Reviews with content warning for Violence - Himmel und Hölle

I can see where the praise for this book comes from. As a way to introduce a younger audience to racism, privilege and unjust societal structures, it is straight to the point. Potentially a revelation, happening among a setting with characters who still have problems a younger audience can relate to, like homework and complicated feelings for your friends. However, I did not enjoy the book.

Every relationship was so aggressive, often times to the point of physical violence. There wasn't a single healthy, consistently loving family or friendship. Combined with a plot which never let up on anyone, it made for unlikable characters. I didn't believe in the main couples on again/off again romance, which lacked any tenderness. Blackman consistently gave us the narrative that they hated one another, their "love" felt based entirely on guilt and familiarity. On top of this, I felt that in an attempt to make the message apparent to the young teen audience, all the nuance had been stripped from the plot. There was no subtlety, which I found killed the atmosphere. While I can totally appreciate what it was trying to do, it fell really flat for me.

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justagirlwithbooks's review against another edition

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3.75

“Just remember, when you’re floating up and up in your bubble, that bubbles have a habit of bursting. The higher you climb, the further you have to fall.”

The writing isn't that amazing, but I would rate this book 4 stars for the concept alone, it's that engaging. Everything else... brings it down to a 3.75 for me.

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karol99's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very YA and not in the best way. I didn't really like the writing. I was very frustrated with the characters, but I think that's due to the fact that the miscommunication trope is a pet-peeve of mine. They were very young for most of te book, which reflected in the writing- I am not a teen, and therefore might have read this too late as I am not the correct demographic anymore. Concept and idea of the book is very interesting, and enjoyed the book tackling race issues that are ignored and engraved into society today, and have become deeply systemic. But what took me out of it was the YA Cons vs the pros. I think think the way the book is written is very much a product of it's time.

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asourceoffiction's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is an amazing story, but at first I struggled a bit with the simplistic language and overuse of exclamation marks. From about half way through it began to really hammer home the idea that these are children whose lives are being so shaped by their circumstances, and once I understood that, it gave the language a lot more power in highlighting the first-person narrative, as if I was hearing Callum and Sephy's thoughts.

The adolescent nature of the writing also lulled me into a false sense of security, thinking that the story might gloss over some of the more unpleasant ideas explored. But it hits them head on, pulling no punches, and renders them all the more shocking as a result. But as the story went further and Sephy and Callum grew older, I started to feel the writing pulling me out of the action again. It seems like it was a really hard balance to strike.

That said, none of it takes anything from the phenomenal story and the brutal world these characters live in. What's so clever is that neither Callum nor Sephy knows the right or wrong way to behave to encourage change; and even when they try it can backfire spectacularly when prejudice is so ingrained. It's fascinating and infuriating, which you can see so well as they change with age.

After the incredibly tense ending, I'm intrigued to see where the rest of the series takes the story!

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