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wchereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
2.0
I am unsure how to rate or review this book. There are many things I liked but ultimately there are more thing I didn't like.
Th set up was solid. A girl who's a bit "strange", lives with a borderline neglectful mother and struggles to build friendship, and a ghost who loves the girl dearly but does not know the best way to protect her and relies on dark methods a bit too much... I feel like there are lots of potentials for character development here. There's a lot of nuance too with the girl and her mother's relationship and also the way the girl reacts to/interacts with the school bullies. But none of these are explored in a satisfying way.
What bothered me the most was how the bullying was handled. I checked out when the girl would rather take essentially inhumane treatment than doing ANYTHING for herself. Not letting Ghost retaliate is one thing, but considering any sorts of fighting back as bad as the bullies themselves is quite another.
The girl's character development is incredibly weak and nonexistent. The conflict with the antagonist also feels fake and unconvincing. For the rest of the book I was simply not engaged.
Th set up was solid. A girl who's a bit "strange", lives with a borderline neglectful mother and struggles to build friendship, and a ghost who loves the girl dearly but does not know the best way to protect her and relies on dark methods a bit too much... I feel like there are lots of potentials for character development here. There's a lot of nuance too with the girl and her mother's relationship and also the way the girl reacts to/interacts with the school bullies. But none of these are explored in a satisfying way.
What bothered me the most was how the bullying was handled. I checked out when the girl would rather take essentially inhumane treatment than doing ANYTHING for herself. Not letting Ghost retaliate is one thing, but considering any sorts of fighting back as bad as the bullies themselves is quite another.
The girl's character development is incredibly weak and nonexistent. The conflict with the antagonist also feels fake and unconvincing. For the rest of the book I was simply not engaged.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
qrschulte's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
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
Ugh what a beautiful and emotional book. Had me crying by the end. My suspicions were correct, and the reveal at the end was hard, but perfect. It was definitely horror, but not too much for me to handle. It was scary while still being manageable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Stalking, Torture, Bullying, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Classism, Death, Slavery, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder
lizgom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This will probably be my favorite middle grade book. I listened to this as an audiobook, and honestly it was great. I feel like it gave the characters more depth than I would've given them if I had read it. I have a habit of liking middle grade books better as audiobooks. This is a great take on mental health and reaching out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Bullying, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Blood
Minor: Violence, Murder, and Torture
szuum's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death of parent
goizi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Bullying
Moderate: Grief and Torture
tahsintries's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Child death
directorpurry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Death of parent
alexvb's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
This was so great! I enjoyed it from start to finish! I wish the ending had just one more chapter between the final and the epilogue or just a few more pages or something. It felt just a tad rushed.
The writing flowed so well, and the story was very easy to get into!
The characters are all so distinct and great. I like PINK even though we are challenged to question him and his morals. The bad guy was actually chilling and creepy!
The story naturally has Muslim and Malaysian culture / aspects into the story which was great for me to look up (especially all the food mentioned! So much food was mentioned!) and do extra research about if I wanted to.
I the dual pov was perfect for me.
This story also discusses parental love, mourning, and bullying, and it felt very realistic. The fantasy/supernatural is very minor compared to the modern day, everyday life, and real topics in ths book.
I found myself crying in that last chapter though! The reveal!!
Personally, I think that this book is probably better for the upper end of middle grade (13-14) rather than the lower end. Some publishers class age 8-14/15 as middle grade, but I would not recommend this book to someone under 12, because some parts of this were genuinely dark, creepy, and scary if I'm being honest. I had some disgusted, creeped-out, heart-racing moments myself reading this as an adult! Our main character around 12 to 13 years old, so if you're going to give this book to a child, I think a child of the same age or older is best.
The writing flowed so well, and the story was very easy to get into!
The characters are all so distinct and great. I like PINK even though we are challenged to question him and his morals. The bad guy was actually chilling and creepy!
The story naturally has Muslim and Malaysian culture / aspects into the story which was great for me to look up (especially all the food mentioned! So much food was mentioned!) and do extra research about if I wanted to.
I the dual pov was perfect for me.
This story also discusses parental love, mourning, and bullying, and it felt very realistic. The fantasy/supernatural is very minor compared to the modern day, everyday life, and real topics in ths book.
I found myself crying in that last chapter though! The reveal!!
Personally, I think that this book is probably better for the upper end of middle grade (13-14) rather than the lower end. Some publishers class age 8-14/15 as middle grade, but I would not recommend this book to someone under 12, because some parts of this were genuinely dark, creepy, and scary if I'm being honest. I had some disgusted, creeped-out, heart-racing moments myself reading this as an adult! Our main character around 12 to 13 years old, so if you're going to give this book to a child, I think a child of the same age or older is best.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, and Death
Minor: Violence, Murder, and Grief
aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved this book. Wasn't expecting it to make me cry, but here we are. The story is based in Malaysia with Malay sprits/demons/supernatural beings sprinkled through. This story shows a girl who never quite fit in, discovers she has been bound to a spirit, and has to deal with complications with the spirit and some humans, and finds out family history that has been hidden from her. Also, Jing Wei is a lovely and entertaining side character! Great friend right there and loved that she was a nerd for sci-fi (although I'm not big on Star Wars, I loved her sick burn calling someone Jar Jar Binks).
I will def look for more books by this author. It was so nice to read a book that has a similar culture to mine and if I was a kid again, I would've loved this as well. So happy to see a middle grade representing SE Asia and specifically Melayu people.
I will def look for more books by this author. It was so nice to read a book that has a similar culture to mine and if I was a kid again, I would've loved this as well. So happy to see a middle grade representing SE Asia and specifically Melayu people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexism
nouveau's review against another edition
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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Child death