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dojipengin'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: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, and Racism
Minor: Transphobia, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Vomit
cutepatzie'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? No
4.25
Graphic: Transphobia, Racial slurs, Classism, Biphobia, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death, Alcohol, Drug use, and Police brutality
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Bullying
agavemonster's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
A beef I have with the author in both of their books is their inability to give any of the characters a distinctive tone of voice, attitude, or style of speaking. Every single person speaks in witty quips, Twitter-trending jokes of the moment, and popular memes. Even characters who were raised in significantly different settings and upbringings (e.g., Connecticut WASP, Caribbean immigrant, socially isolated white Southern girl) speak exactly the same way and bring the exact same chemistry and tone to a conversation. You could swap the names around in the dialogue tags to change who said what and it would be seamless. A sign of poor and unoriginal writing. The overall fanfic-like writing style was also another point off ("all x and y," as in "all long legs and leather jackets," and "too-" as in "too-fast breathing" were two frequently repeated offenders). And the fact that these exact same criticisms apply identically to Red, White, and Royal Blue show that it's a major issue in the author's work. Dialogue and gestures (like the ever-present jaded flipping someone off) could even be swapped between One Last Stop and RWRB and you wouldn't be able to tell based on tone alone!!
My biggest problem with this book, however, was the egregious use of the term "gay panic" to mean someone getting flustered because they have a gay crush. Despite all the historical research the author did to fill in the characters' queer history (including research on protests of the justice system and homophobically motivated attacks and murders?!?! hello?!!!), they clearly grabbed this phrase as another meme from Tiktok and didn't even bother to web search it. The first result when you do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense
I get that it's just another piece of popular online slang and nobody seems to know their history anymore, but it made my stomach drop, completely took me out of the setting, and made me think that none of these characters have actually experienced repercussions for being visibly out. It strengthens my conviction that the author sourced almost 100% of their knowledge on queer life from broad-strokes research, rather than writing about what they truly know. Any LGBT person growing up in America older than 25 today, let alone the multiple drag queens of color in the book, would be intimately familiar with Matthew Shepard's story in particular and the threat of bodily harm by vengeful straight men in general, and I'm surprised the author's multiple sensitivity readers didn't catch that. Thumbs down. The charming chemistry between the heroines is not enough to outweigh the neverending "witty banter" and the rock in my stomach at "gay panic."
P.S. Two other annoyances I had that didn't fit into the main body of my review (I discuss racism and suicide):
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Homophobia
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
spaghettireads'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? No
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts