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leahegood's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Hard to know how to rate this one. I was invested in the story enough that the length didn't feel onerous, and I want to keep reading directly to book three. On the other hand, the adult content (both sexual and violence/gore) went past my personal reading preferences, and I found several sections of the book skipable (as audiobook reader). There's also quite a lot of swearing (much more than in book one), including f-bombs. Overall, decidedly R rated content.
In its defense, the sexual content was more unapologetic than gratuitous or romance-novel-spicy. The violence too was stomach-turning in it's realism, not because it was slasher-film style overdone gore. Regardless, both were a bit too much for me.
Character development is good and Weeks does an especially good job of showing the flaws of "good guys" and leaving the outcome very much in question. Throughout the book, I wasn't sure if what I was rooting for was going to happen ... or if I even understood what I was supposed to be rooting for. In some ways, that lack of certainly makes it hard for me to fully immerse. But I can certainly appreciate storytelling that maintains a sense of intentionality without making anything (to me) obvious.
In its defense, the sexual content was more unapologetic than gratuitous or romance-novel-spicy. The violence too was stomach-turning in it's realism, not because it was slasher-film style overdone gore. Regardless, both were a bit too much for me.
Character development is good and Weeks does an especially good job of showing the flaws of "good guys" and leaving the outcome very much in question. Throughout the book, I wasn't sure if what I was rooting for was going to happen ... or if I even understood what I was supposed to be rooting for. In some ways, that lack of certainly makes it hard for me to fully immerse. But I can certainly appreciate storytelling that maintains a sense of intentionality without making anything (to me) obvious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Rape and Vomit
bexshelf's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Abortion