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bohboh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Addiction, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Racism and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Car accident, Dementia, Vomit, Xenophobia, Cursing, Infertility, and Blood
xtrememonotreme's review against another edition
3.0
It’s a well written and spooky book with some really good pictures hence my original rating but part of it did read like right wing fear mongering with some light fatphobia sprinkled in.
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Kidnapping, Transphobia, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death, Xenophobia, Racism, Fatphobia, and Drug abuse
annahamburger's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Car accident, Drug use, Grief, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Dysphoria, Infertility, Transphobia, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Cursing, Dementia, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Blood, and Infidelity
molthetroll's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
Minor: Infertility
its_erin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
The scariest things in this book are the main character's decisions.
I picked this up hoping for a chilling read, something unsettling. While this did not hit the mark for me, it may for others.
It's a slow build. And by slow I mean that halfway in I still struggled to stay invested and wanted to put it down. I feel that this disinterest comes down to a few factors:
1) I didn't find the main character compelling or, at times, likeable. She could be grating, and often times her thoughts and actions were scarier than any of the pictures.
2) The build to a climax was nonexistent for most of the book. It was hard to understand what was happening, where the plot was leading, or what was trying to be accomplished. And this wasn't in the fun "keep ya guessing" way, it was just in the poorly written way.
3) The writing style wasn't my favorite. Writing in first-person was a stylistic choice that I don't think paid off, and choosing to do "reveals" about the main character's background 75% of the way in was a disservice to the character.
I will say that the most compelling character was Caroline - who is not the main character - and that was only at the end. Otherwise, it's hard to say if this is a ghost story, a treatise on addiction, or a grimm's fairytale about liberals gone bad.
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and Addiction
Moderate: Xenophobia, Drug abuse, and Toxic relationship
spooderman'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: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Transphobia
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Outing, and Stalking
Minor: Bullying, Dementia, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Classism, Infidelity, Vomit, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Medical content, and Medical trauma
maggiefaerie's review against another edition
Graphic: Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Transphobia, Fatphobia, Racism, and Xenophobia
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Xenophobia
magellen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The book was also oddly dated - the first Harry Potter mention was surprising, but by the point the mc was praising its author's talent (😒) I thought I'd picked up a much older book but nope. 2022 publish date. Also the 'oh my god you like star warrrrs what a nerd!' bit was like...buddy, no one has thought that in decades.
Much of the book is a red herring - like literally the book takes some sharp turns in the back quarter that peel it entirely away from the first mystery. And like...yeah? I guess the bread crumbs are there, amongst the weird disdain lacing nearly every character.
Like...its not terrible? But it squicked me out more than once with author choices that like Mmmmm frankly, make me feel his bad vibes, much like a largely abandoned plot point from the beginning of the novel.
I wouldn't recommend it to a friend or read it again, but if you're shooting for a reading goal eh, it is a book.
Minor: Classism, Outing, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Dysphoria, and Kidnapping
tanyalazanya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Drug use, Child abuse, and Alcohol
Minor: Racism, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, and Xenophobia