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sunsorbit's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Confinement, Violence, and Racism
Moderate: Hate crime, Blood, Murder, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
maggies's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Mostly focused on how three teenagers respond to police brutality/government surveillance, but I wish there had been some attention to why Governor Ambrose made the choices she did and/or how the political atmosphere evolved to result in the creation of the dome. World building was very light, which is maybe explained by the fact that this isn't a far-flung dystopia. I never really connected with Jamal, Marco, or Cat. Jamal's narration was a bit corny at times, and the ending definitely had me rolling my eyes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Murder, Confinement, Classism, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
A generally good read. The characters could use some more fullness but overall they were good characters that advanced the story in an engaging way for me. The things happening in this book (outside of the advanced tech) has happened in real life and the way the treatment of black and brown people by cops and the general attitudes of cops in the book are also just like real life. That's what makes this book so scary to me is that society and cops are already like the book in so many ways but without the tech. And because of that, the tech that is used in the book feels like a very real/attainable thing.
I did enjoy the emphasis of "united we are strong" and that a lot of minorities were briefly included in standing up for black people and in the protests to remind those of us who are non-black minorities that we need to stand with our black counterparts because white privilege and white supremacy is so insidious and hurts everyone.
I did enjoy the emphasis of "united we are strong" and that a lot of minorities were briefly included in standing up for black people and in the protests to remind those of us who are non-black minorities that we need to stand with our black counterparts because white privilege and white supremacy is so insidious and hurts everyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gun violence, and Racism
amandalorianxo's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-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? Yes
3.0
This felt a little Hunger Games esque in terms of plot and intention. Jamal is a seventeen year old who lives in Maryland. He is attending a BLM protest & wants to take footage of what is going on. Unfortunately, he’s stuck when an alarm rings to let the people of Baltimore know there would be a Dome set in place. No one can go in, no one can go out. The Dome itself is a milky white outline that prevents any electronic communication from happening. Jamal soon meets two other people as they try to figure out how to collapse this dome. The diversity - a black gay male character, two Latinx main characters (one is also not straight) was great but I could have done without the mini romance storyline. I also felt like the ending was a little too clean & could have been cut by a hundred ish pages. A lot of unnecessary filler & word repetition.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood
1quillb's review
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? Yes
2.5
This book has a really good idea attached to it, but was executed very poorly. The editing needs some work—at one point Marco is referred to as Jamal by the narrator, and there’s a couple strange spellings of words—and the whole idea isn’t very believable. If a giant impenetrable dome surrounded a city and martial law went into affect, things like clubs and hotels wouldn’t still be open. That’s just not realistic. It would be like the Purge, not a regular Tuesday. I appreciate what Jackson was trying to do, it just wasn’t written in a way that made sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Hate crime, Racism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Violence, Classism, and Blood
Minor: Classism, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, and Gun violence
standerson's review
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Gun violence
Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol
taliahsbookshelf's review
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
TL;DR: Ehhh. I think I would recommend this to everyone, but with the expectation to not expect anything going into it.
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. It had a powerful narrative surrounding the struggles of POC in America, particularly when faced with police violence. Starting even before the very first word of the novel itself is read, readers are forced to confront, and acknowledge, the names of Black Americans who have died at the hands of the police. Pages upon pages, written in harsh reality, this can’t, and shouldn’t be ignored.
I do think everyone and their grandma should read this book, primarily because it provides a stark view into the reality of police violence and the structures of power that make this a continuous fight. Reading from the perspective of a Black gay teenager fighting to get the truth out there was poignant and moving.
However, I think that was the end of the power of this book for me. While that part of the story felt well written, pointed, and impactful, the story itself fell flat. I didn’t find myself connecting to any of the characters except Jamal, who is telling the story from a first-person perspective. But even Jamal drove me absolutely insane. I get it. He’s a journalist. Thank you. I am aware, and I was aware the first ten times. Plus the writing wasn’t well-edited, and missing punctuation, random capitalization, and pretty glaring misspellings made immersion jumpy at best, and impossible at worst.
I think I could have gotten over my immersion issues if it weren’t the lack of believability for the ending. I’m sorry, but what? I won’t spoil it, but I’m just confused. The direction taken with three teenagers was absurd, and I just don’t see in what world that would actually happen. In a normal novel, there is some expectation you can suspend belief, at least for a little while. But this? It just felt over the top and completely outside the realm of reason. The ending could have been so much more powerful, and instead felt like it was intentionally faulty for the possibility of seeing a sequel that isn’t needed.
Overall, it was one of those reads where the reasoning behind writing it will stick with me. There’s pretty important language surrounding POC voices and the police brutality that gets excused by people in power. The story wasn’t the best, but it’s still something I would recommend to people.
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. It had a powerful narrative surrounding the struggles of POC in America, particularly when faced with police violence. Starting even before the very first word of the novel itself is read, readers are forced to confront, and acknowledge, the names of Black Americans who have died at the hands of the police. Pages upon pages, written in harsh reality, this can’t, and shouldn’t be ignored.
I do think everyone and their grandma should read this book, primarily because it provides a stark view into the reality of police violence and the structures of power that make this a continuous fight. Reading from the perspective of a Black gay teenager fighting to get the truth out there was poignant and moving.
However, I think that was the end of the power of this book for me. While that part of the story felt well written, pointed, and impactful, the story itself fell flat. I didn’t find myself connecting to any of the characters except Jamal, who is telling the story from a first-person perspective. But even Jamal drove me absolutely insane. I get it. He’s a journalist. Thank you. I am aware, and I was aware the first ten times. Plus the writing wasn’t well-edited, and missing punctuation, random capitalization, and pretty glaring misspellings made immersion jumpy at best, and impossible at worst.
I think I could have gotten over my immersion issues if it weren’t the lack of believability for the ending. I’m sorry, but what? I won’t spoil it, but I’m just confused. The direction taken with three teenagers was absurd, and I just don’t see in what world that would actually happen. In a normal novel, there is some expectation you can suspend belief, at least for a little while. But this? It just felt over the top and completely outside the realm of reason. The ending could have been so much more powerful, and instead felt like it was intentionally faulty for the possibility of seeing a sequel that isn’t needed.
Overall, it was one of those reads where the reasoning behind writing it will stick with me. There’s pretty important language surrounding POC voices and the police brutality that gets excused by people in power. The story wasn’t the best, but it’s still something I would recommend to people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality and Racism
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings
Minor: Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, Hate crime, and Racial slurs
jadekling's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
content warnings about, but an absolutely phenomenal book I devoured.
Content Warnings
Minor: Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gun violence, Death, Blood, Violence, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Confinement
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