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laurenw's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Drug use
Moderate: Blood, Classism, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Abandonment, Addiction, and Alcohol
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia
aimnorth's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Absolutely loved this book. It's got darker themes, but they are presented in lighthearted and funny ways. There are lots of diverse, well-written characters you love. It has some surprise twists as well.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Colonisation, and Death of parent
A few main plot points are the death of the main character's mother before the events of the book and her father's struggle with an opium addiction.sarah984's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I had high hopes for this book but it just did not come together at all. None of the characters are fleshed out at all, which makes their drama (yes this book has a love triangle) very boring and many of them come off as ethnic stereotypes. In theory Nix's mother is a driving factor of the story but she's such a non-character they could have been looking for buried treasure with essentially the same effect. Nix is so reactive and never really seems to make choices; she's always being buffeted around by the narrative.
The author also makes the baffling decision to include no major Native characters, have her POV characters participate (with a small amount of reluctance) in what is essentially cultural genocide, and make the voice of Hawaii a white boy whose father is in the Hawaiian League. The way the Hawaiian culture is written about in this book as this thing that will inevitably die was disappointing.
The author also makes the baffling decision to include no major Native characters, have her POV characters participate (with a small amount of reluctance) in what is essentially cultural genocide, and make the voice of Hawaii a white boy whose father is in the Hawaiian League. The way the Hawaiian culture is written about in this book as this thing that will inevitably die was disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, and Racism
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Violence
Minor: Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs
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