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katieswrld's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical trauma
heathermarie08's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Grief, Death, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
aparnaprab's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Child death, Confinement, and Murder
Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Self harm
there was so. much. blood.jiji_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
If this IS your thing, like it is mine, you're going to love this. On top of a deeply twisted, creeping dread of a plot, Power's writing is beautiful. It's poetic. It shocks at times, the poetry in the terror. It's brutal and fast-paced with no time to take a breath. At times I wished it were longer, but then I don't know if my heart and stomach could take much more. It's part zombie-apocalypse (kinda). It's part science thriller. It's part school girl survivalist drama. It's part warning. It's all good.
Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Vomit, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault and Incest
mpbookreviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Suicide
ewickoda's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
adalieslittlelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
lv_ct's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Pros:
- This storyline felt incredibly unique to me, as it is a different take on the "area becoming infected by a mysterious virus" trope that is common in media. And considering that this book was published in mid-2019 right before the pandemic, it felt very ironic and almost timely.
- I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of things such as the landscape and the mutations the girls went through as it helped me envision the constant terror and horrors these young girls were facing. It helps to put the reader in the shoes of the characters, rather than just telling the reader what was happening.
- Queer, and specifically sapphic, relationships in the midst of a dystopian, survivalist world.
- My favorite point in this book - all of the characters is morally gray. We want to root for them because you see how brave they are and vulnerable they can be. However, it's their flaws that are really noticeable. They are selfish out of self-preservation, only caring about themselves and their closest friends. It makes the reader want to scream "but you're the hero, you are supposed to save everyone." But ultimately, it is a real human thing to do.
- First-person writing is truly difficult, and it is hard to do it in a manner that does not come off as amateur writing. This said I think there are some really well-done parts in the book where Power nails the POV writing, and other times where it falls flat and becomes victim to "Tumblr-Esque" writing.
- I really wish there were better explanations of the other characters OUTSIDE of Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. The reader is given glimpses of the other characters, but not as much as I would have liked there to be. At times we are only given the ages of characters, and nothing more.
- Following this, among the characters we are given descriptions to, there did not seem to be much diversity in terms of phenotypes in the characters, minus the mutations.
- There was a good amount of different personalities amongst the characters, so that good job on that aspect.
I really wish that Hetty and Reese's romantic relationship was delved into a bit deeper rather than tied in the last 100 pages. I am glad they got together because throughout the book it was an obvious question of "something is going to happen, but what?" Nevertheless, their relationship with each other is never fully fleshed out. Especially with Hetty killing Reese's dad, I wish I could have a little more background substance to their relationship before that heavy blow. - The explanation of what happened in regards to the Tox on the island truly only comes out in the last 50 pages, and still did not feel very cohesive. The reader is thrown bits and pieces of an explanation before the acknowledgments are indicating the closing of the book. It really feels like the book should have been either 1. longer or 2. had a second part to it.
Conclusion:
I personally really enjoyed this book. It is the first book I have read for fun in a long time, as I am either working or in school. I have been recommending this book to people constantly recently and I do recommend for anyone looking through these reviews to read it yourself - if you are okay with gore, blood, grief, and violence - cause it is a great read.
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Confinement, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Murder
tinnuben's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, Grief, and Medical content
f2c's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Gun violence, Child death, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Murder, and Kidnapping