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author_audrey_'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? No
4.0
Graphic: Cursing
soph22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Chronic illness, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
abicaro17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Slavery, Stalking, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal death, Mental illness, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Violence, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic friendship
strawberrytheauthor'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Alcohol, Grief, Mental illness, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Child death, Toxic friendship, Torture, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Alcoholism, Self harm, and Suicide
Moderate: Cursing
erebus53'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
4.25
The backdrop is clearly superheroic. You have a fictional city called Merit, which is an unremarkable, American town. The main characters have alliterative names, or names or descriptions that have significance to their powers, but from the get-go all the Vs made me feel like this is a lot more like Alan Moore than Stan Lee. For starters the "heros" are sociopathic before they even get started. There is nothing quite normal about these two college room-mates.
The story is tropey enough that it's fairly easy to get a handle on, even though it's told non-chronologically. Entire sections are flashbacks to 10 years ago. There are short memories that are repeated in different chapters.. one of which was long enough that I thought I might have accidentally lost my place and be reading the wrong bit. That was mildly irritating; a phrase can anchor something poetically without an entire callback.. that might work better if it was a movie (montage it, pitch it a little lower, put some echo on or something?) or maybe a graphic novel.. (make it yellowed like old paper.. or throw the colours out like a faded photo with no blue in it..)
The middle part of the story begins to lag a bit. But it picks up a little more as the things start to culminate. I do wish the ending felt a little more planned but it starts to become a little unclear what is going to happen. I do like that the story feels out the edges or limitations of the powers that people have, and explores a little of the synergy you can get when more than one person with a gift is working together. I think it would be marvelous if there were more people with normal strengths rather than uncanny things, but that is still included in the story.
This is a very different story to something like Hench (which is about jobbing for the supervillains), and has some similarity in YA stories like Songbirds and Snakes in which the mindset of the main character is toxic and dangerous. There is some bloody violence and necromancy in this story, so if you don't like dark then this isn't your book.
Clock this one up if you want to do a reading challenge where the hero is a bad guy, and it's set in a City starting with M (yes that's a challenge prompt for the 52 BookClub Chanllenge 2024).
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Addiction, Cursing, Stalking, and Drug use
kiwibird5'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? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Death
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Religious bigotry, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
bookjunkie630's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Suicide, Gun violence, Murder, Cursing, Death, and Animal death
pelb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Cursing
praaliine's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Blood, Murder, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Animal death
jgalla's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicide, and Death
Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Cursing