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skillyillian's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
i reread this for the first time since i was 16-17 and it did not hold up as well as i had hoped. there's parts that are still good but some stuff just gave me the ick. The characters are really well built, with their own personalities and flaws, and the worldbuilding post-alien-takeover is intriguing. i liked hearing about the other alien races. the plot takes ages and ages to get going, and even then, the action parts are very minimal. it's 600 pages of wanda getting to know people and being scared of all of them.
my biggest complaint is the romance plot. Jared and ian are toxic as fuck in their own ways. they each have a girlfriend living inside the same body and don't respect the other woman they're sharing with. Ian wants Wanda but tends to ignore it when Wanda says Melanie doesn't like him touching them. Jared touches them but acts like Wanda isn't also feeling it. He ignores that she's in love with him and whenever Ian brings up Wanda's feelings about something, Jared is completely shocked that she would have an opinion or feelings in the first place. He's cruel to her for almost the entire time.
the other issue is that stephenie meyer continues to be someone who cannot let an FMC age above 20 years old. like at all. melanie and jared met when she was SEVENTEEN and he was TWENTY-SIX. i don't give a shit if you're the last humans on earth, knock that the hell off. if anything it worsens the power imbalance. and at the end, they go to find a new body for wanda and collectively choose an actual child. wanda lies about her body's age because ian is a "respectable man" so if he knows her age he won't want to be with her. but the entire time, from the second wanda becomes aware she's in another human body until the very end, it's made obnoxiously clear that she's teeny tiny itty bitty in every way. between those two things, there's not a chance they didn't realize she was a minor. turning 18 doesn't magically age you out of looking like, or being, a teenager. HAVE YA LOST YA MIND BOY, CUZ I'LL HELP YA FIND IT.
that's two different relationships, both of them main character end game romances, where there's a girl who is unquestionably and visibly a minor, who is with a much older man. melanie isn't a minor by the end of the book but it's still made clear that she and jared slept together before she was captured by the souls. this is the kind of shit that influences teenagers to think there's nothing wrong with a grown ass man flirting with them. at the very least, either age the girls up or make the men younger.
anyway, point being, the characters and world are thoroughly written, the plot is slow going, and stephenie meyer is yet another author who says her book is for adults but is writing FMCs that end up being just another tiny, translucently pale child bride. if she would change their ages so they're not children having sex with adults, and write people who respect the consent of everyone involved in a relationship, book would've been scored way higher.
my biggest complaint is the romance plot. Jared and ian are toxic as fuck in their own ways. they each have a girlfriend living inside the same body and don't respect the other woman they're sharing with. Ian wants Wanda but tends to ignore it when Wanda says Melanie doesn't like him touching them. Jared touches them but acts like Wanda isn't also feeling it. He ignores that she's in love with him and whenever Ian brings up Wanda's feelings about something, Jared is completely shocked that she would have an opinion or feelings in the first place. He's cruel to her for almost the entire time.
the other issue is that stephenie meyer continues to be someone who cannot let an FMC age above 20 years old. like at all. melanie and jared met when she was SEVENTEEN and he was TWENTY-SIX. i don't give a shit if you're the last humans on earth, knock that the hell off. if anything it worsens the power imbalance. and at the end, they go to find a new body for wanda and collectively choose an actual child. wanda lies about her body's age because ian is a "respectable man" so if he knows her age he won't want to be with her. but the entire time, from the second wanda becomes aware she's in another human body until the very end, it's made obnoxiously clear that she's teeny tiny itty bitty in every way. between those two things, there's not a chance they didn't realize she was a minor. turning 18 doesn't magically age you out of looking like, or being, a teenager. HAVE YA LOST YA MIND BOY, CUZ I'LL HELP YA FIND IT.
that's two different relationships, both of them main character end game romances, where there's a girl who is unquestionably and visibly a minor, who is with a much older man. melanie isn't a minor by the end of the book but it's still made clear that she and jared slept together before she was captured by the souls. this is the kind of shit that influences teenagers to think there's nothing wrong with a grown ass man flirting with them. at the very least, either age the girls up or make the men younger.
anyway, point being, the characters and world are thoroughly written, the plot is slow going, and stephenie meyer is yet another author who says her book is for adults but is writing FMCs that end up being just another tiny, translucently pale child bride. if she would change their ages so they're not children having sex with adults, and write people who respect the consent of everyone involved in a relationship, book would've been scored way higher.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Self harm, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Confinement, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Colonisation, Kidnapping, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Sexual content
Minor: Gun violence
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