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riflelizards's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Blood
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Fire/Fire injury
hrb7917'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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, and Genocide
Minor: Drug abuse and Death of parent
wganas4'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? No
3.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Murder, and Police brutality
Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Cursing, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Suicide, Bullying, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident
applerose301's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
fr0gsonmushrooms'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
4.0
I don't know how to feel about this ending. It definitely sets up the book for a sequel, but the epilogue felt like it was trying too hard. Nevertheless, I'm still probably going to buy the book to annotate and also read the other two books in the series.
This was the first time I digitally read a book so that played a role in me taking so long to read it (also the fact books over 400 pages intimidate me lol), but I still recommend this book to anyone looking for a good thriller.
Graphic: Gore, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcohol and Death of parent
kikis_a_book_wh0r3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Body horror, Confinement, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Grief, Police brutality, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Bullying
dblue236'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Suicide, and Drug abuse
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Alcohol, and Vomit
ruthypoo2'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
4.0
The story primarily revolves around a group of high school students, most of whom are entitled, immature, disrespectful, and reckless in their behavior. I imagine that’s requisite to understand why they might end up in the crosshairs of a psycho killer, but it’s also pivotal to the storyline. After the main character, teenager Quinn, and her physician father move from the city to a small rural town, she finds herself accidentally falling in with a group of popular and influential high school peers, the aforementioned teenagers whose behavior is more often than not an annoyance to the adults and authorities in the little town.
The book’s timeline is set during the town’s Founder’s Day celebration, which includes a parade and festival set near a cornfield. Unfortunately, this year’s festivities include a serious dose of revenge and murder with the town’s teen population being dealt most of the damage. Are all the characters likable? Nope, but many are good-hearted people, like Quinn and her father, and the story is packed full of action as they fight to survive Frendo, the town’s clown mascot, recently turned into a killing machine.
I enjoyed this well-written story and felt invested in the outcome of everyone, even the snotty and arrogant problem teens. There are a lot of adult perspectives presented throughout the story so it’s definitely not solely focused on the teens’ experiences. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator, Jesse Vilinsky, did a great job presenting the story and portraying a wide range of characters.
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Blood
Minor: Death of parent
twistykris's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
2. The adults calling new-girl Quinn a "whore" and a "slut" when she's literally done nothing was maddening.
3. I also feel like the timeline is so off. The Founder's Day incident happens and the adults who were in this "Make Kettle Springs Great Again" group now decide "let's go slaughter a bunch of kids." It just feels like everything happens SO fast that it doesn't make sense.
4. Ronnie and Matt are just... in on murdering their friends? Because they want to be on the "right side of history"?? Makes 0 sense to me.
5. Cole and Rust's relationship felt oddly thrown in. Sure, they were childhood friends, but they don't get that much interaction with each other in the book. Quinn's POV suggested maybe everyone had a crush on Cole (as in Janet, Ronnie, and Matt), but even from Cole's POV there didn't seem to be any sort of romantic feelings towards Rust. A desire to reconnect, sure, but they were literally hanging out for the first time in years at the party. This doesn't feel like queer rep.
6. And the ending with Cole's dad going to Cuba to "do the job right" was so confusing? How is him going to Cuba relate to killing his son? I think this was supposed to be a cliffhanger to lead into the sequel, but I was just left dumbfounded and confused.
And one of my biggest issues was the audiobook. I liked Jesse Vilinsky's narration in Seanan McGuire's Lost in the Moment and Found. But in this, the accents and the voice she gave for men and teenage boys was just distracting and at times the narration was so overly dramatic to the point it was hard to understand what she was saying.
I will not be reading the sequel, even after that (bizarre) cliffhanger epilogue.
Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Gore, Murder, Child death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Police brutality, and Medical content
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
2busyreading's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Misogyny, Racism, and Death of parent