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pastelmeganes's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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? No
3.75
Spoilers ahead:
So i enjoyed the concept of the story but some aspects of execution I felt were a miss. I enjoyed the concept of what the author was going for with the mix of religion as well as the identity of his sexuality playing a part in his craft with acting but I felt the main character wasn’t very likable. Perhaps that was intentional but I felt it hard to enjoy his journey at times.
I was enthralled and captivated immensely more in the beginning up until he left school. I felt saddened for him while at the boarding school that his body imagery was constantly a point of ridicule but I felt it was realistic sadly of boy behavior.
The main character battled a lot with grief; specifically with the lost of his sisters. In a way, he lost everyone in his family but at the cost of him accepting himself which is a sad reality of many LGBT+ individuals specially in countries with strict laws against LGBT folks.
The whole conversion therapy camp situation was incredibly disheartening and very graphic. Im glad his cauldron friend was able to find a median with his identity and family and meet the main character again.
I would give this originally a 4/5 however the middle of the book started to get long winded and i HATE story arcs with misunderstandings personally so I had to knock it down a bit for that.
So i enjoyed the concept of the story but some aspects of execution I felt were a miss. I enjoyed the concept of what the author was going for with the mix of religion as well as the identity of his sexuality playing a part in his craft with acting but I felt the main character wasn’t very likable. Perhaps that was intentional but I felt it hard to enjoy his journey at times.
I was enthralled and captivated immensely more in the beginning up until he left school. I felt saddened for him while at the boarding school that his body imagery was constantly a point of ridicule but I felt it was realistic sadly of boy behavior.
The main character battled a lot with grief; specifically with the lost of his sisters. In a way, he lost everyone in his family but at the cost of him accepting himself which is a sad reality of many LGBT+ individuals specially in countries with strict laws against LGBT folks.
The whole conversion therapy camp situation was incredibly disheartening and very graphic. Im glad his cauldron friend was able to find a median with his identity and family and meet the main character again.
I would give this originally a 4/5 however the middle of the book started to get long winded and i HATE story arcs with misunderstandings personally so I had to knock it down a bit for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Grief, Sexual assault, and Torture
Moderate: Outing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Death
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