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greygryph's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Bullying, Violence, and Death
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
zabeishumanish's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-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
5.0
This book is delightfully and unexpectedly fully compliant with the first book. The book takes place at the same LitenVard store that Jules and Ava initially take off from. Even the timeline of this book is fully canon compliant, yet the stories exist entirely separate from each other. I loved the first book of this series, and I'm shocked, but delighted to say that this one surpasses that.
Whether he was intended to be or not, Derek is written as an autistic character. Whose special interest is essentially, LitenVard. As an autistic reader parts of Derek’s experiences were incredibly painful to read. From practicing the way he speaks to being entirely clueless about his coworker's reactions, Derek’s vulnerability was a tangible and often painful thing to read.
This book is the closest thing to a horror/thriller I've ever read and found myself enjoying. The tension this book creates is remarkable and the subsequent release of that tension is perfectly cathartic. This is the kind of book that you leave feeling like you've done more than just read a book.
This is a life-changing kind of book.
Whether he was intended to be or not, Derek is written as an autistic character. Whose special interest is essentially, LitenVard. As an autistic reader parts of Derek’s experiences were incredibly painful to read. From practicing the way he speaks to being entirely clueless about his coworker's reactions, Derek’s vulnerability was a tangible and often painful thing to read.
This book is the closest thing to a horror/thriller I've ever read and found myself enjoying. The tension this book creates is remarkable and the subsequent release of that tension is perfectly cathartic. This is the kind of book that you leave feeling like you've done more than just read a book.
This is a life-changing kind of book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Physical abuse
zabeishumanish's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This audiobook has a different reader than the first of the series, but the narration is no less fantastic. Especially since there are so many different versions of Derek to give voice to, the way that each of those voices is unique really moves the story along in a fun way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse and Body horror
huntress's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal cruelty
sarafinley's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- 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
Very rarely do I love the second book in a series more than the first. I enjoyed Finna, but Defekt really surprised me. This managed to be simultaneously heavy and hilarious; mixing commentary on capitalism and self worth with rogue toilets who occasionally go viral for dancing on the internet. An excellent time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Violence
wecallthewind's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Transphobia
vainnerj's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
novella42's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-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
4.5
This book was bizarre and beautiful, and I genuinely don't know why I pushed myself through extreme discomfort (body horror is a trigger for my C-PTSD) to finish it. Except that I loved Derek. And Delilah and Darkness. I needed to know what happened to them, but more than that, I think I seriously needed to know how they solved the disaster of being trapped in a haunted capitalist hellscape. Mood, right?
I'm recovering from extreme professional burnout right now, and Derek's unwavering devotion to his job brought up some Feelings™ for me. (I literally coined some marketing phrases involving the "family" of a nonprofit where I once worked. It was toxic AF and I have realized that was one way I coped with inhuman demands, by mentally adjusting myself to survive there.)
On that leveI, and also as a neurodivergent person with a disability, I resonated strongly with Derek's aching loneliness and desperation to connect with any other humans, even those who treated him like a tool or an outsider. I deeply appreciated the way the author handles the concept of defects, being discordant, being too much, too sensitive, too different.
This book hits differently than FINNA, I think because Derek's growth starts from his desperate loyalty and love for something that hurts him. To me it reads like Steven Universe in a Stranger Things world.
Also, speaking as someone with annoyingly sensitive mirror neurons or whatever it is that makes me experience other people's physical pain when I witness it, huge props to Cipri for the way they depicted that phenomenon in the book. One related scene to that, I absolutely had to put the book down and go get a drink. Dear God. I hope for your sake, Cipri, that this was an homage to Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, and not something you struggle with too.
I probably won't be able to read this book again but I am glad I read it and will recommend it to anyone who can handle Stranger Things. Beautiful and weird and wonderful.
I'm recovering from extreme professional burnout right now, and Derek's unwavering devotion to his job brought up some Feelings™ for me. (I literally coined some marketing phrases involving the "family" of a nonprofit where I once worked. It was toxic AF and I have realized that was one way I coped with inhuman demands, by mentally adjusting myself to survive there.)
On that leveI, and also as a neurodivergent person with a disability, I resonated strongly with Derek's aching loneliness and desperation to connect with any other humans, even those who treated him like a tool or an outsider. I deeply appreciated the way the author handles the concept of defects, being discordant, being too much, too sensitive, too different.
This book hits differently than FINNA, I think because Derek's growth starts from his desperate loyalty and love for something that hurts him. To me it reads like Steven Universe in a Stranger Things world.
Also, speaking as someone with annoyingly sensitive mirror neurons or whatever it is that makes me experience other people's physical pain when I witness it, huge props to Cipri for the way they depicted that phenomenon in the book. One related scene to that, I absolutely had to put the book down and go get a drink. Dear God. I hope for your sake, Cipri, that this was an homage to Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, and not something you struggle with too.
I probably won't be able to read this book again but I am glad I read it and will recommend it to anyone who can handle Stranger Things. Beautiful and weird and wonderful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Classism, Cursing, Grief, Ableism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Islamophobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Transphobia, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Some more detailed spoiler-level content warnings for anyone who needs them. These are not comprehensive, because I think I have already mentally blocked some stuff. (Yay, fun brain tricks!)tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Well-written and with an even stronger anti-corporate message than Finna. More body horror than I prefer, but that's my deal, not the book's.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Bullying
Moderate: Murder, Blood, and Violence