Scan barcode
gnpunpun'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
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, and Murder
gentle_garbage_baby'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
2.5
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Body horror, and Violence
Minor: Blood, Gun violence, and War
blairwatson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Vibe
It started off quite good, with a mysterious vibe (not sth I’d read personally but I’m looking for sth new and I can understand how ppl can like this book).
Plot and world building
The plot is quite questionable and the pace is inconsistent
Characters
Jacob
I first thought he was a man in his late 20s even tho he’s 15. The way he thinks and acts and talks is not how teenagers usually talk. I’m aware that some teenagers are more serious/mature than others but he isn’t that.
He then went on to
He’s quite thick for someone who is supposed to be smart. His plans are really poorly thought out and he really has no other talent than
Emma
I do not like her at all. She’s 88. I know that she’s in this time loop thingy but she just continued to date her ex’s grandson which is just weird and their relationship seems really toxic too.
Graphic: Incest and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Death, Body horror, and Blood
hoagie's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood
Minor: Antisemitism
moody_gobling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Minor: Blood, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Stalking, and War
bookishbutterfly'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? No
3.25
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: War
erebus53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The story focuses on a teen who is brought up in Florida and who has a close relationship with his Jewish grandfather who survived WWII. The man tells him fanciful stories and and shows him photographs of a children's home where he was raised with kids with special powers. The photographs look fake and a bit dodgy, so nobody believes his stories of special powers and monsters, assuming that they are the mentally divergent accommodations of a traumatised holocaust survivor. As the old man gets increasingly paranoid and the family are considering putting him in a care facility, his grandson goes to check on him, only to find that one of the monsters has got him.
Once his therapist okays the trip, he follows a set of clues in his grandfather's last words, and he travels with his father to a remote island in the UK where his father wishes to observe the local birdlife. There he puts together a puzzle that brings him into contact with people his grandfather once knew, and entangles him in further adventure.
Being set in Florida I notice that there is quite a bit of narrative about the treatment of the elderly. There is a focus on listening to the opinions of older people, and the ways that they are treated in society (there are a lot of rest homes and retirees in Florida, so this follows). I also encountered the term "lenai" for the first time. Intuiting that it was a type of verandah, I looked it up and realised that this common feature of houses in tropical climes was not unknown to me.. my Uncle has one similar to the pictures that I see in an internet web-search, and he lives in Australia.
The story is interesting, deals with alternate timelines and portals, and has a little bit of teen kissing, secret monsters, shape changers, levitating and snorkelling, and some stuff with common or garden necromancy, scary monsters, and sheep poo. This is the first part of a bigger story so it's not surprising that the end of it is a bit of a cliffhanger. I'd like to know what happens next.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Gore
Minor: Kidnapping
kibberbl's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Blood
Moderate: Mental illness, Child death, War, Antisemitism, Stalking, and Excrement
Minor: Ableism, Suicide, and Fatphobia
vanesst's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Murder
Moderate: Excrement, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, War, Alcohol, Antisemitism, and Blood
spookily's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Murder
Moderate: War, Grief, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Genocide
Minor: Abandonment, Child death, Drug use, Medical content, and Infidelity