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dmrains's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Body shaming, and Death of parent
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Bullying, Animal death, Ableism, Classism, Death, Deportation, Dysphoria, Grief, Mental illness, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Racism, Torture, and Car accident
My students were really upset thatcomefromaway's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Really interesting concept that took a minute to get into but once I was there I flew through this.
Only thing I didn’t love is that I there isn’t an ‘end’, it just seems to flow straight into the next book.
Graphic: Body shaming
Moderate: Dysphoria
Minor: Eating disorder
daisdu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Death, Medical content, and Death of parent
schrammanda's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Body shaming and Dysphoria
Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Dysphoria, Classism, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Medical content, and Animal death
agatha_hopkins's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Blood
helhas3letters'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? Yes
3.25
WARNING: this book ends with a cliffhanger!
I enjoyed this book and raced through it as it was easy to read. The plot is interesting - especially Westerfeld's futuristic ideas - and moves quickly, so plot points get their payoffs in a satisfactory way.
The characters were a little clichéd in the typical YA way. The main character was not likeable, but as a reader you can forgive it because she's admittedly been brainwashed her whole life, and she grows as the story goes on. However, I felt that towards the end of the novel, the main character's instincts about an event revealed them to be incredibly self-involved, regardless of the brainwashing. (I'm talking about
Yes, unfortunately there is a
I do wish that the author had delved more into the racial aspect of the eugenicist regime. It is frequently stated that, after the operation, people's eyes become bigger, their noses become smaller, and their lips more full. Wouldn't it be interesting for Tally to learn about the implications of this? Especially from a futuristic perspective. There is also a brief mention of the fact that people's skin tones get evened out, and even a moment where she thinks about how weird it was that people used to kill each other over their skin colour. I'd have just liked this to be explored a bit more. What if Tally starts to learn about her family's lineage, and discovers that she is of a certain heritage, the defining characteristics of which have been wiped out by the operation?
My biggest critique, however, is that I found it very hard to follow Westerfeld's descriptions of space, direction, and travel. I felt that, when characters' physical journeys were described (which was often), the author could have been more detailed and clear. Unfortunately, it became increasingly difficult to orientate the characters in my mind and I ended up giving up on trying to do so, ignoring the geographical comments, and just enjoying the action instead. (Neueodivergent problem?)
I'll probably be reading the sequel, because I'm interested to see where the story goes.
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma
Moderate: Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Death of parent, and Body shaming
Minor: Confinement, Death, Police brutality, War, Classism, Animal death, Colonisation, Grief, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
sallytumbler13's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, Classism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Medical content, Police brutality, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Violence
dayniw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Police brutality, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Animal death
madmantha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The love triangle still feels a bit forced; I’d love for them to take it in a queer or poly direction in the new series adaption.
I got heavy “gal pals” energy between Tally and Shay in this reading; which isn’t something I remember noticing or feeling when I read this years ago.
This is still one of my favorite books and I’m very much looking forward to continuing to share the series with my partner.
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Police brutality, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Fatphobia, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Alcohol and Death of parent
Minor: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Hate crime, Acephobia/Arophobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Toxic friendship