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filipa_maia'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
I really enjoyed this story: so full of twist and turns, strong and badass female characters and overall scary. Everything that I could ask in a good book.
Is really interesting to see how the girls see this "new world": once schoolmates become completely strangers and the "every man for himself" mentality kicks in, as soon as the disease (and the shortage of food) spreads around. In the end, the ties of love and friendship are bigger than everything else. And that's the big, an important, message this book provides.
Loved it!
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Abandonment
agustdefault's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
lil13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Vomit, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment
mayabooks2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
maddy_s's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment
Minor: Cursing, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
kry_yang's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I was SUPER drawn into the experience of reading the book, but now that I've given myself some time to reflect on the book as a whole, I think there's a lot to be desired. But still... Holy crap I can't believe I flew through this book. I am still REEEEEELING.
Strongest parts of the book:
- Language. I was a huge fan of Power's style. It's super descriptive, a bit flowery at times without being super over-the-top. Minor spoiler:
I freaking loved what she did with Byatt's POVs, using broken sentences and paragraphs to convey the character's (in)sanity. - Setting. I was instantly drawn to the dark academia vibes of having an all girl's school on a remote island. Powers does a great job of developing the specific setting, and I could practically feel myself living there. Honestly like halfway through the book I totally thought this island existed IRL...
- Body horror descriptions. I'm a sucker for fantastically-written gore and this really hit the spot. Of course, MASSIVE content warning for super disturbing, extremely detailed descriptions of guts and stuff. Powers really goes hard.
- Just overall an incredible reading experience? I loved exploring the setting, the *premise* of the dystopian-world, the author's language... This book was quite the atmospheric read!
Weakest parts of the book:
- Character development. There's a triad of main female characters but I felt that the dystopian vibes were so compelling in the story that the characters felt kinda lackluster, especially when I got to the ending of the book. I felt like I *kinda* understood each character, but there was a *lot* more that Powers could have done to really explore each person's psyche.
- The ending. Felt a little sudden for me... I wonder if there's a planned sequel?
- Length... I almost feel like this book needed to be another 100 pages, so we could get more backstory on the main characters. And also get more of that sweet sapphic content!!!
TL;DR: Sapphic horror story with dystopian vibes, feat. heavy Lord of the Flies inspiration. Incredible reading experience but if you think hard about it then you might realize that the characters aren't actually as developed as they could be... Would recommend this to readers who are into horror/gore, but lots of gory content warnings so proceed with caution!
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Vomit
aspring'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Vomit
moontiaras's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
anaa__'s review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder
morsa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder