Reviews

Off With Their Heads by Zoe Hana Mikuta

livinginsolitude's review against another edition

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dark
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

goblintales's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.0

rellerson's review against another edition

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It was too much body horror for me, but the writing and world building is incredible. If I wasn’t squeamish, I would keep reading 

sofiireads's review against another edition

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3.0

"we're all mad here" yeah no kidding

with a slow start and an off-putting story this was a hell of a ride

densorcell's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Wild and interesting relationship progressions: friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to…

I think this story is distinct enough to warrant its own property instead of tying itself to Alice in Wonderland, but the connections don’t hamstring the book and a few were quite clever. 

I really like how Off With Their Heads handles pacing and time (and I often struggle to keep track of flashbacks and time skips). Important events are able to be well-written and lingered upon because time skips are utilized to maintain overall pacing. The time skips and flashbacks are listed not only by year, but also by a countdown, which makes the flow of time much easier to follow.

It did take me a few chapters to get used to the writing style, which uses a fragmented and repetitive (eg “curioser and curioser,” “perhaps, perhaps”) Alice-in-Wonderland-esque narrator that had me rereading lines/sentences over and over without realizing, as if I had glitched.

charlotteregan's review against another edition

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2.0

No this was actually VERY good bc the premise is one of my faves but the execution was so poor sigh ☹️ 

tidestriders's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

there were lines i liked but.. that was about it. i could not tell you a single plot point about this book, the timelines and pov switch were so confusing, and the characters unreedemable. i also found the switch between romanized korean and hangul a little awkward, its best just to pick one imo, especially since the translation was provided anyway

jcwright's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

taliwa's review against another edition

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3.0

3/5

I enjoyed that this book had the same whimsical feeling as the original Alice in Wonderland story, however, this book was pretty confusing. I had a hard time understanding the different timelines and connecting to the characters. Overall, I loved the fact that this was a queer retelling of the classic, but I wish the storyline was less confusing.

Thank you NetGalley and Disney Audiobooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. 

mo345's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I wanted to like this more than I did, but unfortunately the writing was quite confusing and the plot felt like it was only loosely connected. I didn’t really click with any of the characters and the twist wasn’t set up throughout the story to make the payoff really worth it. However, the plot was original and it was interesting enough to keep me going.