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lilifane's review against another edition
- 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
A small coastal town, family history, mystery and adventure, a treasure hunt, sibling dynamics, a friends group, LGBTQIA representation. And I really really enjoyed the majority o the book. The main character went through some hard hitting things and made some questionable decisions, but I still enjoyed reading from her perspective.
I was disappointed by the last quarter of the book, though. The plot didn't really progress, and then it was suddenly over, but the ending took half an eternity to conclude. Weird pacing and I get the focus was on some important topics, but still, the rest was just forgotten somehow.
But yeah, still liked and enjoyed the majority and the atmosphere was perfect for a summer read.
Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Drug use, and Homophobia
jenmaysiereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Drug use, and Alcohol
brookey8888's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Outing, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Suicide attempt
layla_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Drug use
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Cancer
imstephtacular's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Medical content, Self harm, Blood, Ableism, Alcohol, Biphobia, Classism, and Cursing
silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, and Death
Minor: Car accident
drowningskudiklier's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Suicide, Biphobia, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Homophobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Death, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child death, Outing, Drug use, Pregnancy, and Infidelity
Drowningaseel_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Eating disorder, and Sexual content
lipstickitotheman's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Minor: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Death, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The Last True Poets of the Sea is a book about grief. It’s about history. It’s about trauma. It’s about how people carry those things with them from generation to generation. It has some beautifully complicated and at times tragic sibling relationships. It has a teen sapphic romance that feels realistic for the characters and where they are in their lives.
It also has most of the things that one might expect from a Twelfth Night retelling: A love triangle, a shipwreck, a character named Toby, twins…
But all of those parts of the story are remixed to a degree that didn’t really make sense to me. The shipwreck and the twins (and the gender stuff) are in the past. The love triangle is completely different because Violet falls for Liv first and Orion is for some reason straight. Toby is Violet’s uncle rather than Liv’s. Most of the subplots are cut completely, which makes sense but was still sad (well, I didn’t really miss Malvolio, but I wanted a proper Sir Andrew character, goddammit!).
The book still works despite these changes to the source material, and they were obviously make deliberately. They just bugged me as a fan of the original play who enjoys seeing new takes on it.
I also have a couple little nitpicks:
Liv refers to herself and Violet as anagrams. This makes sense thematically, but the names Violet and Olivia are NOT anagrams. This was very confusing because the author could have actually given them names that used all of the same letters!
Also, this is a very white book. It makes sense because it’s set in small-town Maine—maybe the whitest part of the US—but why was Violet always remarking on the fact that random side characters were white people when she and all the other characters were also white people? Very odd.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Alcohol, and Drug use
Minor: Homophobia