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jesshart8'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
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Child death
Moderate: Bullying, Vomit, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail
rebeccajost's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Stalking, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Drug use, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Grief
taelights's review against another edition
Also the sisters basically having to sexually assult people for their magic to work is not it.
TW if you have an eating disorder because there are frequent mentions of possible triggers that I'm putting under spoilers if you want specifics:
Graphic: Blood, Death, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Gore, and Sexual assault
dorleness'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
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Medical content, Mental illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, and Alcoholism
kateyjay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Another big big let down was the representation in the book, through the opening chapters it was stipulated that 2 of the 3 main characters were queer. We hardly saw this at all which was very disappointing and bordering on tokenism to try and be “relevant” to a YA demographic.
The characters were all pretty one dimensional, you have a mysterious model/fashion designer who is dating a male model, a base player in a band, and Iris who seems to have no personality except for being the golden child and loving her sisters.
While the world building was good and the idea of “halfway” was very well depicted, leaving the characters so flat made the story fall flat. It would have been much more interesting told through the eyes of Cate and Gabe
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, and Vomit
Moderate: Blood
karapillar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Kidnapping, Murder, Vomit, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Bullying, and Mental illness
mpbookreviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Death of parent, Animal death, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Mental illness
ocean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Stalking, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Violence
Minor: Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, and Death
emily_mh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Death, Vomit, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Stalking, Drug use, Suicide, Child abuse, Cursing, Body horror, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Violence, Child death, Kidnapping, Grief, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Misogyny, Animal death, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Car accident, Excrement, Physical abuse, Bullying, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Self harm, Sexism, Mental illness, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence
HP reference. Moderate warnings for loss of a loved one, missing child, drowning, self injury, insects. Minor warnings for stillbirth, internalised misogyny.frankiejo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
this was an incredible read that I tore through in less than a week. a definite page turner if there ever was one.
to be honest, the beginning left me a little bit worried. while i very much enjoyed the atmosphere and mood that beginning set, i felt at the start that things were a little overdescribed/overwrought/overdramatic, what have you, and that the exposition was a little heavy-handed and unsubtle, interrupting the narrative to explain what the girls were like as young children, or telling us their personalities, or describing the past reactions to their disappearance. i think the book could have benefited from a chapter or two at the beginning, maybe one showing their disappearance and the immediate aftermath, and the second showing their return and subsequent weirdness? the prologue could still be the same, because it's a brilliant hook, so it would be prologue - flashback - flash-forward - continue as written. i think that would have helped with the sometimes heavy handed exposition.
but these issues either dissapear completely or become negligible in the face of this book's fantastic middle and ending—or, like half the beginning, the middle, and the ending. i don't know, structure points like that are blurry as hell.
i honestly could not tell you if the exposition was poor after the beginning—it certainly seemed like less of an issue to me, but it might have just been so good i completely ignored it. the twist (which i wont spoil) is brilliant. it was perfectly executed. just enough clues and foreshadowing were given that i almost guessed it (i guessed something kind of similar, i had one major element wrong) but it wasn't obvious, although in hindsight there are definitely enough hints to guess the twist in its entirety, which isn't a bad thing! in fact i think its a good thing.
another thing i like about the twist is that i think the book would still work if you went in already knowing it. i feel like today we act like knowing a spoiler is the worst thing that could ever happen to a reader or viewer, especially with franchises like Marvel not even telling their actors the context for the scene they're doing to avoid them accidentally spoiler their Sacred Movie, but my honest opinion if that if knowing a spoiler ruins your movie's/book's/tv show's rewatch/reread value. and i just put this book down and i already want to reread it to see all the foreshadowing i missed. like go through with a highlighter and everything, haha. so if you already know the twist, don't worry, there is still plenty of value in the book, youll just have a different kind of fun realising all the foreshadowing i may have missed!
also, the ending leaves plenty of room open for a sequel if Sutherland wants to write one, but it's still a satisfying ending if there is no sequel, which is a skill!
all in all, a brilliantly plotted and executed read, with a slightly rocky beginning more than made up for once the ball gets rolling.
rep; bi main character, lesbian major character, gender-nonconforming major characters, korean major character
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Vomit, Child death, Grief, and Gun violence
Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Murder, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Suicide
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Drug use, and Misogyny
moderate nudity, moderate smoking, graphic binge eating, graphic bugs (entomophobia trigger),