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jdhauk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Murder, and Child abuse
Moderate: Racism and Grief
Minor: Stalking
sierrainstitches's review
5.0
Graphic: Child death and Gore
autbot02's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
bluecanarylite's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Child death and Pregnancy
Minor: Domestic abuse and Racism
megj23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Kidnapping and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Abandonment and Murder
grandpas_farts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The novel is broken into eight parts. Each part building more than the last. First we are met with Apollo's parents Brian and Lillian. I enjoyed reading their love story and finding out his foundation of life through his parents' story. Later we see Apollo as a young kid where he becomes an entrepreneur. Then we get into the meat of the story.
Apollo's fatherhood is immediately broken into chaotic adventure when his child is born. Despite all of this he takes everything in stride, until he can't. That's when Apollo sets out for what he feels he needs to do.
Emma's friend tells the story of the photograph Emma took of herself naked implying it was connected to the third wish. In the last wish we learn Emma wanted a life of adventure. How is taking a nude picture an adventure? I thought Emma wanted the photo to be removed from the Earth or something with how I read it.
What the hell happpened when they went back to their normal life? Was the womanhunt for Emma called off? Black children do not get the same news coverage as others, so maybe people forgot she even "killed" her child. How are they going to explain Brain's reappearance to people? I guess "and they lived happily ever after" sums up other questions.
I've never watched the Apple TV show, but I'd be curious to see what's it about.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Child death, Blood, and Gore
Minor: Suicide
indigo_fox'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
4.25
I didn't really care for the characters. Apollo and Emma both got on my nerves and I didn't find either of them to be very likeable. Patrice was cool though. He's a solid bro. The parts with him were easily some of my favorite moments.
I found this book to be very creepy. There were moments were I actually cringed away from the book because I was so freaked out. I still have a bunch of questions, and there are moments where I am not entirely sure what happened.
That being said, I enjoyed the book! It wasn't what I was expecting but I wasn't disappointed. I hear this author has other books and I plan on checking them out!
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Racism
Minor: Gaslighting and Emotional abuse
wyabook234's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Child death
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy and Racism
lancemama's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Racism, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Child death, and Colonisation
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
this book was very inventive and the prose was very nice, but frankly at least 50 pages could be shaved off. the pacing was strange and in general la valle shoved far too many separate stories into this book. what started as whimsical and fresh ended up feeling random and cobbled together
Apollo’s story was interesting, but the parts about his father and the truth of what happened to him felt like a completely separate book. he could easily have just been a deadbeat that never showed up, and the dreams added absolutely nothing to the story. the blurb on the back of the book makes the father dreams seem related to the plot, but they aren’t at all. going in with that expectation may be why I was so annoyed when they turned out to be entirely unmagical. the mom randomly revealing this truth after he gets home from jail made 0 sense? why not when he had his baby? why not right after baby Brian died? it felt shoehorned in. same with Emma’s crazy ass family history. Kim’s confession was so out of place.
The technological aspect of this book felt so stilted next to the island, the trolls, etc. there were just way too many strands to follow and far too neat of a wrap up when so much happened in this book. an entire island of witches and a monster and then a … 4chan guy? and said 4chan guy is descended from Norwegian guy who fed his baby to a troll? and now the troll lives in Queens? And the 4chan guy charges people to watch the troll eat kids????? it started to feel like the author got the sub-plots from an online random prompt generator
instead of the parts above, I would’ve liked more time in Emma’s head. how did she feel being called crazy for something she knew was happening? how did she become “a witch”? how did she survive in the woods with the troll there? why did she attack Apollo to kill the changeling instead of just knocking him out to do it? what was she planning to do with the troll if Apollo hadn’t come? how did the island start? some things felt unexplored, while others (like Apollos dad) were overexplained.
that being said, i can’t say I didn’t enjoy this read! the first 200 pages were a treat, and even when things took a turn for the absurd, i still liked reading it despite the confusion. la valle’s prose and narrative voice are lovely, I think the plotting and pacing was just a huge bust for me. I’d like to try more of his work, because there was some real shine here amongst the confusion
Graphic: Murder, Vomit, and Blood
Moderate: Colonisation, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Child death, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt