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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I /really/ wanted to like this book because Jade as a punk-rock-weird-girl-protagonist is endearing, but the pacing was glacial & Jade’s inner monologues (which are like 90% of the book) weren’t used very judiciously.
After all the buildup for 300 pages, the climax punches us in the gut with two reveals that (1) don’t reflect a payoff from the whole journey we’ve been dragged through (2) feel like irresponsible trauma dumping.
And then we get an ending that SGJ has GOT to know isn’t satisfying.
Overall, really neat premise that would’ve benefited from a slasher to excise the majority of its chapters.
After all the buildup for 300 pages, the climax punches us in the gut with two reveals that (1) don’t reflect a payoff from the whole journey we’ve been dragged through (2) feel like irresponsible trauma dumping.
And then we get an ending that SGJ has GOT to know isn’t satisfying.
Overall, really neat premise that would’ve benefited from a slasher to excise the majority of its chapters.
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
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i couldn't stop this once i started. i am so committed to stephen graham jones at this point. this felt like a true town, made with real people. i related in raw ways that left me feeling so scraped out after. i literally just couldn't put it down. i picked up the second book in the trilogy before i even finished the first. you've done it again my friend!!
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not bad. Really slow most of the book and definitely had me eye rolling a lot. Last 50-ish pages were fun but not enough to make it worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Rape
I didn’t get interested until about 70% of the way through, and saying I was interested is being generous. The main girl and her final girl were literally getting hunted down by the apparent murderer but I was still bored. I felt it could have been better. The ending with the bomb dropping of her dad assaulting her as a kid and going to the doctor to see if she was pregnant was strangely underwhelming? I felt this trauma could have been more explicitly explored at a deeper level that was integrated throughout the book. Also, why did the mom not have custody if this was the situation? He's a drunk and she's apparently a troubled child so why was she still with the dad? The writing felt messy, which I wanted to believe was because we were in the mind of a troubled 16 year old but there was no break from her messy train of thought. Maybe people love this if they love slashers, and as someone with minimal knowledge of them, it didn't make me want to indulge in them any more than I already did.
i enjoyed reading this book once i really got into it. sometimes it felt a bit slow but really picked up in the second half
slow-paced