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lynxpardinus's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Ableism
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Body horror, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Self harm
Minor: Police brutality, Animal death, and Gun violence
strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
tense
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
Took me longer to read than I wish it had, but that had nothing to do with the book itself. It is a great read with a lot of wit, it is very targeted towards Gen Z and their type of humor and at some points was a bit much.
I really enjoyed it and I felt like I learned a lot about Chronic Illnesses that I didn’t know before.
I really enjoyed it and I felt like I learned a lot about Chronic Illnesses that I didn’t know before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Chronic illness, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, and Abandonment
courtneyfalling's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Lots of reviewers have already pointed out issues with how Kristen O'Neal (a white author) constructs Priya (a Tamil American main character) and her family. Especially because Kristen O'Neal tried to argue this was Own Voices because she's chronically ill which... is not what Own Voices is, like one aspect of a character's identity aligning with yours does not make it Own Voices. Plus we get into kind of mixed territory since Priya has chronic Lyme and the author does not, so it's like... do different chronic illnesses experiences even still "count" as Own Voices? Diagnostic categories are constructs, but recognizing wildly varied chronically ill experiences given diagnostic journeys and labels plus other identities like race is critical?
Anyway. I'm just gonna link this because I think it highlights the biggest issues: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3824728041. Brief media studies/pop culture studies rant, the cover is shitty. No one is arguing that the werewolf is Priya or a direct stand-in for another Desi character. But for the love of God, aesthetically, what this cover does is absolutely juxtapose a Desi character with a werewolf against a highly contrasted background, and that is still problematic! And on a larger systemic level this cover would've passed from illustrator to editors to marketers and not one was like, hmm, maybe this is not appropriate and will not make readers of color feel safe, and that's a huge problem. Like the combo of limited diversity in publishing, limited avenues for editors or marketers of color to really voice their concerns or make substantive changes, and white-audience-centric, profit-over-purpose structures in publishing is bad and this is a good, small-scale example of how it is bad, actually. Please make connections and consider the larger whole. ~Critical consumption~ and all that jazz.
Beyond the other criticisms I've seen about how O'Neal represents Priya and her family, I'll quickly add: they're really Christian and it's not a huge part of the book but it's also not written well at all. It feels very smushed in and there's no recognition or nuance at all around the distinct cultural barriers and biases that Christian Desi folks experience, besides a somewhat throwaway and underdeveloped mention of how they drove a little extra to a mostly Desi church. And it became pretty clear in the Acknowledgements that it's because O'Neal is very Christian and that affected how she wrote Priya's family's religious experiences and I just... do not like how any of this layers onto what is already Not Great Writing of a Desi Character and Family From A White Author.
Nothing else in the story is that great either. Chronically ill rep is eh (fine, not outstanding) but the main friendship between Priya and Brigid can get really frustrating plus O'Neal really needed to read some more perspectives from neurodivergent folks and others most affected by continuing eugenics rhetoric becauseit was all I could think about in Priya and Brigid's argument over Brigid's attempts to "cure" herself via literal poison. Like autistic children are murdered regularly by parents and guardians via similar "cures" like bleaches and other toxic poisons via similar rationales and someone really needed to take a step back and be like I get you are having a hard time, Brigid, and suicidality in chronic illness is real, but this is eugenicist shit . Especially in a book that is supposed to be taking on chronic illness rep well, like that was how it was sold and marketed. And when eugenicist rhetoric always impacts disabled and chronically ill folks of color most!
Anyway. I'm just gonna link this because I think it highlights the biggest issues: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3824728041. Brief media studies/pop culture studies rant, the cover is shitty. No one is arguing that the werewolf is Priya or a direct stand-in for another Desi character. But for the love of God, aesthetically, what this cover does is absolutely juxtapose a Desi character with a werewolf against a highly contrasted background, and that is still problematic! And on a larger systemic level this cover would've passed from illustrator to editors to marketers and not one was like, hmm, maybe this is not appropriate and will not make readers of color feel safe, and that's a huge problem. Like the combo of limited diversity in publishing, limited avenues for editors or marketers of color to really voice their concerns or make substantive changes, and white-audience-centric, profit-over-purpose structures in publishing is bad and this is a good, small-scale example of how it is bad, actually. Please make connections and consider the larger whole. ~Critical consumption~ and all that jazz.
Beyond the other criticisms I've seen about how O'Neal represents Priya and her family, I'll quickly add: they're really Christian and it's not a huge part of the book but it's also not written well at all. It feels very smushed in and there's no recognition or nuance at all around the distinct cultural barriers and biases that Christian Desi folks experience, besides a somewhat throwaway and underdeveloped mention of how they drove a little extra to a mostly Desi church. And it became pretty clear in the Acknowledgements that it's because O'Neal is very Christian and that affected how she wrote Priya's family's religious experiences and I just... do not like how any of this layers onto what is already Not Great Writing of a Desi Character and Family From A White Author.
Nothing else in the story is that great either. Chronically ill rep is eh (fine, not outstanding) but the main friendship between Priya and Brigid can get really frustrating plus O'Neal really needed to read some more perspectives from neurodivergent folks and others most affected by continuing eugenics rhetoric because
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Ableism, Abandonment, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal death
theespressoedition's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-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
I have such incredibly mixed feelings about this book.
On the one hand, I absolutely loved the representation. As a spoonie myself (for all you healthy people, that's what some of us with chronic illnesses call ourselves), it was really refreshing reading about others who deal with some of the same challenges that I do. From obnoxious MLMs telling us we can solve our health issues with essential oils, to the way it's so easy to fall into depression when going through flare-ups, to just feeling all the feelings (and all the pain). I appreciated it so much because I felt seen in so many ways.
I thought that creating a "chronic illness" out of lycanthropy was incredibly creative. It definitely manifests itself similarly to spoonie symptoms with "flare-ups" each month, strange changes in the body, not feeling yourself, etc. This low fantasy that read more like contemporary was really well done!
On the other hand, it was so slow. I couldn't believe how long it took for the werewolf discovery to occur. I'm used to contemporary novels being about 6-8 hours tops on 2x speed narration. This one was almost 11 hours on 2.5x speed! And the reveal didn't happen until 3 hours in! I was baffled. I also found it really annoying to listen to the Discord chat conversations - reading a physical copy would've been better for that (that's not a diss on the book, just a personal thing while listening to an audiobook). It got obnoxious every time someone did a keyboard smash or shared a link because hearing "adscxzhuiweufbjdksfj" read aloud is just... ridiculous-sounding!
In addition to that, I definitely felt my age. The fact that the oldest person in the chat was 25 (26?) and I'm several years older than that right now had me feeling distinctly millennial grandma (cue laughter). Yes, I realize this was YA (though I guess it's more technically NA since the main character is 19), but I hoped I'd be able to relate a bit better. It just really screamed gen-z.
I would definitely recommend this in a physical format for spoonies looking to feel seen and for others who want to learn more about what it's like to have different chronic illnesses.
On the one hand, I absolutely loved the representation. As a spoonie myself (for all you healthy people, that's what some of us with chronic illnesses call ourselves), it was really refreshing reading about others who deal with some of the same challenges that I do. From obnoxious MLMs telling us we can solve our health issues with essential oils, to the way it's so easy to fall into depression when going through flare-ups, to just feeling all the feelings (and all the pain). I appreciated it so much because I felt seen in so many ways.
I thought that creating a "chronic illness" out of lycanthropy was incredibly creative. It definitely manifests itself similarly to spoonie symptoms with "flare-ups" each month, strange changes in the body, not feeling yourself, etc. This low fantasy that read more like contemporary was really well done!
On the other hand, it was so slow. I couldn't believe how long it took for the werewolf discovery to occur. I'm used to contemporary novels being about 6-8 hours tops on 2x speed narration. This one was almost 11 hours on 2.5x speed! And the reveal didn't happen until 3 hours in! I was baffled. I also found it really annoying to listen to the Discord chat conversations - reading a physical copy would've been better for that (that's not a diss on the book, just a personal thing while listening to an audiobook). It got obnoxious every time someone did a keyboard smash or shared a link because hearing "adscxzhuiweufbjdksfj" read aloud is just... ridiculous-sounding!
In addition to that, I definitely felt my age. The fact that the oldest person in the chat was 25 (26?) and I'm several years older than that right now had me feeling distinctly millennial grandma (cue laughter). Yes, I realize this was YA (though I guess it's more technically NA since the main character is 19), but I hoped I'd be able to relate a bit better. It just really screamed gen-z.
I would definitely recommend this in a physical format for spoonies looking to feel seen and for others who want to learn more about what it's like to have different chronic illnesses.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Mental illness, and Medical content
tristonleeann's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
It is a great, inspiring, relatable book if you struggle with chronic illness. I am few years younger than the main character and have a different chronic illness, but I could still really relate to how she is struggling both mentally and physically while trying to come to terms with her new reality and trying to learn to cope with and manage her symptoms.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Cursing, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts
It might just be the most chaotic book I’ve ever read. It includes a group chat fillies with chronically ill, gen z people that is both a mess and can be emotional when they talk about their struggles.
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