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slatattack's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
The explicit depictions of bulimia are unnecessary and not really plot relevant. As too is the ableism and racism. Little Pete didn’t have to be autistic there is no plot reason for it at all and it is written very poorly and very stereotypically and is a very ableist and infantilising portrayal. It seems as though some characters were written as ableist and racist so the author could get away with saying slurs/racist comments. And Astrids response to Pete being called the r-slur is disgusting and ableist as hell against high support needs autistics.
I finished the book but only because I hate DNFing. The storyline was clunky and had many plot holes and the writing was poor.
Graphic: Eating disorder and Gore
Moderate: Racism and Ableism
arielcg'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
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Confinement, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Eating disorder, Torture, and Gun violence
Minor: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Kidnapping
123urmom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Ableism, Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Murder, Grief, Medical trauma, Torture, Vomit, Body horror, Blood, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Racism
i live in a small town where slurs are said all the time. i read the rword more times than i’ve heard it in my life???? holy shit????loz1327's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, and Racial slurs
villainessreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Violence, Eating disorder, Ableism, Body horror, Gore, Racism, Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Xenophobia, Torture, Racial slurs, Child death, Blood, Gun violence, and Death
rakktels's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Torture, Blood, Car accident, Eating disorder, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Addiction
0pen_b00ks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Bullying, Body shaming, Gun violence, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Vomit, Violence, Eating disorder, Body horror, Blood, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Gore, and Car accident
Moderate: Alcoholism and Animal death
thesawyerbean'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
4.25
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Gun violence, Gore, Ableism, Alcohol, Car accident, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Racism, Torture, War, and Xenophobia
highcrisis'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
4.5
katherine applegate: i wonder if we have anything in common? for example, I love writing novels that contain extreme body horror and disturbing settings-
michael grant: omg for 12 year olds?
katherine applegate: omg yes for 12 year olds
content warnings: body horror, dead babies, bulimia, nuclear(?) mutations, gore, animal horror(?), opioid addiction, alcoholism, amputation, mass child graves, car crash
honestly the fact that I went from reading a grimdark adult fantasy to this and the tone barely changed at ALL??
fucked harder than when I read it as a kid. this book really shows you that you don't need to dumb writing down for kids, this shit was hard, the character motivations were great (like, these 14 year olds kids were complex!!), the mystery, the fantasy mystery, the gross body horror!! jeff vandermeer was taking NOTES when he wrote annihilation!
this book is better than most YA and middle grade fiction right now to be quick fucking honest! and also reinforces my opinion that kids books in the 2000s were better because there was no weird american puritanical bullshit insisting they had to insert ~moral learnings~ into the novel every few chapters. like, michael grant wrote a charming, manipulative asshole as the villain in this novel, and it fucking lands!
4.5 rounded up (4 bc it was a bit dicey towards the end, 5 bc it fucking slaps)
anyways book 2 lets go
Graphic: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Drug use, Car accident, Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Body horror, Gore, and Animal death
delphic's review against another edition
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Minor: Vomit