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payeswoods'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
2.0
Graphic: Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
joeyvelcro's review
- 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
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Slavery, and Islamophobia
beccabuse's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
bumfinity'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? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and War
nekoprankster218'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? Yes
5.0
This is definitely one of the books everyone should read at least once in their lives, one of the novels that should be added to English class curriculum. It's a good story on its own, but the added themes of revolution and anti-colonialism elevates it, especially in the current era. I've been utilizing my library to get through my TBR to save on money and space, but if I ever had the chance, I would purchase this book to keep forever.
My one gripe is honestly pretty nit-picky: I don't like how dialogue 'uses "punctuation" like this', "instead of 'like 'this'". It threw me off at the start and I never fully got used to it even by the end.
At first the pacing was also throwing me off, but by the time I reached the final chapters, I realized why it was like that and it's no longer a fault to me. I really enjoy how this novel feels like a progression of one type of story turning into another and then further into another; it feels realistic for the events and relates the reader even more to the main characters, who certainly wouldn't have expected their cozy academic fantasy to turn so jarringly.
This book made me feel at least twice now an experience of "this can't actually be happening, this is not real, they're gonna pull the rug under me and reveal this as a dream sequence... NO WAIT THIS IS GENUINELY WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" and it was exhilarating. I can't think of any other story that gave me such a deep sense of... unreal shock? I can think of life events, which coincidentally happened around the time of reading this and were pretty relevant to the themes.
Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
onmypocket's review
- 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
1.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
eldervampire83'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and War
elliott_the_clementine'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? Yes
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
khymihr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Torture
Minor: Gun violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
lis98's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I heard criticism that this book tackled too many themes and bc of that didn’t go deep enough in some aspects for some people. I personally didn’t feel that way even though I can see where people were coming from. I think it was a choice to make it more about how this affected the individual characters personally and it made it so much more personal for the reader so I really am glad the author made that decision. Especially in hindsight about the importance they put on how people would only care if it affected them personally it was a very powerful choice to focus on the main characters motivations and inner world like this.
I also really enjoyed the academic theory about language and translation a lot. It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea but as someone who spends a lot of time learning and engaging with other languages this is something I find extremely fascinating. It also made the dark academia themes much more engaging and believable and play into the story more.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism