Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo, Ren Graham

20 reviews

pam_'s review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I enjoyed the artwork in this graphic novel. The plot left a lot to be desired. Several of the relationships between the characters felt forced. Major plot points were rushed. Several characters felt one-dimensional.

Also, some of the plot lines were pretty ludicrous. This story STARTS with someone in a wheelchair being pushed into a lake (by a bully). Their friend watches this happen and does NOTHING to try to stop the bully. The person who was pushed into a lake then STEALS that same friend’s inhaler causing him to have an asthma attack and be rushed to hospital. Despite this, these two friends FALL IN LOVE by the end of the book. Like what???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Gun violence

soulingual's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Animal death

Moderate: Gun violence and Violence

Minor: Transphobia

o__o's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked it I just don’t think it was really my style. Good for people who like the monster side of the supernatural.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Medical content, Bullying, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Animal death

clarabooksit's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Ableism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Medical content

kalira's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Medical content

There's a fairly closely-detailed scene where

Tony's teeth fall out, into his hand and through his fingers, in the process of his growing werewolf fangs

.

sydneyj's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Ableism, and Bullying

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

bookenbee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

I loved this! The end felt rushed, but it was overall a well paced story and great characters. Tony and Eli are so sweet together. If there was a sequel to this to answer some questions/give us more background on the characters it would be even better!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

readthesparrow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

I am not much of a YA or graphic novel reader. I'm just not the target demographic for YA and high school is typically not a super interesting setting for me, and graphic novels typically are paced in a way I do not really enjoy. Blackwater, however, did everything right for me.

The characters are wonderful. Their designs are not terribly complex but they are super fun on the page--I love Tony's pomp and little fangs especially. Every character, while obviously inspired by or referencing certain high school stereotypes, is given depth and nuance (including the bully). The excellent characterization and focus on character relationships is what really carries this title for me, I think; the plot itself is fine, but it's certainly not the star of the show. In this case, I think that's a good thing--a simpler, easy to follow (but still interesting) plot using familiar supernatural creatures whose lore broadly follows about what the reader is familiar with allows for more focus to be given to the characters.

Connected to the writing is the pacing. Again, normally pacing in graphic novels isn't my thing; it either feels rushed or over too soon. Blackwater, however, felt very well-paced. The story in this volume wrapped up on a satisfactory note, leaving me feeling like I had gotten a fully developed and well-executed story while still leaving possible openings for more to follow.

I look forward to more of Blackwater. The authors did a fantastic job and I would love to see where the character's story goes next. I would really advise anyone who is interested in queer YA to pick it up, even if they're not interested in horror (As the horror is present in elements but the goal of the story certainly isn't to horrify).

This graphic novel firmly lands itself in the catergory of "god, I wish I had this in high school." I'm glad it's here now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Bullying

Moderate: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Medical content, Violence, and Body horror

bookishpriest's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Gun violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcohol

asipofcozy's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Blackwater is a spooky contemporary-paranormal story that follows the story of two young teenagers just trying to find their place in the world. Eli a chronically ill boy who is wanting to live a normal life, and Tony who just wants his parents to be there for once. Of course, thrown in some spirits, a werewolf prancing around the forest, and teenage angst...and there you have Blackwater in a nutshell!

I believe my favorite part of this graphic novel was the art style. I was impressed with the spooky vibes it was giving off and I definitely felt like I was put in a twilight zone/ stranger things situation. Also, is it just me or does Tony look like Fonzie from Happy Days. Lol, was I the only one growing up watching older shows! 

As for the story itself. The premise of the novel was intriguing to me. I loved the idea of seeing ghosts and having werewolves run around. However, I felt like the plot and backstory were falling flat for me. Especially when the plot raced ahead and didn't pause to give us any context on the situation. There was a missing context that would have been nice to know, some back history to this town that seems to have a lot of supernature creatures living in it. 

Also, having a background on the characters would have been nice as well. It would have helped slow the plot a bit and given us more history on the characters. I felt like I was missing something when Tony talked about his mom and was thrown through a loop of Eli being from Germany. 

However, I do recommend this graphic novel to anyone that wants those spookyish vibes and a quick read when you are in a reading slump!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Animal death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death