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c_serpent's review against another edition
Okay y'all. I got 51% in and then I couldn't. Simply could not. This entire review is a spoiler because the book is bad and I will tell you what happens so you don't read it.
So the novel's about two sisters looking for one another right. Cee is dead probably. That's fine, it's whatever, not a problem. So Cee is on this island with an abandoned house and she "has to" get off the island to go find her sister, okay? And she's been on the island for three years. That's a long time! Okay, still tracking. So Cee builds a boat, right, takes it out, there's a storm and she ends up on the island again.
This hot boy washes up on shore, he has no memories, Cee is delighted to have company and ofc he's hot because it's YA. Still, no problems.
He knows she wants to leave and he helps her. Cool. Good for him. So she builds a raft in two weeks. (Remember this time frame please. Boat = 3 years, raft = 2 weeks.)
But Cee only builds it big enough for herself??? and the boy is??? okay with this???? I mean ofc he's like "stay here" and kisses her because it's YA but she HAS to go find her sister RIGHT NOW. And the boy is not like "you're a freaking sadist you can't leave me here to die alone" he's like "I get it." What???
And she's EVEN SPECIFICALLY LIKE "i will send someone back for you" and the boy is like "bet you won't" and she's like "..." because he's right. And they both know she won't?
And all of this is being presented like it's normal.
So then her raft disappears, and she doesn't ask him about it (why . . . ?????) and instead decides to make a raft out of the mattress from the abandoned house.
and he????? is fine with this still???? Even though she thinks he might've taken the logs for the raft? And they go for a walk on the beach during what is probably their ~*~ last night together ~*~ and she's keeping the raft in her line of sight so it doesn't disappear like the other raft and she's packed more than half their food and she's straight up going to leave the boy on the island.
and I actually cannot FATHOM leaving a person on the abandoned island when you can spend two more weeks and some days building a WOODEN raft that will actually FLOAT (a mattress raft???? won't even float????) that is big enough for TWO PEOPLE.
She's been on the island for THREE YEARS. she built a raft in TWO WEEKS. she has enough time to make a raft for both of them, nothing will happen to her sister in these two weeks that hasn't happened in these THREE YEARS. And if you actually asked the boy to help you (which you didn't!!!) it would take even less time.
What kind of absolute sadist gets to know a person and care for them and then leaves that person on an island with NO other humans? the boy will have nothing to do for the rest of his life except think "the only human being that was here pretended to like me and then made a conscious choice to leave me behind without intending to send someone back for me." How can Joan He even pretend that's a thing that I won't think Cee is an actual demon for? There's not a justification for this. It's stupid. It's impossible to accept.
And I'll be real: I get that there's probably a narrative reason for this. Cee is dead. The boy is probably a hallucination or whatever in the afterlife and not a real person and that's why he doesn't come with her. BUT NEVER IS IT OKAY TO LEAVE SOMEONE ON A DESERTED ISLAND ALONE. If a novel requires me to say "yeah makes sense" about something that literally is not justifiable, it's a bad book, and I'm done with it.
Joan, I tried Descendants of the Crane. I tried this. Your books are stupid because your characters do stupid and disturbing things that no sane person would do, and you try to pass it off as normal. This ain't normal. This is deeply problematic, and Cee is a bad person, and I don't care what happens to her or her robotic sister. Three stars are removed because I cannot fathom justifying this. Where is the suspension of disbelief.
Two stars have been permitted to remain because I actually got 51% of the way into the novel, which is better than DotC, and because I'm going to find something to spoil the plot for me, because I want to know. But not bad enough to read the rest of the book. Your characters are bad people and we don't root for bad people in this house. Girl bye.
Total score: 2/5 stars
So the novel's about two sisters looking for one another right. Cee is dead probably. That's fine, it's whatever, not a problem. So Cee is on this island with an abandoned house and she "has to" get off the island to go find her sister, okay? And she's been on the island for three years. That's a long time! Okay, still tracking. So Cee builds a boat, right, takes it out, there's a storm and she ends up on the island again.
This hot boy washes up on shore, he has no memories, Cee is delighted to have company and ofc he's hot because it's YA. Still, no problems.
He knows she wants to leave and he helps her. Cool. Good for him. So she builds a raft in two weeks. (Remember this time frame please. Boat = 3 years, raft = 2 weeks.)
But Cee only builds it big enough for herself??? and the boy is??? okay with this???? I mean ofc he's like "stay here" and kisses her because it's YA but she HAS to go find her sister RIGHT NOW. And the boy is not like "you're a freaking sadist you can't leave me here to die alone" he's like "I get it." What???
And she's EVEN SPECIFICALLY LIKE "i will send someone back for you" and the boy is like "bet you won't" and she's like "..." because he's right. And they both know she won't?
And all of this is being presented like it's normal.
So then her raft disappears, and she doesn't ask him about it (why . . . ?????) and instead decides to make a raft out of the mattress from the abandoned house.
and he????? is fine with this still???? Even though she thinks he might've taken the logs for the raft? And they go for a walk on the beach during what is probably their ~*~ last night together ~*~ and she's keeping the raft in her line of sight so it doesn't disappear like the other raft and she's packed more than half their food and she's straight up going to leave the boy on the island.
and I actually cannot FATHOM leaving a person on the abandoned island when you can spend two more weeks and some days building a WOODEN raft that will actually FLOAT (a mattress raft???? won't even float????) that is big enough for TWO PEOPLE.
She's been on the island for THREE YEARS. she built a raft in TWO WEEKS. she has enough time to make a raft for both of them, nothing will happen to her sister in these two weeks that hasn't happened in these THREE YEARS. And if you actually asked the boy to help you (which you didn't!!!) it would take even less time.
What kind of absolute sadist gets to know a person and care for them and then leaves that person on an island with NO other humans? the boy will have nothing to do for the rest of his life except think "the only human being that was here pretended to like me and then made a conscious choice to leave me behind without intending to send someone back for me." How can Joan He even pretend that's a thing that I won't think Cee is an actual demon for? There's not a justification for this. It's stupid. It's impossible to accept.
And I'll be real: I get that there's probably a narrative reason for this. Cee is dead. The boy is probably a hallucination or whatever in the afterlife and not a real person and that's why he doesn't come with her. BUT NEVER IS IT OKAY TO LEAVE SOMEONE ON A DESERTED ISLAND ALONE. If a novel requires me to say "yeah makes sense" about something that literally is not justifiable, it's a bad book, and I'm done with it.
Joan, I tried Descendants of the Crane. I tried this. Your books are stupid because your characters do stupid and disturbing things that no sane person would do, and you try to pass it off as normal. This ain't normal. This is deeply problematic, and Cee is a bad person, and I don't care what happens to her or her robotic sister. Three stars are removed because I cannot fathom justifying this. Where is the suspension of disbelief.
Two stars have been permitted to remain because I actually got 51% of the way into the novel, which is better than DotC, and because I'm going to find something to spoil the plot for me, because I want to know. But not bad enough to read the rest of the book. Your characters are bad people and we don't root for bad people in this house. Girl bye.
Total score: 2/5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Abandonment
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Blood, Cancer, Suicide, Medical content, Gore, Ableism, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Violence, and Classism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Death of parent, Vomit, Child death, Sexual content, and Excrement
Climate crisis, pollution, natural disasters. Missing person, disappearance at sea. Strangulation/suffocation. Near drowning. Internalized ableism (neurodivergent-coded character experiences emotions in a way she views as "wrong" and "inhuman"). Needles (tattooing).augustar14's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
3.25
I did find this book quite engaging. It has an air of mystery that has you wondering if what's happening is quite what it seems. The shifting point of view enhances this well. However, there were points I found underdeveloped or under explained which ultimately left me wanting at the end. <Spoiler> I didn't exactly understand the ending, whether it meant the reader was supposed to interpret what happened (and there was supposedly enough there to deduce a conclusion) or if it suggests that endings are ultimately unknown. Either way I felt confused and dissatisfied, wanting more information, to understand and know what did happen. </Spoiler>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Classism, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Violence, Vomit, War, Cancer, Bullying, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
Minor: Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Cursing, Addiction, Mental illness, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
shoni's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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
5.0
You know think by now I have learned to not go in blind in a book. I knew nothing. It came highly recommended and Joan He's writing is amazing so of course I didn't even question it and picked it up. This did cause me to be a bit confused in the first 100 pages for a bit because the world-building just threw me off and I wasn't sure what the story itself was supposed to be. But that's around the time it started to make sense and I could see where we were, where the story was going.
Shortly after the story started I knew Cee and Kasey were somehow connected and I just couldn't figure it out. idk if it is a spoiler but I did think they were sisters for like the first few pages until I acutally thought about it. But the way Joan wrote both parts so seemlessly making it clear they connect somehow. Like i'm still not over how it was right when Cee lost Hubert, you see Kasey discover Hubert, like it's clear from the beginning that they take place at different times but at the same time you want to believe it and thing its happening at the same time and time just moves differently in Kasey's world than Cee's. Joan just managed to write about critizisim of the envormental and issues in such a way that can seem ridiculous but at the same time so real. You can see how people are slowly ignoring such important issues because it doesn't matter, it isn't an inconvenience to them at the moment, it will be an issue for the future generation. Which is the whole point of this book, stop making it other peoples problem who will suffer because of you.
I also love how each character you mean did play an important part in the story. No one was insignificant. They all either come back or you see why they showed up int first place.
CAN WE ALSO APPCICIATE THE TWIST! Oh my god those were justs so well done and both foreshadowed but also in such a way that you still were shocked and not ready for it. I also spend the last few chapters of the book just sitting in my sorrow and tears out of shock, sadness, hurt, aweness. Like everything. I think i went through all emotions a human can possible posses plus more at the end. Joan He really knows how to get the readers to feel and question. Her writing is truly something everyone must read. This book might have made me feel all of things but in all good ways.
Shortly after the story started I knew Cee and Kasey were somehow connected and I just couldn't figure it out.
I also love how each character you mean did play an important part in the story. No one was insignificant. They all either come back or you see why they showed up int first place.
CAN WE ALSO APPCICIATE THE TWIST! Oh my god those were justs so well done and both foreshadowed but also in such a way that you still were shocked and not ready for it. I also spend the last few chapters of the book just sitting in my sorrow and tears out of shock, sadness, hurt, aweness. Like everything. I think i went through all emotions a human can possible posses plus more at the end. Joan He really knows how to get the readers to feel and question. Her writing is truly something everyone must read. This book might have made me feel all of things but in all good ways.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Vomit
decklededgess's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
trigger warnings: death, death of parent, grief, gore, gun violence, physical injury and violence, mental illness, murder, anxiety and panic disorder, classism, sexual content, suicide, violence
Based on the premise of this book, I expected two sisters separated by circumstance trying to find out what happened/trying to get back to each other. I did not expect a futuristic commentary of environmental deterioration, social media/s toxic impact on class hierarchy and disengagement from reality, and a deeply incisive look into what it means to trust and to be family.
Ouch.
That's really all I want to say because every point past 30% is a spoiler for some spectacular plot twists. The book leaves you with the perfect amount of explicit information to let you sit and ponder the what ifs of what happens past the last page and in the unsaid moments. Beautifully done.
Based on the premise of this book, I expected two sisters separated by circumstance trying to find out what happened/trying to get back to each other. I did not expect a futuristic commentary of environmental deterioration, social media/s toxic impact on class hierarchy and disengagement from reality, and a deeply incisive look into what it means to trust and to be family.
Ouch.
That's really all I want to say because every point past 30% is a spoiler for some spectacular plot twists. The book leaves you with the perfect amount of explicit information to let you sit and ponder the what ifs of what happens past the last page and in the unsaid moments. Beautifully done.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Classism
rhm04's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Drug use, Cancer, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Abandonment, and Cursing
Minor: Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
madamenovelist's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Ableism, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, Chronic illness, Child death, and Body horror
hello_lovely13's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Grief, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content
booksthatburn's review against another edition
I don't like the feeling of being poised in suspense to find out whether the twist is obvious or strange. There are two main characters with two different understandings of what their reality is, and I got far enough to know I didn't care who was right, if one or both of them are actually dead, or if it's some additional permutation I didn't think of.
The island sequences were pretty cool, the world is an interesting dystopia, and I like the audiobook narrator. This just wasn't a story I like.
The island sequences were pretty cool, the world is an interesting dystopia, and I like the audiobook narrator. This just wasn't a story I like.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Terminal illness, Grief, Vomit, Child death, and Death
shadereads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness and Suicide
Moderate: Grief and Death