stuck in delusion and I think it’s what made the book a very frustrating read at times. All of his friends knew not to trust the wealthy, white owned establishment and it takes (what feels like) a very long time for Jay to finally understand all the evil that was truly happening to the townspeople.
When the end of the world starts happening, Jay and the middle class/working class people in town are essentially left no choice but to stay and become indentured servants/slaves to the rich, investors of the town. The town was originally a theme park that’s akin to a huge Disneyland/world, and it prepped itself to be completely self-sustaining. When the town goes on lockdown to shield them from the end of the world turmoil outside of the confines of the amusement park/community, things turn dark and bleak pretty immediately for the working townspeople. But of course those who found out the plan beforehand and resisted, “disappeared” and those who disobeyed the (rude) newly moved-in wealthy residents, were zapped on their required to wear bracelets, with electricity voltages that could “accidentally” kill someone if the button was pressed for too long. The reader can see all the bad starting to happen before the lockdown like the food rations and creepy drones, on top of the missing residents. But Jay doesn’t stop supporting the establishment -for housing his family and giving them good jobs- until he gets zapped nearly to death. Unfortunately Jay finds out the hard way that classism and power can be incredibly dangerous, but we follow his journey and root for him and the resistance/revolution.
This was a solid dystopian story with a lot of realism that really worked with the plot. I was engaged for majority of the story, but I do have to warn the readers that Jay can be very much of an “Uncle Tom”, dancing for the man, for at least a quarter of the book. It almost made me DNF the book because he was defending the wealthy so much, but rest assured, he finally opened his eyes and saw even terrible things to change his opinion and fight for what was right.
This was a solid dystopian story with a lot of realism that really worked with the plot. I was engaged for majority of the story, but I do have to warn the readers that Jay can be very much of an “Uncle Tom”, dancing for the man, for at least a quarter of the book. It almost made me DNF the book because he was defending the wealthy so much, but rest assured, he finally opened his eyes and saw even terrible things to change his opinion and fight for what was right.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Classism
Moderate: Murder, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Terminal illness
Minor: Racism
ecallahan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Racism, Classism, and Torture
narbine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Abandonment, Classism, Murder, Violence, War, and Dementia
Moderate: Confinement, Blood, and Emotional abuse
meh_need_food's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book was a roller coaster. The start was somewhat slow, then shit happened. That's when it really kicked off. Throughout the whole thing, I just needed to know what was gonna happen next after the climax of the book and the plot twists. Bro. Barnabus is an actual piece of shit. Hate that man sooo much
It was twist after twist soon after. These twists were somewhat predictable but I was pretty oblivious to them.
Not sure what else to say except if you enjoy a dystopian novel that's set in a similar place to Disneyland and where stuff always seems to be going wrong in the build up to end, then just read it aha.
It was twist after twist soon after. These twists were somewhat predictable but I was pretty oblivious to them.
Not sure what else to say except if you enjoy a dystopian novel that's set in a similar place to Disneyland and where stuff always seems to be going wrong in the build up to end, then just read it aha.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Racism, and Death of parent
venusdapoopiehead's review
as much as i wanna finish this and continue reading, i just cant. the beginning of the book is super boring, uninteresting, and slow. even though after the first hundred pages things get kinda interesting, it’s still just not that interesting to me personally and i’m still quite bored and waiting for something a little more exciting to happen. it’s taken me nearly a year to read this book, the fact that it’s taken me so long just proves that it’s not really something that peaks my interest. the concept is interesting and i get what the author’s trying to go for, but for me personally if a book isn’t exciting from the jump, OR if we’re introduced to the characters and the setting and neither are intriguing, then i’m not gonna enjoy it that much. also, i truly don’t care about any of the characters, none of them are relatable and i feel absolutely zero connection to them, which is huge for me because i need to be emotionally invested in the characters or for the characters to atleast be somewhat interesting, i don’t even gotta LIKE the character but there needs to be something about them, good or bad, to make me wanna keep reading and see how they develop or change, if they do so at all. overall, i’m sure this book is great, but i’m not gonna force myself to keep reading a book that just isn’t for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
mlthomas234's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Body horror, Murder, Racism, Torture, and Death
missmiya's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Car accident and Dementia
danaslitlist's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
3.5
This was so much more intense than I expected and it was a pleasant surprise. The writing is a big young for me even for it being a YA book and some of the plot felt a little overly convenient, but overall this was a really entertaining time!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Torture, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Confinement, Suicide, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Death
Minor: Cannibalism
blackgirlbujos's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: War
Minor: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Animal death, and Racism