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cute_emo_bookboy'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: Police brutality
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Blood
cwgonzales'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: Blood, Bullying, Murder, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Classism
a_cera_t0ps'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? Yes
5.0
The book looked at the inherent fault in the concept of a utopia: to be flawed is to be human. To live is to one day die. To love is to risk losing.
In a perfect world, humanity ends up desensitized and stagnant. There are no big emotions, no real wants, and no true progress. Life is boring. The only thing that's still human, ironically, is found in the most horrific, inhumane act someone could commit. Humanity barely lives, and the rest just live to die. To kill. To "glean," as a shiny, perfect, desensitized world would prefer to call it.
The book has a refreshing take on the future. It believes that, if we were to cure death before fighting our way into space, we would never leave. We would grow comfortable in safety, and seek vanquish any attempts to jeopardize it. It was interesting, and I felt it was realistic.
Neal Shusterman shows just how bad humanity is. True humanity leads to the worst of the worst worming their way into power every time. True humanity values themselves over morality. True humanity is ignorant and judgemental. True humanity, simply put, is dangerous. Yet, I we strip mankind of its sin, we are left with nothing worthwhile.
The plot is well connected. It wraps enough of the story up to have a clear, clean plot while still establishing conflict to be dealt with in the following books.
The characters well fleshed out nicely. The ones that were meant to be likeable were wonderful. The antagonists were scary. If not in a thriller/horror way, in a philosophical way. You didn't want them to win, but the threat of their success was just too real. Each response to the conflicts were clever. Nothing was too predictable to be enjoyable or too convoluted to be good storytelling.
The Shustermans are amazing, as always <3
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Bullying, Gun violence, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
cadybooks'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: Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Death, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Grief, Animal death, Suicide, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Blood, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
rightwhrleftme'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: Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Police brutality, Murder, Gore, Violence, Suicide, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Blood
phoebelilly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Genocide, Child death, Police brutality, Self harm, Murder, Suicide, Violence, and Death
adrienanthony's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Suicide, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Grief, and Self harm
Moderate: Police brutality and Medical content
Minor: Torture and Genocide
monniebiloney's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The story has 2 main characters, and the story switched POV after every chapter between them.
The main boy character has my favorite main character personality type, and the story handled him well.
while the female character actually has one of my least favorite character personalities, she is well written for her arcitype which made her grow on me. She is a classic 'spunky female lead who always wants to be #1 and has lots of pride,' but she meshes well with the world and with the other characters.
this book ends in a way that I didn't know that there were more books in the series, which makes me extremely excited for the next book, as only the ebst of writers can have the confidence to not end their books on cliff hangers and knows that if they wrote a good book, people will want to read more.
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence
recycled_personalities's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Gaslighting, Genocide, Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Child death, Grief, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
nicnevin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This has challenged me greatly because I don't really know what to say. There are parts I like and some I don't. I couldn't care less about the romance and yet it is stitched together as vital to the plot. The world building is interesting but kinda vague and I want to discuss that a lot but I don't think this is the right place. It places a weird emphasis on race, like everyone really cares about their 23&Me results.
I guess I want to read the rest, mostly to try and pin down what the point the author is trying to make. It is both too obvious and too obscured. There are screeds about how life was better when death was a thing, actually even though death... Still is a thing?
Idk I need to parse this on my brain.
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Child death, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Mass/school shootings