Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

As Good As Dead Collector's Edition by Holly Jackson

352 reviews

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This final installment in the trilogy was just meh. I didn’t love it the way I enjoyed the first book or even the second. I agree with other reviewers that there’s a lot of ruminating on feelings that while understandable, didn’t translate great in book form. The plot twists were okay but I don’t like how the story ends. I feel like this could’ve gone a different way and enddd stronger. 

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Nowhere near as good as the first two books, it dragged on far too long and lacked excitement and suspense. 

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

wtf.... 2.5/5 ⭐

This book begins frustratingly slowly, and just made me mad at everyone involved, but once the plot actually picks up (about 40-50% in...) and it got to be more of a thriller I couldn't put it down. The last half of this book is probably the most gripping part of the entire trilogy. Funnily enough I almost DNF'd this book around the 20% mark because nothing was happening and I was getting so annoyed with all the characters (especially Pip - I know this is supposedly still YA [even if this last entry is supposed to have "grown with" the readers], but I think Jackson's simple and repetitive writing style fails when she's trying to convey Pip's complex inner trauma). Anyway, I looked up a summary of the ending to see what I would miss and THAT'S what pulled me in - I read spoilers for the conclusion and was like "okay, I have to read how this plays out in detail". So that's both an indictment and endorsement of this book, I suppose.

Looking back on the series in retrospect now after having read the final entry, I would probably rate the first one 3/5 instead of 2, and the second one 2/5 instead of 3. Props to the author for tying everything together (assuming it was all planned out from the start), but I personally would have liked to see the series go a different way. A little more modern day Nancy Drew, a little less Betty Cooper from CW's Riverdale (only a spoiler if you've watched that show, and if you have, your brain is already melted, so oh well).

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

From the very first book I knew Jason Bell was a dirty man. But i didn’t realise he was THIS dirty. 

I honestly had no idea where the book was going for more than half of it. And in my eyes that’s awesome, I want to read something where I can’t guess the ending and Holly Jackson delivered it.

We can strongly see how the events in the second book has affected Pip, and it is done meticulously and thoroughly. 

I’m sad its over but will look forward to reading more of Holly Jackson’s books!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Ok. I am confused by the ending... The epilogue/flash forward was confusing in terms of what happened, what is happening and the progress of the cases. It could have been more flushed out. I thought it was interesting to have Pip
try to cover up the murder and frame Max. While I would love to see Max charged and put away, I believe if she had called the police after she had struck Jason Bell, there is overwhelming evidence that she was held captive and taken against her will. Self defense would easily be defendable (with a good lawyer).

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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