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kaziaroo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's a shame to see that children's stories still rely on fatphobia and making fun of "ugly" people for humour, and there was a lot of stereotyping of what "good" and "evil" people look like – although a lot of this is critiqued by the narrative, there were some blurred lines: for example, while we are shown that being mean to Dot about her fatness is bad, the author also mentions her size nearly every time she appears, and her size and appetite makes up most of her characterisation. Thankfully, there wasn't a hooked nose in sight, unlike in the film.
While the plot dragged a bit in places, I really enjoyed the characters in this book and loved the portrayal of a character's descent into madness and the protagonists' respective identity crises. It was a really fun, if dark, read.
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Medical content, Body shaming, Bullying, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Mental illness
ashleylowry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Violence and Bullying
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Fatphobia
rumireads'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
- I haven't encountered a book so viciously fatphobic in at least a decade
- the way it sexualised 12 year olds is absolutely disgusting (I can see why they aged the characters up for the movie)
- weirdly homophobic as well. kids calling each other gay as an insult might be accurate but it's certainly not something that I'd like to model for them??
- I think this author has a reeeealy poor opinion of women
please don't give/recommend this series to the youths, it's genuinely awful towards most kinds of people
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny
Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Torture, Blood, and Body horror
squinnittowinit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, and Sexism
Moderate: Body shaming and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Homophobia and Ableism
hayleyvem's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Violence, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Torture, Child death, and Confinement
Minor: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Lesbophobia