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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Darius le Grand mérite mieux by Adib Khorram

60 reviews

jacobandthefrogs's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful relaxing 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? Yes

4.75

I truly can’t believe it took me this long to get back around to reading about Darius. I absolutely fell in love with his story in the first book Darius The Great Is Not Okay, and then in this book I rekindled that flame with this cast of characters. In the first book there were obvious correlations between Darius thoughts, feelings, and actions that for me at least correlated with a queer experience. So I was more than delighted to see that this book relievers on that front and gives us an out and proud Darius as our narrator. He has some bumps in the road with his relationship with his boyfriend, Landon, and some outlier feelings and hat he has to deal with returning character, Chip. I’m also glad this book does not shy away from the mental health representation and advocacy that was established in the first book. Depression is a delicate and serious topic that this book handles carefully and gracefully with Darius and his Dad. 
There are so many things that I want to say about his book, so much praise, and so much love but I’ll leave this review at that because I don’t want to risk telling every single detail of this book. 
(The only reason I have given 4.75 stars is a mainly selfish reason because I wish there was an epilogue or just another chapter to the ending of the book.)

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annabeavo's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful

5.0


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n_asyikin_'s review against another edition

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challenging lighthearted reflective 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

4.5

Darius' unique voice once again stood out, with his brilliant analogies as he tried to navigate family, platonic, & romantic relationships. 

The complexities to a person was explored; the emphasis rested upon how most people cannot be easily categorised as purely good or poorly bad. 

The story also tapped upon the confusion that can derived from determining what you want in life. This uncertainty, I believe, is commonly experienced regardless of age. And I guess, that's the beauty of the book: it brought into the forefront that sentiment, we are all just trying to figure things out. And compassion may be a way we can connect, bridging the gap between each other.

I'm hoping that Khorram will re-visit Darius again; the way the book ended seemed to imply so - though that might just be my wishful thinking.

Darius the Great Deserves Better is full of pockets of wisdom & kindness. Reading it will leave you tingling with warmth for this coming-of-age story.

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decklededgess's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.0

trigger warnings: depression, suicide mention, homophobia, racism, bullying, transphobia mention, body dysmorphia, fat shaming, sexual content mention, refugee mention, death of family member, cancer mention, grief

I didnt expect the second book to hit has hard as the first one did but here I am driving to work crying over the last few chapters. 

Such an incredible duology and a strong follow up to a stunning first book. 

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tyyne's review against another edition

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

2.5

A nice YA story. The nerdy references were fun but got repetitive. Somehow got more boring as it went on, which was a bummer.

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addyson_raelynn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad 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


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q17's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective slow-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

3.75

While some the best gay representation I've seen, I found the pace of the book a bit slow and the plot difficult to summarise.

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taelights's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

First of all I need a third book so badly. If we do not get book three I will be deeply disappointed. Also I need Darius x Sohrab to be endgame because they are the couple I want and need. 

This series is so beautiful. The themes of family and friends are so wonderful and make me so emotional. I loved seeing Darius' relationship with his father strengthen as a result of the events of last book. I loved seeing all the themes explored in this sequel - family, Darius being gay and exploring his feelings for boys, body image, boundaries in romance and with sex, and mental health.

I honestly hated both of the possible love interests in this story and think neither of them should be with Darius. Landon was a selfish asshole who kept trying to guilt trip and pressure darius into sex every other chapter. Darius would keep saying no and that he wanted to take things slow and that he wasn't ready to lose his virginity yet. So it was just really annoying that he kept bringing up sex and trying to pressure Darius in pretty much every interaction they had. Including once
in his grandmothers' car right after a memorial service for Darius' grandfather which was really icky to me.

Then Chip is also a horrible option. Bully to lovers is literally the worst trope ever to me. So, ex-bully and current friend with a crush on Darius was just not it. Especially seeing as Chip is still best friends throughout the book with Darius' other bully who is still actively bullying him and calling him homophobic and racist things. Even if Chip is no longer the one bullying Darius and being prejudice against him it doesn't change the fact that 1) he did it in the past and 2) that he is still best friends with a racist homophobic bully. He never defends Darius despite seeing the way his friend treats this boy he claims to like and he's always making excuses for the bully as well. So in my opinion he didn't actually change and is still just as bad.
And no, him finally defending Darius in literally the last chapter doesn't make up for it especially because it was only after Darius had an argument with him about it. 

Anyways please give me book 3 and also make Darius and Sohrab get together in it thanks. 

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gardenofroses's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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


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kaabtik's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

"Why come back to Darius?

That's the question I kept asking myself. But the answer ended up being fairly simple: because he had more to say."

I can't begin to explain how much I love this book. It reads like a diary of someone you know so well that you're unsure whether you're reading your own. Thank you, Adib Khorram, for writing these books and for letting me meet Darius. Thank you.

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