Reviews

The Edge of Being by James Brandon

readingindreams's review

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

4.0

norassick's review

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4.0

i love love loved this , it helped me go through some feelings and for that i’m forever grateful

adambwriter's review

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4.0

I love James Brandon and I’m glad I chose this book to be my first read of 2023 (although I still prefer and adore his first book, Ziggy, Stardust and Me.) The Author’s Note at the end of this one is a must-read.

mel_muses's review

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3.0

I usually put trigger warnings at the end, but I'm going to put them here, at the top, because I was majorly unprepared and don't want anyone else to be, either.

Trigger Warnings: depictions of self-harm (cutting), talk of suicidal ideation, dismissal of mental illness of a side character, physical and emotional abuse of a side character, discussion of sexual assault of a side character, transphobia, queerphobia, misgendering

The Edge of Being follows Isaac (nicknamed Fig) on his search for his father. Feeling lost without his dad, and not really knowing what he wants to do with his life, he decides to take his boyfriend and follow the trail of clues his dad left behind. Except in the middle of his road trip to San Francisco, his car breaks down and he meets a girl named Max who offers them a ride. And while Fig and Max start forming a closer relationship, cracks in his relationship with his boyfriend start to grow larger and larger. And Fig feels more lost than ever before.

I finished this book with an overwhelming feeling of whiplash. I think this book had a lot of strands it was trying to follow through with — Fig's relationship with his boyfriend, his growing feelings for Max, his search for his dad, and his understanding of himself — and it just ended up being too much. I would have really liked to have seen less things thrown in there for shock value, and more development on maybe one or two aspects. And while I liked the overall feeling and understanding Fig comes to about his dad, I wish it happened sooner.

I loved the way queer history before Stonewall was worked in. I really enjoyed how the past and present collide, and how I was able to learn along with Fig about all these riots and protests and the key role trans women played in them.

What I was not a big fan of in terms of the queer rep, though, was how it had the pansexual MC lowkey cheat on his boyfriend? I mean, no matter your sexuality, that's just... not a great thing to do. But (and speaking as someone who is NOT pan or bi) I really wish that was less of a plot point. I think it could have been so much more impactful had the boyfriend (I forget his name) either (a) not existent (b) already be broken up with or (c) just be another friend. I don't think it's a good look to have the main character fall in love with someone else while still in a relationship — especially considering how it unwittingly falls into the stereotype of people who like more than one gender being unfaithful.

I don't not recommend this book — it had a lot of great history worked in, and I don't think there's much other media like it. However, I really did not enjoy how much of the plot rested on extreme drama and events, and I felt there was a lot of undeveloped space of actual self-exploration.

kalynwebb's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

thatguyler's review

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informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

aplis's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-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

5.0

namelesssam_'s review

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? N/A

4.5

caelboy's review

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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

4.0

calamitymeat's review

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

2.5

I loved Ziggy, Stardust, and Me. It is quite literally my favourite book of all time, but I could barely make it through this book.

Some of the dialogue was a little cringe, but I'll give it a pass because I'm 20 reading a YA book.

I was not a fan of how inconsistently they referred to Hella throughout the book, especially near the end. We end up finding out her new name and for the rest of the book, they deadname her as if it's a middle name or something? Like her literal obituary doesn't have her deadname ANYWHERE in it and you named a star after her using her deadname as a middle name??? And constantly referring to her as "Dad" even after you find out she was a trans woman and literally moved to a different country to start over as a woman kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I get that Isaac was trying to find his dad but you know. After you find out your dad is a trans woman, maybe start referring to her as one??? 

I also was not a fan of how shoehorned in the subplot about Max's self harm felt? I hate to say it, but I didn't really feel any reason to care about it. And the scene where Isaac rubs her scars and whispers in her ear while she sleeps feels a little weird. A little out of touch and sort of "I can fix her"? I was half expecting Isaac to say "Can you please stop?? For me?? 🥺🥺" 

Also, I am not a fan of James Brandon's apparently running theme of gay teenage boys almost being assaulted by older men. It happened in ZSAM, it's literally one of my two criticisms of the book, and I don't like when it's written into queer books. Most of the time, it kind of comes out of nowhere, it adds nothing, and it plays into harmful stereotypes about queer people. And in the case of this book, it happens for literally no reason. It doesn't do anything for the characters it affects, it's brought up and immediately dropped. Literally NOTHING about this book would change if it were taken out. (And I think I feel the same way about the self harm tbh)


Just a little disappointed. I was really excited for this book and I had such high hopes for it. I really believe that Brandon's heart was in the right place, but I do think cis authors really need to take a step back when writing stories about transness and what it's like to be trans and let us do it ourselves. I don't think he did it out of any sort of maliciousness or anything, I really do think he tried his best, but he made a couple of mistakes that could easily be fixed. 

Of course, I will be looking forward to Brandon's next book. I'm really hoping that this was a fluke and I enjoy his next book as much as I enjoy Ziggy, Stardust, and Me. He clearly has a lot of passion for the communities he writes about and does his best to support them outside of his writing as well. I truly cannot wait to see what he does next. 

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