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annemariemulksibb'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death
Minor: Mass/school shootings, Suicide, and Vomit
honeyenbee'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: Violence, Child death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Blood, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Vomit
Moderate: Racial slurs, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Gore, Car accident, Cancer, and Mental illness
Minor: Bullying, Grief, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail
ladygray_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Vomit, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child death, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship
michelles_book_nook's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Suicide, Murder, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Mass/school shootings and Sexual assault
spookshow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I had been seeing this book across bookstagram a lot, so I guess you could say that it was a bookstagram-made-me-buy-it book. I was super keen to get into it as I've been on a huge horror kick the last twelve odd months, and this one stood out and sounded so different to anything else I'd read. While this wasn't the book that I had hoped that it would be, it didn't disappoint me as such, it just turned out so totally different to what I was expecting and I'm still trying to work out how I feel about it. This ended up being more of a slow build cosmic horror, which isn't a bad thing by any means, I was just expecting something totally different. So I think my feeling of being slightly let down, is definitely a case of - it was me, not the book. I try not to put expectations on books before I read them because I've learned over the years that this can tend to lead to disappointment or feeling slightly let down when something doesn't turn out the way that I had envisioned in my head from the cover and blurb. Let's be honest thought, it's hard to NOT have a preconceived notion on what a book is going to be.
The story is told through mostly three alternating POVs, there are a couple of other's thrown in there throughout the book, but the three main points of view that we read through are Nath, Maddie and Oliver. The book opened on a pretty electrifying scene (pardon the pun, it was totally intended), and I was pretty intrigued by the first character that we meet. I enjoyed the characters of Oliver and Nathan the most. Nathan who is trying his hardest to not turn into the man who terrorised him his whole life, and trying to deal with that ingrained trauma to the point that he probably overanalyses pretty much every action or word that he has with his son. You can see right from the start that he is a genuine guy who managed to break the cycle. Oliver, oh Oliver, this boy was like a sweet beacon of shining light. He feels things too much, he feels EVERYTHING too much. His empathic abilities are off the charts and I couldn't even imagine feeling what he does on the daily. He just wants quite and he wants peace and kindness and I loved seeing that in such a young character. As the story progresses, with everything that happens to him and that he goes through, he never once has malicious or nefarious thoughts towards those who hurt him, he's forever wondering if there's a way that he could fix THEIR pain so that they wouldn't choose to hurt others. He came across as such a selfless character and I loved that about him. Maddie, I liked her enough, but for a huge chunk of the book she just annoyed me mostly. Yes she has trauma and yes she's trying to remember things that she knows are connected to what they're experiencing in present day, but she came across as so self centered to me, until probably the last 150 odd pages, I ended up liking her more by the end, so she did have a lot of redeeming qualities. One thing that bugged me a bit, and still kinda bugs me, is we meet a character pretty early on in the story, I was expecting this character to have a pretty pivotal role in the plot as a whole, but...they just didn't? Not in my opinion anyway. They sort of disappeared and briefly would pop in, but we mostly didn't see them again until the last part of the book and I'm still not overly sure of the point of their existence in the story. Yeah I get the overall thing with the big bad and that it wasn't just going to one person, but this character still seemed rather pointless to me, they just helped drive a part of another plot device. That's probably another "it's me not the book" things though. One thing I absolutely loved was when we meet an alternate version of a character, and my heart just swelled with how this person interacted with another character. I'm trying to be as vague as possible because I don't want to give to much away, but I feel like I'm just speaking nonsense.
The story itself was a twist and sometimes confusing one. There were a lot of strings in this story, and while, yeah, they did all kind of intertwine and have a point, there was a LOT going on. So at times I felt like I was just sitting in a giant pile of strings that were all twisted up and I couldn't find the end or the beginning and it was just a giant mess. Things did straighten out as the story progressed, as they normally do, but for a while there, it felt like a whole lot of nothing was kind of happening. Everything made sense in the end, and yes, everything had a purpose, but there is a lot of set up that is happening in this story, so be prepared for that. The pacing did fall flat for me a fair bit, which is why it took me so long to finish it I think. That and life. I was interested in the characters and where they were heading, it was just a slower paced novel than what I had anticipated it being. Again, not inherently a bad thing, just not what I was after I guess.
All in all, this was a horror novel that really stands out because it IS different to pretty much everything else I've read. And when you read as much as I do, that is refreshing. Wendig is great at writing and creating characters that you can really get behind and that you really hope will make it through the story unscathed as much as possible. I couldn't even begin to imagine how this story came to fruition as it's so complex and there is so much happening in it that I have no idea how Wendig was able to keep everything straight and tie it all up at the end in a way that was satisfying. If you're looking for a horror novel that has more than just the stereotypical cookie cutter characters, characters with flaws and depth and trauma, and a story that is just so different to most others, give this one a go. Don't let the page count or the slow pace put you off, stick with it, it really is a rewarding novel and honestly, I'm still thinking about it a month after finishing it.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
dandaloriian'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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Alcoholism
fortunavhs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
That isn’t to say there isn’t a lot I did enjoy! There’s some great horror in this book, particularly surrounding mines which are a personal favourite horror setting of mine. There were some particularly nasty elements,
If I had to make one overarching criticism of the novel, it would be that Maddie’s story arc didn’t get enough focus. It’s subjective of course - she happened to have the plotline most interesting to me. There was a *lot* going on in the book, also - content for several standalone novels, but I understand I like more detail and slower pacing than the average reader.
The other major criticism I have comes with some necessary caveats. I absolutely welcome humour and light hearted moments in all genres, and have no issue with cultural references whatsoever (particularly I oppose the idea that they would make a book dated/prevent it from being timeless), but this book is very heavy on the quips to a distracting degree. And there was one specific example that really bothered me:
One thing I’m always quite vigilant about is how realistically teenagers are written - it seems to be where a lot of authors falter. There were definitely times that veered into 80s movie archetypes in the high school scenes, as well as a little bit of the “how do you do, fellow kids?” type of approach, but on the whole, I felt like Oliver was a well written character. I do appreciate depictions of queer youth who have come to terms with their identity but not at a point of wanting to come out, as well as teen characters of any sexuality without a romantic subplot - just simply the acknowledgment that for many teens that’s not a priority whatsoever! In terms of other diversity, I’m less sure - there’s a lesbian character in a single scene whose sexuality only seemed to be brought up so Wendig could say he had lesbian representation, and the two main characters of colour both each have a line mocking white people - not that they can’t, but since they were created by a white man, it felt like he was patting himself on the back for being a good ally.
Tl:dr: There were absolutely elements to love about this book but I felt the author was restrained from exploring them fully and there was a lot of wasted potential for them. I would still recommend this to people who are fan of stories about familial love prevailing, but I’m a cold hearted edgelord (as the characters of this book would call me) and wanted more darkness.
Graphic: Child abuse
leahcatching's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Murder, Body horror, Cancer, Addiction, and Alcoholism
cait_reads_and_drinks'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Bullying
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicide
niicoleg'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail