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dmcki's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Drug use, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Self harm, Vomit, Abandonment, Animal death, Car accident, Hate crime, Homophobia, Grief, Incest, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
adrienanthony'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Rape, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Ableism, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture
My list applies for the entire series. Absolutely not for the faint of heart, take care of yourself. If literally any of this bothers you, do NOT read this or any other book in the series, I am so serious.amelierawr's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
(in the following I will mention drug abuse and sexual assault)
This was garbage, yet I still enjoyed the read. It has so many problems that I don't know were to start. The plot is alright overall, your typical dark fanfiction shit, but it was intriguing enough to keep me reading.
It's fast paced and has a lot of issues plot wise, but I can look past that. What bothered me the most and caused actual problems were the damn characters. I think i never felt so much hatred towards a whole cast.
I went into the book knowing the trigger warnings so it luckily didn't catch me off guard, yet I think Im allowed to take issue on how such triggering topics got handled. It was bad- like really really bad.
The main cast is a sports team put together by the coach, who gives people that went through a lot in their life another chance. They all have some issues, but that doesn't excuse their behaviour in any way.
My main problem lies with the 3 cousins. In one scene they force feed the mc drugs and held him down when he tried to flee, one even sexually assaulted him later on, yet they never really face any consequences. The coach does scream at them, as they've done something similar to another player too. But they don't face any risk of being thrown out the team at all.
I get that coach tries to give everyone second, third or even fourth chances, knowing they wouldn't get them elsewhere, but that's just ignorant and hurts to see. It never get's really addressed in the book of how disturbing that was, even the mc "brushes it off" a few days later.
Im just disappointed. The only bearable characters were Matt and Dan, kudos to them for having mental heath issues but still knowing how to treat others like human beings. /s
Putting your characters through the most traumatic shit imaginable doesn't equal good writing/dark fiction.
The "romance" was a complete disaster, because it's based on exactly those unresolved issues. If the author had more interest in actually establishing the characters and not focus on how corny and dark they can go, I think this would have been much much better.
I don't have a problem with reading about toxic relationships in general, but at least make it understandable why it is the way it is, like how they cannot break up even when the relationships hurts one of them/ both in the end.
++positive thing was the great dynamics the characters had, even when most of the dialogue was insulting I genuinely laughed at some of those interactions.
torn between either giving a 1/5 or 4/5, which is why I will let it stay unrated
Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, and Drug use
Moderate: Ableism and Homophobia
Minor: Misogyny
emilymarbeck'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
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Hate crime, Child abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, and Toxic relationship
jjnich's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, and Violence
valiiidus'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Animal death, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
bigpenis'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: Drug abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Alcohol, Body horror, Cursing, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Addiction, and Blood
illgiveyouahint's review
- 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
I really love Neil as a character. I like that despite being so careful and running on survival for so long, there's this thread of oh he wants people to care for him and wants to have somewhere to call home and wants to have friends and just wants to stop running and have a life. And it's not too pronounced since his issues are too big (especially at the start of it) to allow too much of it, but it's there.
I really enjoy Wymack and Neil's relationship. I mean Wymack is fun with all the Foxes 'cause he's just the tired older fatherly figure to them, but he's just so goddamn tired of Neil's whole thing. Like you can tell that at any given moment he just wants to scream at the kid "Let me love you and care for you and give you home and safety, you goddamn idiot!"
Also the slowburn of Andrew and Neil is also fun of course. Like you don't realise it on the first read but it's so clear on the second read how much Neil is focused on Andrew. And not just because Andrew causes him most trouble in the first part of the book, but he's already so attuned to Andrew.
The Neil and Kevin relationship is an interesting one. Kevin being so determined to make Neil into a champion but having only the Raven's way of leadership to go on, Neil on one hand wanting it so bad but on the other hand knowing it can never be.
Oh, and I'm also taking note of the Kevin & Andrew relationship that is fascinating in a different way. Kevin knows where to push Neil but he knows he can't move Andrew unless he gives him good enough incentive.
Point is there's a lot of good dynamics to look at.
With all of that being said, there's some issues I am gonna continue being uncomfortable with. The villains of the books being Japanese is just :// Nicky's 'I'm gonna flirt with any boy within vicinity" also bothers me a lot 'cause it's such a stereotype. I'm not sure about how the portrayal of Andrew's psychological problems and the effect of his medication is making me feel.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Suicide
Minor: Car accident, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Rape, and Toxic relationship
fanboyriot'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: Alcohol, Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Cursing, Death, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction and Abandonment
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, Vomit, Gun violence, and Pedophilia
natnat_7'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Addiction, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Bullying, Stalking, Ableism, Grief, Violence, Homophobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Medical content, Self harm, Sexism, Misogyny, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Rape, Car accident, and Vomit