Reviews with content warning for Mass/school shootings - Friday Black

What an incredible collection. Adjei-Brenyah's work is poignant, sharp, insightful, and simultaneously upsetting and exciting. I was always looking forward to reading more. None of these are weak stories, but my particular favorites were Through the Flash and The Hospital Where. Content warnings are not complete but mention some.

Content Warnings

sarahmackenziey's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

thatokiebird's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

Friday Black is a short story collection, without a theme yet connected in the tone of each story. They're dark, heavy, tense and dread and despair fill nearly every page. This was definitely not an enjoyable read, yet I'm glad I read it all the same. I enjoy short story collections typically, and this book is filled with interesting view points and alternate histories and I particularly liked the science fiction and dystopian elements.

The author is so imaginative, processing what different realities would look like. From a virtual realty theme park where people go to murder virtually and come back again and again, to an infinite time loop Groundhog day-esque world, where no rules exist anymore because why not. There were only three connected stories of the 12, which follows a two people working retail, one story detailing an alternate Black Friday where deaths add up casually as just a matter-of-fact.

I do want to read the author's full-length novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars, to get a feel of how they write characters over the course of a novel, instead of just in these short 10-15 page vignettes. Also the cover art of this book is stunning.

Content Warnings

catsbreadbikes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

This book was not for me, but that's my own fault as i didn't seek out any information about the content warnings for this book. It was really well-written, and vivid in detail though! Some of the stories i liked vetter than others, but even when i didn't lile a particular story, it was still worth listening to.

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