Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Blackwater

I'm unsure how to review this.

I only picked this up because I saw : two guys that I thought could be lovers, one of them nerdy, the other a poc. And my poc gay ass thought "perfect!!!" so I knew absolutely nothing else about this book. I didn't go in looking for good rep or anything so luckily, I wasn't disappointed like the reviewers I've seen.

I can't speak to the autoimmune rep, as I am not and I would recommend reading reviews from those who are.

Aside from that, I enjoyed the story. I liked the whole two troubled guys falling in love because they're both kind of idiots. I was very pleasantly surprised to see Eli was trans since I hadn't known that going in. [unlike some reviews, i found this to be quite endearing, as i enjoy when characters are just trans for the sake of being trans.]

I did not like Biff or Marcia; and I honestly just really, really hate how Biff was handled. The ending was rushed. It's discouraging that Eli really got the short end of the stick even at the ending.

[like tony gets a mini dad moment but eli can't have his mini mom moment??? why????]

All in all, it was good. Just don't go looking for good rep.

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werepsyche's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.75

i feel like the ending was rushed quite a bit. there were a lot of different questions that could have been answered but just wasn't. it was a bit disappointing, but i did enjoy the book. i love the cast of characters and the use of ghosts and lycanthropy (big fan of werewolves. can you tell? love a novel about werewolves that isn't some weird hetero romance story). i'll probably draw fanart or something. auugh, SOOO WISH the story was more fleshed out. there felt like there were a lot of holes :-(

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pey333's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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bookenbee's review against another edition

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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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booksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition

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mysterious 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

3.5

Thank you to net galley and Macmillan children publishing group for this arc in exchange for an honest review:

3.5 stars

Tony is the track star everyone loves and adores, Eli is the kid with a chronic illness who no one knows or cares to know about. He is always missing school because of the pain. Through unlikely circumstances the Eli reaches out an olive branch to Tony and the two become friends. But there is a something curious about Eli, and something even more mysterious going on in their small town of Blackwater.

I'm not sure I was able to see all of the graphic novel. From what I did read I really enjoyed the story of Tony and Eli. Tony being the tough track star, but really deep down is a nice guy is always one of my favorite characters. I also really liked how asthma was depicted in the graphic novel. Eli was also another great character. Myself growing up with a chronic illness I missed school a lot, lost friends left and right. so relating to him was very easy. And he is jewish!! The rep in the graphic novel was awesome to see. There was ableism and bullying, but you do see Tony working away from it during the novels progression.

Cw
Bullying
Ableism
chronic illness
animal death
emotional abuse
homophobia

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asipofcozy's review

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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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