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iviarelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
But, for all that: I love what Gong has done with each and every one of them, though there are too many for me to list here. I also specifically love that Rosaline is NOT guesting as "Sir Not Appearing In This Film" and actually plays a role along with her trans fraternal twin, Kathleen. There are a lot of twists to the original work here and it's really interesting to me how Gong plays with our expectations, from start to finish.
And I gotta say, I fell for every misdirect and I loved it. Sometimes I start overthinking and figure things out too soon, but this really kept me on my toes until the very end.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Police brutality, Racism, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Bugs. Bugs growing inside people. If you get at all squicked out (or worse) by bugs, you will encounter a whole lot of nausea here.introvertinterrupted's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, Murder, Medical content, Gore, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Blood, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Torture, Terminal illness, Stalking, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Hate crime, and Animal cruelty
marisreadsagain's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I don’t think the book was perfect by any means — it has a handful of scenes that dragged and a whole lot of exposition — but as a whole, Chloe Gong did a great job with her debut novel. I loved the social commentary, the dynamic and distinctive characters, and the Easter eggs that Gong wove throughout that called back to the original play. I actually didn’t mind that the romance wasn’t at the forefront of the story (although it did help that I wasn’t expecting a lot of it to begin with, courtesy of friends who had read it before me) and Gong instead chose to focus on other strong thematic elements. The insight on familial loyalty was really notable.
If you come into this read knowing that there won’t be a lot of romance and that it’s a bit of a slow burn, I think the reading experience is better! I just really loved the whole world that was built, even if it did mean an ambling plot and a softer romantic undertone.
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Torture
ehmannky's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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On reading it through a second time (and apparently in the last year I've lost a lot of my capacity to deal with the levels of gore that is depicted in this book), I felt that this series just didn't hit him the same way the first time. It's not bad, just not for me anymore.
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Police brutality and Racism
Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use