Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor

16 reviews

sarah984's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

1.5

I feel terrible giving this book such a low rating but I didn't like it at all. 

I will say first off that I really liked Sam's relationship with their dad, and the way that emotions are described  being interpreted through facial expressions and the general autistic point of view. 

Every character that wasn't Sam or their dad was pretty one-note, though. I kept forgetting about Sky even though he was part of the core friend group, and it took me like half the book to realize Aidan and Dylan were two different guys. There were two different characters whose entire personality was "mean girl". The slang is really embarrassing (stop saying emoji!) and the constant brand name and meme references are already dated.

The mystery was also just really bad. The perpetrator is pretty easy to guess

because it's the one adult with zero redeeming qualities.

The author also seems to want to write a book where true crime sleuths save the day while acknowledging how damaging and ghoulish true crime superfans can be and that did not work for me. The way everything worked out comes across as "digging at old wounds and invading peoples' privacy is bad unless I do it."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Child death, Stalking, Ableism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

Minor: Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Racism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cancer, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Child abuse

imstephtacular's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, Grief, Mental illness, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Death, Dysphoria, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, Classism, Cursing, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Stalking

benediction's review

dark hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Transphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Biphobia, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Outing, and Self harm

Minor: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical content, Police brutality, Racism, and Religious bigotry

ghostreadin's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Transphobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Biphobia, Mental illness, Ableism, and Homophobia

bookcheshirecat's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Bullying

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

foreverinastory's review

challenging emotional mysterious 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

5.0

I loved this one so much!!!

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester is a YA thriller about teenage Sam who is nonbinary (they/them pronouns). Sam is recovering from trauma and with their dad has moved to a new school that will hopefully be more understanding of Sam's gender and their autism. Sam ends up meeting some kids from the Queer club and makes a couple friends. But as they settle into their new house, they found out someone was murdered in it before they bought it.

Sam is intrigued and has to know more. With their new friends in tow, the three of them begin to investigate the murder. But things are getting weird, Sam finds threatening notes and sinister shadows the more they dig into the case. Are they onto something or are the notes unrelated?

Y'all I loved this book with my whole being. I need more books with neurodivergent and nonbinary MCs. The feeling of being seen like Sam made me feel is indescribable. I love them so much and I want to protect them and their dad at all costs.

I really loved the mystery part of this as well. It doesn't really ramp up until past 25% or so since Sam is busy trying to fit into school and get used to a new town. But I loved the investigation once it started. It was so gripping and I loved how I was kept guessing until the end.

There's also a little bit of romance in this book and it was so so sweet. I absolutely loved the relationship that developed!

Rep: white Autistic panromantic asexual nonbinary MC, adopted by an aroace Black dad, Latina sapphic female side character, various other queer side characters.

CWs: Bullying, panic attacks, biphobia/bimisia, homophobia/homomisia, transphobia/transmisia, grief, stalking, death, mental illness (anxiety), attempted murder. Moderate: murder, alcoholism (side character), cursing, violence, toxic friendship, suicidal thoughts. Minor: Cancer, domestic abuse, self harm, gaslighting, outing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Outing, and Self harm