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leovinas's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Hate crime
laguerrelewis's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
5.0
GIVE THIS BOOK A CHANCE.
Thank GOD i did not read any of the other reviews before I finished this story. This is the second time I’ve come across a book that has depth and complexity in relation to identity and race relations, yet come to find it has been review bombed. As a Black, bisexual, nonbinary reader, I didn’t have any major qualms about these aspects of the story. Sure, Harry Szabo is a white person touching on institutional racism and police brutality—it’s not going to be perfect. But I definitely wouldn’t say it’s bad. Yes, a white woman frames a Black man for a crime and doesn’t think twice about it. That doesn’t make the book racist. It makes the character complicated.
Okay. Now that that’s sorted, let’s get to the actual review. Szabo is a master of atmosphere. River City might as well be a real location, vivid and lived in and brimming with character. This is urban fantasy and magical realism executed with a level of ingenuity and care that is refreshing amongst a sea of copycats and tropes. The real selling points for me, though, were the characters. A rotating POV shared by 4 characters, and I loved them all. They were messy, complicated, but compelling and full of heart in a very real way. I worry about the empathy of the reviewers who said they couldn’t get into this cast. Will they frustrate you or make you unsure of where they stand? At times yes, but that’s the point. No one is perfect, and this story wouldn’t be half of what it is if they were.
I will say, for all my love of this book, the content warnings I’m tagging are no joke. I will not fault anyone for whom these are a dealbreaker, but if you’re interested, give this book a chance.
Thank GOD i did not read any of the other reviews before I finished this story. This is the second time I’ve come across a book that has depth and complexity in relation to identity and race relations, yet come to find it has been review bombed. As a Black, bisexual, nonbinary reader, I didn’t have any major qualms about these aspects of the story. Sure, Harry Szabo is a white person touching on institutional racism and police brutality—it’s not going to be perfect. But I definitely wouldn’t say it’s bad. Yes,
Okay. Now that that’s sorted, let’s get to the actual review. Szabo is a master of atmosphere. River City might as well be a real location, vivid and lived in and brimming with character. This is urban fantasy and magical realism executed with a level of ingenuity and care that is refreshing amongst a sea of copycats and tropes. The real selling points for me, though, were the characters. A rotating POV shared by 4 characters, and I loved them all. They were messy, complicated, but compelling and full of heart in a very real way. I worry about the empathy of the reviewers who said they couldn’t get into this cast. Will they frustrate you or make you unsure of where they stand? At times yes, but that’s the point. No one is perfect, and this story wouldn’t be half of what it is if they were.
I will say, for all my love of this book, the content warnings I’m tagging are no joke. I will not fault anyone for whom these are a dealbreaker, but if you’re interested, give this book a chance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Medical content, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Body horror, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, Abandonment, Homophobia, Death, and Gaslighting
Misgenderingdianamc228's review
Racism, Homophobia, and more bigotry
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Racism, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Body shaming, and Classism
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Fatphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Cultural appropriation
micheala's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
"We All Fall Down is, therefore, a book about making bad choices." - Rose Szabo (Illumicrate author letter)
Ok, so to start off, this was the June Illumicrate book, and after I received my box I started to hear some strong critisms of how certain things are handled. The big one I heard before starting the book involves a white woman lying to police that a gay Black man was involved in a murder. Honestly, having heard that, I would not have picked this book up. However, as I already owned it (and because of the cost of Illumicrate, having already committed to reading it) I did go into this with low expectations/expecting the worst.
This reads a lot like a contemporary, even with the magic (which more often is about physical "monsters" rather than actual magic - and how their treated isn't great, so if you read them as an allegory to disability as it so often is, it's not a good look for the author) I hate contemporary, so this was a painful reading experience for me.
If I hadn't been buddy reading this, and wanting to see how the controversial event was haddled, I most likely would have DNF'd this around the 60 page mark. This book was Not For Me, as well as having some authorial decisions that I think, when added all together, came off as the author not having taken the time to consider the collective impact of those choices.
I don't know if I would recommend this book to anyone. It was personally such an unpleasant reading experience, and I think that it could be a rather harmful reading experience for a lot of people. While I can appreciate the idea of messy queer stories, I think this one ended up being just a little too messy for it to really work. I will not be picking up the sequel when it comes out.
Ok, so to start off, this was the June Illumicrate book, and after I received my box I started to hear some strong critisms of how certain things are handled. The big one I heard before starting the book involves a white woman lying to police that a gay Black man was involved in a murder. Honestly, having heard that, I would not have picked this book up. However, as I already owned it (and because of the cost of Illumicrate, having already committed to reading it) I did go into this with low expectations/expecting the worst.
This reads a lot like a contemporary, even with the magic (which more often is about physical "monsters" rather than actual magic - and how their treated isn't great, so if you read them as an allegory to disability as it so often is, it's not a good look for the author) I hate contemporary, so this was a painful reading experience for me.
If I hadn't been buddy reading this, and wanting to see how the controversial event was haddled, I most likely would have DNF'd this around the 60 page mark. This book was Not For Me, as well as having some authorial decisions that I think, when added all together, came off as the author not having taken the time to consider the collective impact of those choices.
I don't know if I would recommend this book to anyone. It was personally such an unpleasant reading experience, and I think that it could be a rather harmful reading experience for a lot of people. While I can appreciate the idea of messy queer stories, I think this one ended up being just a little too messy for it to really work. I will not be picking up the sequel when it comes out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Sexism
dernhelms_bag's review
I dont know if there were heavy edits from the ARC or what but I feel like I couldn't possibly have been reading the same book as some of these reviews... I was looking out for the misgendering and paying close attention to Jack and David's portrayals and how that whole incident plays out and I don't see the things described being in there. I read Jack as like a Judas. Very confused as to how ppl took Jack as supposed to be a good person, but I'm not always terribly bright.
Im not interested in defending this author but I'm perplexed by very specific content claims that didn't seem to be there and legitimately wondering if there was a significantly different version out there. All of the major ciswomen characters seemed to be villainous in some way(s) (and even rapey at times) and I thought the terrifying portrayal of how white women's femininity and lying is weaponized against poc and especially the Black community is something that should be talked about more - but it apparently needs to be more explicitly condemned in the text beyond calling those specific actions "disgusting", having allies turn on her in response, cutting off her limb/maiming someone whose identity is tied up in their physical strength, and having the person she lied to save from jail who is the only person she's ever loved *die* as a direct result of her evil selfish disgusting choice. I don't think any of that "atones" for the truly unforgivable thing she did but it isn't accurate to say their were no consequences. ....it also only came to light at the end so we don't know what further consequences could await in part 2. </end spoiler>
Idk that I'll be reading part two as it's pretty rare for me to pick up sequels and I didn't especially enjoy this regardless but Uh...yeah I got a very different vibe here. To me it seemed like the point was literally everything people has said in criticism of it. 😐
Im not interested in defending this author but I'm perplexed by very specific content claims that didn't seem to be there and legitimately wondering if there was a significantly different version out there. All of the major ciswomen characters seemed to be villainous in some way(s) (and even rapey at times) and I thought the terrifying portrayal of how white women's femininity and lying is weaponized against poc and especially the Black community is something that should be talked about more - but it apparently needs to be more explicitly condemned in the text beyond
Idk that I'll be reading part two as it's pretty rare for me to pick up sequels and I didn't especially enjoy this regardless but Uh...yeah I got a very different vibe here. To me it seemed like the point was literally everything people has said in criticism of it. 😐
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Racism, Hate crime, Violence, Pregnancy, and Police brutality
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