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20sidedbi'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: Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Toxic relationship, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Violence
Minor: Self harm, Child death, and Vomit
theintrovertsbooks'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
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Blood, Physical abuse, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Animal death, Torture, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexism, Confinement, Drug use, Cursing, Child abuse, Racism, and Murder
Minor: Trafficking, Slavery, Vomit, War, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, and Child death
kylieqrada'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: Child abuse, Animal death, and Death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Self harm, Ableism, and Homophobia
ceciliabereadin'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
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Animal death
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Self harm
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is an emotional roller coaster. The main characters are really well established early on and then their needs and desires just... crash into each other over and over until they finally start to work together once it gets through their heads that being right might be less important than making it out alive. There are occasional scenes from other characters' perspectives, but the main two are the twins, Kylee and Brysen. The sibling dynamic between them felt tangled and genuine and I like getting both of their perspectives as narrators. The emotional core of this book is that strained sibling relationship, and what it means for them to keep going after the all-consuming presence of their abuser is gone. They start the book not wanting him back but also not quite knowing what to do with the pieces left behind and the spaces he no longer fills. It's messy and complicated, and I love where the story goes with it.
The siblings' relationship is particularly good, but there are a lot of relationships and they're handled with nuance. Some of them are pretty positive and some are extremely negative, but they're all complicated. They hit the sweet spot of being complex enough to imply a lot of emotional depth that there might not be enough time to explore fully, while also being very easy to sum up. Everything from "probably unrequited crush" to "sister thinks her brother's older boyfriend is just using him", they have space to develop. There's definitely a theme of loving someone who can't or doesn't love you back, explored in a bunch of different ways.
This is a bloody book with a very high body count. It maintains the tension that anyone could die by following through and having a lot of people (and birds) die. I never felt like the violence was gratuitous in terms of what the narrative needed, the most gruesome scenes were establishing important things about various characters' approach to violence and their relative willingness to kill to make a point.
I loved this and I'll definitely check out the sequel, I'm very interested in what happens next.
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, Torture, Animal death, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Vomit
Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, and Self harm
CW for ableist language, confinement, cursing, homophobia (backstory), religious bigotry, adult/minor relationship, drug use, child abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, domestic abuse (backstory), vomit, blood, gore (graphic), self harm (brief), violence (graphic), torture (graphic), animal death (graphic), murder (graphic), major character death, death (graphic).