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earofthedog's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Abandonment
bailey_the_bookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-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? It's complicated
4.25
I enjoyed a YA book! Will wonders never cease. The story is fast-paced, well-written, and hard to put down. The class tensions of the town and high school feel archetypal without being (overly) clichéd, and the tensions between the main characters are drawn out nicely throughout the book.
Some of the clues in the writing felt a little ham-handed (Steve! Was acting! Weird! Was Steve acting weird? Steve was acting so weird!!), but on the whole it was a really fun read.
Some of the clues in the writing felt a little ham-handed (Steve! Was acting! Weird! Was Steve acting weird? Steve was acting so weird!!), but on the whole it was a really fun read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Murder, Bullying, and Car accident
shaunashares's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment and Domestic abuse
katiecentabar's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
3.25
Cute!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
“An English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. Also known as the bestselling author of all time. Also, one bad bitch.”
➽ The Agathas is a fun mystery set at Castle Cove, where popular girl Brooke Donovan has just gone missing. The story follows her ex-best friend Alice, who disappeared for 5 days and caused a bit of a scandal. People no longer trust her and Brooke, who was supposed to be her best friend, ended up dating her ex-boyfriend. Like most people at her school, Alice is pretty well-off and has more than enough money to hire a tutor. Iris Adams is whip-smart but from the poor side of town. She's always looking for more ways to make money in order to escape her difficult home situation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment
amibo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Alcohol and Death of parent
bartbarto's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The book is written from different perspectives, which was a first for me, but after a couple of chapters I got used to it.
The beginning of the book really focused on high school drama, which I didn't really connect with, but once the mystery started going and they started solving the murder it really picked up pace and there were some unexpected plot twists at the end.
The content of the book are in a mixed media format and I sometimes had trouble following the group texts with more than two people. I liked that every chapter from Alice's perspective started with a Agatha Christie, which was really in character and sometimes even relevant to the story.
The stories of Agatha Christie only played a minor role in this story, but I think she would've enjoyed reading this one.
The content of the book are in a mixed media format and I sometimes had trouble following the group texts with more than two people. I liked that every chapter from Alice's perspective started with a Agatha Christie, which was really in character and sometimes even relevant to the story.
The stories of Agatha Christie only played a minor role in this story, but I think she would've enjoyed reading this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Abandonment
stefhyena's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Finished. I'm going to assume it was a well-intentioned book in that it sort of discusses problematic families and men's violence including DV. I had trouble believing in any of the characters because they all seemed to be suffering from empathy deficiency. There was a twist at the end which from a purely formulaic perspective was just right but it didn't really work for me in other ways.
My least favourite thing was Alice and the fact that even though there were two protagonists she was constantly subtly pushed as the main-main and Iris as her support. Which makes no sense. But nothing about Alice makes sense. She's a poor little rich girl who has never been loved, supported or approved of and we are supposed to feel sorry for her. But she's also had a kind best friend and a sweet doormat of a boyfriend and a nanny who loves her like an aunt or something and some random hot dude and...and...and....everyone. Like how can she be "no interpersonal skills because such an abandoned loner" and "my best friend Brooke how will I ever..." at the same time? But also noone seemed to care about Brooke's death much including the grandma who treated the "mysetery" as a bit of girlish fun for our heroines.
Alice and Iris constantly did illegal or dangerous things and they were STUPID things. Iris in particular given her family situation would surely stay clear of violent men? Real life survivors usually do. They were cheered on in this by a range of adults- some of the adults were ridiculously stupid and incompetent and others were just irresponsible and unethical. Every conversation had to have unnecessary drama in it and Iris' friends were quite 2 dimensional and irritating (Alice's initial friends were the same but the book used that better). WTF is Cole???? (TBH Zora says it on p 390 but then Iris still....oh gah). Everyone is hetero and race doesn't exist. Also every cliche about American schools that you ever hated from TV is in here. I hope that's not an accurate reflection of teaching in the US!
The Agatha Christie quotes were sort of a nice touch. I also wondered if the guidance counsellors name was a tribute to Christie's nom-de-plume.
I think the idea was good but it was poorly executed. I see from the reviews that I am in a minority and most people liked this book.
My least favourite thing was Alice and the fact that even though there were two protagonists she was constantly subtly pushed as the main-main and Iris as her support. Which makes no sense. But nothing about Alice makes sense. She's a poor little rich girl who has never been loved, supported or approved of and we are supposed to feel sorry for her. But she's also had a kind best friend and a sweet doormat of a boyfriend and a nanny who loves her like an aunt or something and some random hot dude and...and...and....everyone. Like how can she be "no interpersonal skills because such an abandoned loner" and "my best friend Brooke how will I ever..." at the same time? But also noone seemed to care about Brooke's death much including the grandma who treated the "mysetery" as a bit of girlish fun for our heroines.
Alice and Iris constantly did illegal or dangerous things and they were STUPID things. Iris in particular given her family situation would surely stay clear of violent men? Real life survivors usually do. They were cheered on in this by a range of adults- some of the adults were ridiculously stupid and incompetent and others were just irresponsible and unethical. Every conversation had to have unnecessary drama in it and Iris' friends were quite 2 dimensional and irritating (Alice's initial friends were the same but the book used that better). WTF is Cole???? (TBH Zora says it on p 390 but then Iris still....oh gah). Everyone is hetero and race doesn't exist. Also every cliche about American schools that you ever hated from TV is in here. I hope that's not an accurate reflection of teaching in the US!
The Agatha Christie quotes were sort of a nice touch. I also wondered if the guidance counsellors name was a tribute to Christie's nom-de-plume.
I think the idea was good but it was poorly executed. I see from the reviews that I am in a minority and most people liked this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Drug use
Minor: Abandonment and Classism
hollyk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I am a sucker for a multi-media story. Give me transcripts! News articles! Tweets! All of it.
This book has an engaging plot, I figured it out about 60% of the way through, but I'm here for a good time, so that sort of thing never bothers me.
Iris Adams, I love her. She is precious. She's a nerd (affectionate) who is dragged into figuring out this murder. She's tough, she's clever, and she deserves all good things.
Alice Ogilvie is a perplexing character. She grew on me, but there are definitely times where her internal monologue comes across as "grown adults writing shallow teens" which was a bit annoying. I also did not like how we barely find out where/why/how Alice just up and disappeared over the summer. It's barely a paragraph in one of the final chapters. I think Alice is better when she's with Iris, but I feel like Iris could stand on her own as a character, whereas Alice is weaker in terms of development.
Spike, Nora, and Neil were fun, but they lowkey could've been condensed into one or two people--they didn't have enough page time to shine as individuals (namely Nora and Neil).
Now, Alice is obsessed with Agatha Christie. I mean the title of the book is a reference to her. The issue I have is that Christie's works contain racism--which isn't uncommon for the time, but it is a fact that cannot be ignored (while Christie's intentions can be debated, that does not erase the fact that her books have racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, etc). The book And Then There Were None originally had the N-word in the title. I wish that this had been addressed in the book, whether in the book itself or in an author's note.
This book has an engaging plot, I figured it out about 60% of the way through, but I'm here for a good time, so that sort of thing never bothers me.
Iris Adams, I love her. She is precious. She's a nerd (affectionate) who is dragged into figuring out this murder. She's tough, she's clever, and she deserves all good things.
Alice Ogilvie is a perplexing character. She grew on me, but there are definitely times where her internal monologue comes across as "grown adults writing shallow teens" which was a bit annoying. I also did not like how we barely find out where/why/how Alice just up and disappeared over the summer. It's barely a paragraph in one of the final chapters. I think Alice is better when she's with Iris, but I feel like Iris could stand on her own as a character, whereas Alice is weaker in terms of development.
Spike, Nora, and Neil were fun, but they lowkey could've been condensed into one or two people--they didn't have enough page time to shine as individuals (namely Nora and Neil).
Now, Alice is obsessed with Agatha Christie. I mean the title of the book is a reference to her. The issue I have is that Christie's works contain racism--which isn't uncommon for the time, but it is a fact that cannot be ignored (while Christie's intentions can be debated, that does not erase the fact that her books have racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, etc). The book And Then There Were None originally had the N-word in the title. I wish that this had been addressed in the book, whether in the book itself or in an author's note.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Grief, Infidelity, and Murder
imstephtacular's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, Drug use, Stalking, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Blood