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adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
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
This book is one of the best I have ever read. Am I crying over it? Yes. Definitely.
I don’t know where to start my explanation.
A lot of people find the main character annoying but I actually thought he was hilarious. I was laughing a lot of times at the jokes and comments he made. Him and his love interest were adorable. But the most adorable off all was Grasshopper, she was my favorite for sure!!
Also this book was classified as an adult book by Francis White herself. I was very confused about that until I got to the end-
I did not see the end and all the plot twists coming, not at all. I tried to guess who it was but it was very unexpected, which made the end all the better. I really got pulled into the story and emotions in this book. Would I recommend this book? 100%
I don’t know where to start my explanation.
A lot of people find the main character annoying but I actually thought he was hilarious. I was laughing a lot of times at the jokes and comments he made. Him and his love interest were adorable. But the most adorable off all was Grasshopper, she was my favorite for sure!!
Also this book was classified as an adult book by Francis White herself. I was very confused about that until I got to the end-
I did not see the end and all the plot twists coming, not at all. I tried to guess who it was but it was very unexpected, which made the end all the better. I really got pulled into the story and emotions in this book. Would I recommend this book? 100%
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Blood
Minor: Suicide
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Blood
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A different kind of murder mystery with magic, politics and an intriguing world. The characters were wonderfully diverse and I'm glad for that. Fast paced read that really kept you on your toes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Terminal illness
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My feelings about this book are kinda all over the place. I didn't want to stop reading the book, but I didn't exactly like it. I cared for very few of the characters, but I wanted to know what their secrets were. I liked some parts of the prose and disliked others. I'm glad I read this as a group read-along with discussion questions, though, because that gave me something to focus on other than my annoyance at the main character and meant I never even considered DNFing the book.
THE BAD:
To start with the things I didn't like, I have to start with Dee. I did NOT like him as a character. I started to like him more than at the beginning (where I, along with just about everyone else, hated him) but I never actually liked him. Plus, his sense of humor clashed so very hard with what I think is funny. (Except the surprisingly fun puns he sweet-talked Tendai with.) I got (and didn't like) wannabe Hunger Games vibes from this book between the numbered provinces, the kill-or-be-killed mentality, and the Grasshopper / Rue similarities. I also didn't like the resolution to the mystery, but won't go into why due to spoilers.
Oh, and side note: I don't care that the main character is supposedly 22, this does not read like an adult book. I might class it as New Adult instead of YA, but it really doesn't feel like a book aimed at adults to me. Everyone acts too childish for that (and only the 6-year-old gets a pass on acting childish).
THE SO-SO:
I was interested in how / why each province had a "look" to it, so that you could tell who was from where by looking at them. The realm didn't look that obviously separated in all places (with some exceptions), so I wonder why the people were so drastically different. I also was really interested in the Crabs and what's happening on their side of the border, but since this isn't that story I didn't get any of the answers that I wanted.
THE GOOD:
And let's close with the things I actually liked about this book: some of the side characters were great. I really liked Shinjiro from the start and came to really like Tendai and Newgüi. I liked the worldbuilding concept with the different provinces having their own Blessed and each with their own power. Not enough on the "I liked it" side for me to say I liked the book, but at least I had fun with my overall reading experience.
THE BAD:
To start with the things I didn't like, I have to start with Dee. I did NOT like him as a character. I started to like him more than at the beginning (where I, along with just about everyone else, hated him) but I never actually liked him. Plus, his sense of humor clashed so very hard with what I think is funny. (Except the surprisingly fun puns he sweet-talked Tendai with.) I got (and didn't like) wannabe Hunger Games vibes from this book between the numbered provinces, the kill-or-be-killed mentality, and the Grasshopper / Rue similarities. I also didn't like the resolution to the mystery, but won't go into why due to spoilers.
Oh, and side note: I don't care that the main character is supposedly 22, this does not read like an adult book. I might class it as New Adult instead of YA, but it really doesn't feel like a book aimed at adults to me. Everyone acts too childish for that (and only the 6-year-old gets a pass on acting childish).
THE SO-SO:
I was interested in how / why each province had a "look" to it, so that you could tell who was from where by looking at them. The realm didn't look that obviously separated in all places (with some exceptions), so I wonder why the people were so drastically different. I also was really interested in the Crabs and what's happening on their side of the border, but since this isn't that story I didn't get any of the answers that I wanted.
THE GOOD:
And let's close with the things I actually liked about this book: some of the side characters were great. I really liked Shinjiro from the start and came to really like Tendai and Newgüi. I liked the worldbuilding concept with the different provinces having their own Blessed and each with their own power. Not enough on the "I liked it" side for me to say I liked the book, but at least I had fun with my overall reading experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt
Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Death of parent
CW note: the self-harm is due to circumstances other than depression (almost more of a truth-or-dare thing) but it still happens.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
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
Finding myself unsure of where to place this book on a rating scale. On the one hand, I mostly enjoyed it. It was a flamboyant, irreverent romp of a novel, with magic and a murder mystery whodunnit story line. On the other hand, I found certain twists in the ending…odd. Particularly the discovery that Wyatt was really Ravi all along, who killed people for Dee, and…idk. I just didn’t buy into that romantic twist or element. And I didn’t particularly feel that Dee as a character would either? Plus other elements in the ending which felt unbelievable, like Dee surviving a drop off the cliff and Ravi cutting off his hand…but I digress.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Bullying, Fatphobia, Sexual content, War
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Classism
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I decided to edit my review because after stewing on the book for a couple of days, I think my opinion has changed greatly. I don't exactly hate this book but it is rife with unfortunate implications that I don't think the author necessarily realised she'd included. I know there was some controversy regarding the book being marketed as Adult, but I went in firmly expecting it to be Young Adult so although the juvenile writing gave me mixed feelings, what made me raise my eyebrows in confusion was the part where characters had to commit yubitsume or else their secrets would be spilled . Otherwise, I don't think the book is quite the bold and revolutionary story it claims to be.
I have a crack theory as to why the book is the way that it is, and that throughout the book I kept saying to myself "oh, I'm getting Danganronpa vibes from this". Namely from a combination of the premise of a group of gifted individuals in a closed environment killing each other, and Ganymedes generally acting like a Danganronpa protagonist (though they are still much better detectives than he could ever be, since Dee barely did any actual detective work or mystery solving). Some other things that only strengthened my theory wereEudora kicking off the string of murders by being found dead on a chandelier like Chisa; Ravi faking his death and coming back in the final act; Dee gaining everyone's powers at the mountain like Hajime turning into Izuru, and then Hajime's hair colour changing to reconcile with his old and new self like in the final Class Trial. It makes me wonder if the author wanted to make their own Danganronpa but with more LGBTQ+ characters, since the representation came off more as gratuitous than anything meaningful most of the time.
I have a crack theory as to why the book is the way that it is, and that throughout the book I kept saying to myself "oh, I'm getting Danganronpa vibes from this". Namely from a combination of the premise of a group of gifted individuals in a closed environment killing each other, and Ganymedes generally acting like a Danganronpa protagonist (though they are still much better detectives than he could ever be, since Dee barely did any actual detective work or mystery solving). Some other things that only strengthened my theory were
Concerning the unfortunate implications:
- On a general note, a lot of the characters felt like they showed up, told us their tragic backstory and gender identity/sexual orientation and then died, making them feel comically hollow and not like actual characters.
- Being agender and aroace myself, I'm disappointed but not surprised at Nergui being portrayed as the cold emotionless one. It felt like they were made agender as a third sex so they wouldn't be included in the alloromantic/allosexual escapades on board, and their coldness reinforces bullshit stereotypes that we have to endure just because we don't experience romantic or sexual attraction.
- Was it just me or did it feel weird that everyone was happy to call each other by their names most of the time but Newande (a young Black girl) was almost exclusively called "Grasshopper"? Sure she's a kid and it makes her sound cuter, but Dee could have called her by a nickname based off of her name and not her title for similar effect.
- Tendai, who appears to be arab-muslim coded, wipes herself clean on several occasions with her headscarf which I sincerely doubt any real world muslims would do
So the big plot twist not only retroactively undid every single bit of character development to the chronically ill Wyatt, it implied that Ravi essentially choose to kill and take his place because he was chronically ill and was going to die anyway. And Dee somehow manages to see past all of that and takes Ravi back without a second thought because he wants to fuck the guy so badly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Grief, Suicide attempt, War, Classism
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexual content, War