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goldenlake's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Terminal illness, Bullying, Chronic illness, Alcohol, and Homophobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, War, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Outing, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Biphobia
zpitts'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
4.25
Graphic: Homophobia, Alcohol, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, and Bullying
Moderate: Racism and Blood
pkc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Violence
pagesofnay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This story was very compelling. As soon as I started the audiobook, I couldn’t turn it off. The writing was great, it flowed really well. It was a quick and easy listen. The queer history that was included in the book was enlightening. It’s mot often you read a book that brings up important social issues and queer politics from the ‘90s while being blended with fiction that is done so well.
I loved how it had multiple point of views. Each character has such a distinct narrative and it’s interesting to switch between them. The story follows Zooey, Daniel, and Leo. They are very well written and I loved their relationships with one another.
This book was quite the read and I most definitely will be rereading. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, and Death
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, and Vomit
Minor: Deadnaming, Sexual assault, and Racial slurs
amengels's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Bullying, Vomit, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Cursing
tiredcath'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
From the start, I was completely enchanted by this book. Andy Mientus has a fantastic voice, his writing style is gripping and honest. Each character has a unique voice and story to tell, all intertwining with each other with ease. Fraternity quickly climbed up my favorite reads of this year within minutes of reading.
Fraternity takes on many hats; classism, occults, the AIDs crisis, sexuality, bullying, homophobia, and racism- I could go on but won't for the sake of remaining spoiler free. The point is as interesting as the plot is, what's going on in between really made me love this story. The first half of the novel is much lighter in comparison to the second. Mientus paints the picture of the anxiety and fear of that time period without dreading the reader, as much as he shows pain, he shows joy. There's an especially beautiful part in one of Daniel's chapters that really hits that feeling home.
There's some surprise body horror, touching moments, loads of mystery, and gorgeously frightening imagery. Mientus knew what kind of story he wanted to tell and he told that story perfectly. Zooey, Daniel, Leo, and Steven will stay with me for a long time. I cannot praise this book enough. Cannot praise Andy Mientus' writing enough. I will be first in line for whatever he plans next.
About the audiobook: I was so pleased to hear all three boys have different narrators. Each of them gave the characters life. If you're planning on reading this I really recommend the audiobook.
Queer horror is such an important genre, for so many reasons but mostly so stories like these can be told.
Thank you, NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Homophobia, Outing, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Blood
elizabeth_delozier'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
3.75
Please mind the trigger warnings (listed below) and take care of your mental health while reading this story and review.
Zooey is a gay teen who transfers to an elite all-boys boarding school following bullying and abuse at his previous school. He finds himself experiencing similar bullying at the new school. He also finds himself making new friends who share in his queer identity and have a secret society of for queer students. Daniel is a Black, gay teen who is living a bit of a double life: the popular jock and the romantic gay kid, secretly in love, and wrapped up in dark magic. Leo is an openly gay, effeminate, and quirky, also wrapped up in dark magic and doesn't initially want to disentangle himself from the dark magic that has previously helped him get by in the rather hostile environment of the boarding school. The boys find themselves in over their heads both with dark magic and in managing their emotions and finding acceptance in their identities.
I felt conflicted while reading this story and had to give myself some time to process my thoughts on the story afterwards. The author depicted difficulties of living during the AIDS crisis well, really pulling those awful emotions from the reader. It was clear that the author was able to pull some of the content regarding the difficulties of being queer in the 90s from his own experience.
However, what I had to reflect on was the authors writing of a Black main character and this character's experience of racism. Daniel experiences near constant overt racism, racial slurs, and harmful racial stereotypes by his peers throughout the story. The author's portrayal of this racism was not necessary for the story or development and, in my opinion, was poorly handled.
The author does say the following in his author's note at the beginning of the book where he also listed TWs regarding racism and homophobia: "To not include these details would be to white wash history and deny the characters the reality of their intersectional experiences as they would have lived them."
While, I understand the idea of not wanting to "white wash history," I also want authors to understand that if they cannot depict these experiences in a respectful manner, they are doing more harm than good. It is clear that this author did not have enough sensitivity readers for this book or simply didn't care. What purpose did those slurs serve? What purpose did those harmful stereotypes serve? They surely didn't add to character or story development. The author also uses his unique writing style to not include other difficult to discuss details (e.g., the death of a parent) by having the narrator state "I'm not going to go into detail here" or "You'll understand why I don't want to repeat XX." So, why couldn't the author have done the same by referencing that the character experienced slurs without writing such harmful words into the story...onto the page for readers to experience. The author should reflect on this.
Overall, I did enjoy this paranormal dark academia story and I enjoyed seeing the characters grow to accept their queerness. However, for the poorly handled inclusion of racist experiences noted above, I will not be recommending this story to anyone.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Andy Mientus, Kyle Beltran, and Daniel K. Isaac, via NetGalley. An advanced reader's copy of this audiobook was provided to me via NetGalley by RB Media in exchange for an honest review.
TWs: racism, racial slurs, homophobia, internalized biphobia, homophobic slurs, a conversion camp, discrimination on the bases of races and sexual orientation, bullying and assault, death, death of a parent, grief, child abuse, references to a sexual relationship between an adult and a minor, medical content, suicidal thoughts
Graphic: Death, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Biphobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
childoftheninth'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
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for an advance audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Fraternity is out 9/20/22!
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Cancer, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, and Homophobia
Moderate: Blood, Racism, Transphobia, and Vomit
Minor: Deadnaming, Sexual assault, and Sexual content