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robinks'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: Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Cursing, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Sexual content, Car accident, Infidelity, and Medical content
dirtyseagull'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? It's complicated
4.25
Not really a spoiler, its in the title.
But here are some very minor spoilers if you wanna keep reading. You are getting a lot of the same here as you did in the first novel, just longer. There's backstory, more world-building, and a shit ton of callbacks to the first novel (and little easter eggs) which give context for who these characters were that were either mentioned or featured in the first story.
These mostly work in service of the novel but sometimes feel like they are just kinda cameos for the sake of cameos and they could have been cut down or cut out. The only other thing that really makes me think that this could have been better is that the story itself, while different and heart wrenching feels far less emotionally powerful to me.
Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child death, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
greenlivingaudioworm'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
4.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Murder, and Violence
ladywren890's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, and Death
Minor: Cursing, Cancer, Blood, Infidelity, and Homophobia
kooky_kayla'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
4.5
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, Religious bigotry, Medical content, and Cursing
scifijunkie21's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Cursing, and Physical abuse
ashsparrow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Cursing, Death, Chronic illness, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, and Mass/school shootings
Minor: Sexual content
holly_daze_'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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Cursing, Grief, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, and Medical content
teacherkmd'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
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Gun violence
Minor: Death of parent and Car accident
hzcyr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
There are points I also personally thought repetitive or would take a lot of disbelief. It definitely begins to explore some interesting questions but I don't think it goes hsrd enough. The love story itself is adequately good. I do think there are better LGBTQIA+, last-day death-love stories.
• Supposedly, ~8,000 USA citizens die each day [lazy Googling] and yet everyone complains that Death-Cast could be a fialure on launch, despite holding a 100% correction rate of people not dying that don't die and a 0.15% error rate (12/8,000) of people supposed to die but were not contacted. Like, it seems wild that everyone just assumed this system was supposed to be perfect or a complete wreck if anything less.
• On the topic of numbers, Death-Cast is staffed by (I believe) 20 therapists to make calls and an 'optimal' call should last 5 minutes. Assuming a 7.5hr work shift, that's only 90 calls at most or 1,800 if the entire staff worked all shift.
• Adding on that, it feels really cult-like that everyone just welcomes Death-Cast so openly. Some minor characters do question it and there appear to be some terrorist rebels but, even if people don't know how it's so accurate, they all just assume day 1 that one is a doomed individual.
• The CEO, Joaquin, and his wife, Naya, are just so...ignorant and apathetic to this very revolutionary technology. They keep saying it'll help improve lives and it spins as this technology being for the positive but, after the Valentino's call, Joaquin is more worried about press and how his technology looks. Meanwhile Naya is offering water fountains to therapists telling in 5 minute intervals to 90 people that they'll die in 24hrs and if they're not keeping to this optimum, they'll be at risk of poor job performance because 'it'll save many lives'. I would've been more interested if Joaquin, Naya, or their son was one of the people to get the call for launch day.
• Valentino and Orion's meeting, love, and death (for one of them) is all within 21hrs. It's very Romeo & Juliet energy. Like, in suspension of disbeleif, sure, they're in love. And they do have some cute moments. But there's also bits that just do not feel they match for the time they have.
• In a book of very many ethical questions, it feels very unfulfilling because it generally just assumes DeathCast to be good for all. At the end, Joaquin wants to expand and "make sure the military don't weaponise it etc." but it feels very "...and they all lived happily ever after" saccharine for DeathCast. It somewhat explores this, e.g., Doctors won't treat Deckers, flights won't take off if they contain a Decker, they'll be looters and rebellions in response to predictive death technology. But, I think it just misses a lot of nuance. Will the medical industry start an organ harvest system for deckers? Can I prove this system isn't perfect? For the 21hrs of expected death, Valentino is really restrcited and ostracised in many ways for being forced to be a decker and we just accept that as okay because "it'd save more lives if...".
• I don't like that, halfway through, the story decides to adjunct on this plot of "who ELSE will die?". Much as the side characters help add nuance or alternate perspective, it just felt that this added mystery of who else will die took away from the already mystery of when and how Valentino would die, or if he even would at all. I honestly think this story would've just been fine or better focusing in on Valentino & Orion without this B-plot.
I have more issues but on the positives:
• The potrayal of domestic abuse was well done. This was terrifyingly written that I was quite uncomfortable.
• The relationships between characters was generally well done. I like that Scarlett & Orion's sister and their relationships with Valentino & Orion aren't cast aside. The minor characters had some fun dynamics too. Rolando was a bae throughout.
• The potrayal of the message it presents at the end regarding embracing every moment pre-death is decent.
• About 55% way through, I felt like their was genuine connection between Valentino & Orion that felt reasonably believable.
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Grief, Homophobia, and Violence
Minor: Cursing and Religious bigotry