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decommissoned's review
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
The artstyle is absolutely immaculate! My only complaint is that it feels like we needed another volume or two to have the characters be more established and developed, as it is now the ending doesn’t really feel ‘earned’ but I definitely enjoyed it!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Child death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
emily_mh's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
It's not like I hated this book, I thought the art was nice and set the tone well (I really liked the use of green!) and I didn't hate picking it up to read it. But aside from that I literally have nothing nice to say about it. So without further ado...
I felt super disconnected from the characters. Only one of the four, Astrid, had any development. There were also no backstories given for any of the characters or any sense of personhood outside of the investigation they were on.
The rest of my critiques are spoilery so here goes:
Firstly, it was such a jump in logic (like a world-breaking long jump LEAP) that a random Polaroid in one of many places in which that the Mayor guy could have hidden a clue would lead to the notebook. Like how on God's green Earth did Astrid and Gus search one room in that one house for two minutes and settle on that being the definitive Next Clue. And absolutely mind-bogglingly, even though the picture is OF THE WELL, when they get to the well the four search EVERYWHERE BUT THE WELL ITSELF. I could not believe my eyes.
Secondly, we don't see the demon developing in terms of character in ANY WAY yet by the end of the book we're supposed to believe it left Astrid willingly? When the entire point of the book so far was to get rid of the demon? It was so anticlimactic.
Finally, the "logic" that was used to explain the naming solution Astrid and Noa came up with for the human/demon didn't make sense and depended on both Astrid and Noa developing around the theme of being found, and this simply was not the case; as mentioned above, Noa had no character development. It would have made more sense for the pair to realise their solution was a play on words and so technically still followed the demonic rules, hence it being able to work.
I felt super disconnected from the characters. Only one of the four, Astrid, had any development. There were also no backstories given for any of the characters or any sense of personhood outside of the investigation they were on.
The rest of my critiques are spoilery so here goes:
Secondly, we don't see the demon developing in terms of character in ANY WAY yet by the end of the book we're supposed to believe it left Astrid willingly? When the entire point of the book so far was to get rid of the demon? It was so anticlimactic.
Finally, the "logic" that was used to explain the naming solution Astrid and Noa came up with for the human/demon didn't make sense and depended on both Astrid and Noa developing around the theme of being found, and this simply was not the case; as mentioned above, Noa had no character development. It would have made more sense for the pair to realise their solution was a play on words and so technically still followed the demonic rules, hence it being able to work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Ableism, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Murder, Cursing, and Gore
Moderate: fainting Minor: illness, missing loved one, insectsmotaki's review
adventurous
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
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