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bertieward's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
i really wanted to enjoy this book but i can’t help but feel i was a little let down by it. while the characters were well fleshed out, the plot and relationships were lacking depth. i kept waiting for something to happen but it never came. i didn’t feel as if i was being taken on a journey. the entire book felt like one big beginning with no climax or ending. i wanted to see more of darius and sohrab’s friendship. darius claims sohrab is his best friend, but it just didnt feel like it. sohrab laughs at him and makes fun of him and darius forgives him right away. when sohrab points out all of darius’ insecurities, darius forgives him pretty much immediately, but i couldn’t bring myself to forgive him. it felt like the story moved on without me. i loved the relationship between darius and his dad and the development between them. i feel like the book needed to be longer in order to do the characters justice. on top of all of this, while this isn’t an issue with the book or the author itself but i was led to believe that this book had lgbtq+ content, which it doesn’t in any way. although i didn’t pick up this book because i thought it had a queer main character, it was something that made me want to read it more as a queer person so i was rather disappointed when there wasn’t any mention of lgbtq+ and i absolutely feel queerbaited. at the end it also seems like darius is about to become friends with the guy that bullies him at the beginning which is a trope i really hate, especially when the only interaction they’ve had was darius being bullied by him. overall, i don’t think i’ll be reading the sequel and i won’t be recommending this book to anybody, which is really disappointing because of the incredible representation and the potential this story had
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Body shaming and Suicidal thoughts
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