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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
A well written, thought provoking read of trans rage and religious trauma.
The pacing was great and the characters all felt realistic. I was really taken aback with how the characters interacted and reacted to the events that were happening, and how they weren't just... OK with everything. The ALC are a group of teens and young adults who are all doing their best to stick together and survive and it was portrayed really well.
I loved the gore and the descriptions as well as the depictions of rage and anger Benji felt. Really solid story and premise!
The pacing was great and the characters all felt realistic. I was really taken aback with how the characters interacted and reacted to the events that were happening, and how they weren't just... OK with everything. The ALC are a group of teens and young adults who are all doing their best to stick together and survive and it was portrayed really well.
I loved the gore and the descriptions as well as the depictions of rage and anger Benji felt. Really solid story and premise!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-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:
Yes
apesar dos erros de revisão, amei muito o livro
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i really enjoyed the premise of this book. it really made me despair about how people use religion to justify genocide and violence, and how all consuming this can be. reminded me a lot of the genocide in gaza and how israel is using the difference in religion to justify horrible things like murder and ethnic cleansing. it was ominous and awful in that sense because it has very real world applications, and so it didn’t really feel like a dystopian in so much as it’s already kind of happening.
also, it is awesome to see a YA book where the protagonist is trans. i feel like that will be so impactful for young trans people. i also think the idea of being trans and becoming a “monster” is interesting and topical, both being classified as the other and what that means in terms of their place in society. because this book is for young people, i did feel like sometimes the writing really walked you through everything in a simplified way. like the whole reveal about theo being evil i saw coming from like twenty pages away and yet the character had to literally spell it out for the audience that he was evil and this is why. it’s like, yeah i got it. but idk if that’s just because it’s meant for younger people who might need that to be explained to them, but i also think most people even teenagers would get to that reveal faster than the book did.
i also feel like the switch of POVs was underutilized or fleshed out. we pretty much always get benji’s POV, but then randomly we get like one chapter from Nick’s POV, and then one time we get theo’s POV. i wanted more! it felt really random and out of place because it wasn’t consistent, and i wanted to understand more about these characters and their backstories. especially nick i feel like we got almost no background even though his background was kind of key to the plot. and theo is such an awful but interesting character, and i feel like if the author wanted to include any POVs from him there needed to be more of it because it felt super random.
i also don’t think i fully understood what the Flood even was fully. like it is a virus but it seems to also be like it’s own entity sometimes. like at the end when benji makes a little creature out of the virus leftover in theo’s dead body? that really confused me a lot and felt jarring. and then everyone went and like played with this creature? i thought the Flood was super contagious? anyway, i feel like i wanted to know more about it. also i might just be dumb but i didn’t fully understand what the Angels intended to do with Seraph, like what was the purpose? to make all the Graces kill everybody? but weren’t they doing that already? i felt like the book didn’t fully explain it. it also felt way too sudden and unbelievable that the main evil scientist regretted everything so much but for seemingly no reason. i wanted to know more about why she suddenly out of nowhere regrets this whole thing. i think it’s an interesting character choice but it felt like it came out of nowhere.
also, i felt like we knew nothing about the dad character. why did he stay with the mom? why didn’t he leave sooner? why did he finally decide to run away? did he believe any of the angel’s stuff? how was he immediately so accepting of benji being trans? it all felt really underdeveloped for me. same goes for theo’s immediate acceptance of benji. it kind of felt too easy in a way? because we had no context as to why they thought this especially in this world that has taught them to hate trans people?
overall, i think the idea of an LGBTQ+ youth center saving the world after the apocalypse is awesome. i think it dealt a lot with the need to violence in a revolution which made me think a lot and made me uncomfortable in a good way. i also love all the representation it had. i whizzed through reading it and enjoyed it thoroughly. i haven’t been that engrossed in a book in a while. at the same time, i felt like a lot of the characters were underdeveloped. i also kind of felt like the main character was similar to the other main character in this author’s other book. lastly i felt like there were a few plot holes/underdeveloped parts to it. the concept and the world was so rich that i just wanted to know more. i definitely want to keep reading what this author writes though and would recommend this book to others!!
also, it is awesome to see a YA book where the protagonist is trans. i feel like that will be so impactful for young trans people. i also think the idea of being trans and becoming a “monster” is interesting and topical, both being classified as the other and what that means in terms of their place in society. because this book is for young people, i did feel like sometimes the writing really walked you through everything in a simplified way. like the whole reveal about theo being evil i saw coming from like twenty pages away and yet the character had to literally spell it out for the audience that he was evil and this is why. it’s like, yeah i got it. but idk if that’s just because it’s meant for younger people who might need that to be explained to them, but i also think most people even teenagers would get to that reveal faster than the book did.
i also feel like the switch of POVs was underutilized or fleshed out. we pretty much always get benji’s POV, but then randomly we get like one chapter from Nick’s POV, and then one time we get theo’s POV. i wanted more! it felt really random and out of place because it wasn’t consistent, and i wanted to understand more about these characters and their backstories. especially nick i feel like we got almost no background even though his background was kind of key to the plot. and theo is such an awful but interesting character, and i feel like if the author wanted to include any POVs from him there needed to be more of it because it felt super random.
i also don’t think i fully understood what the Flood even was fully. like it is a virus but it seems to also be like it’s own entity sometimes. like at the end when benji makes a little creature out of the virus leftover in theo’s dead body? that really confused me a lot and felt jarring. and then everyone went and like played with this creature? i thought the Flood was super contagious? anyway, i feel like i wanted to know more about it. also i might just be dumb but i didn’t fully understand what the Angels intended to do with Seraph, like what was the purpose? to make all the Graces kill everybody? but weren’t they doing that already? i felt like the book didn’t fully explain it. it also felt way too sudden and unbelievable that the main evil scientist regretted everything so much but for seemingly no reason. i wanted to know more about why she suddenly out of nowhere regrets this whole thing. i think it’s an interesting character choice but it felt like it came out of nowhere.
also, i felt like we knew nothing about the dad character. why did he stay with the mom? why didn’t he leave sooner? why did he finally decide to run away? did he believe any of the angel’s stuff? how was he immediately so accepting of benji being trans? it all felt really underdeveloped for me. same goes for theo’s immediate acceptance of benji. it kind of felt too easy in a way? because we had no context as to why they thought this especially in this world that has taught them to hate trans people?
overall, i think the idea of an LGBTQ+ youth center saving the world after the apocalypse is awesome. i think it dealt a lot with the need to violence in a revolution which made me think a lot and made me uncomfortable in a good way. i also love all the representation it had. i whizzed through reading it and enjoyed it thoroughly. i haven’t been that engrossed in a book in a while. at the same time, i felt like a lot of the characters were underdeveloped. i also kind of felt like the main character was similar to the other main character in this author’s other book. lastly i felt like there were a few plot holes/underdeveloped parts to it. the concept and the world was so rich that i just wanted to know more. i definitely want to keep reading what this author writes though and would recommend this book to others!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-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