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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
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
This book is an interesting mix of suspense, mystery, and horror with lots of small town secrets. I found a lot of it hard to believe. The extent of the secrets seemed far fetched. On the other hand, it was disturbing in the sense that troubled people, especially teenagers, can be manipulated a lot with drugs and acceptance. There was an element of it that reminded me of Pleasure Island from Pinocchio, which I've always found deeply disturbing. I also felt the pacing of the book was a little jolting. Like someone learning to drive a stick shift. It felt like it was propulsive and slow off and on throughout the novel. I would have preferred it to be at least 1/4 shorter. Overall the book kept me engaged and I found it intriguing but I would hesitate to recommend it to others because of so many triggers and the dark nature of everything woven throughout the story.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Critical Score: B
Personal Score: B
Not sure what to say. Certainly one of the most uncomfortable and bold plot twists I’ve ever read in a mainstream novel. Wtaf?
I’ll comment on the novel before the last 120 pages, and then I’ll talk about the ending. Vague spoilers ahead.
The bulk of the book is impressively complex. Does it get convoluted? Maybe a bit. But it is riveting nevertheless. I was relieved to see the politics deepen over the course of the narrative; they’re muted at first, but then the story finally gets into racism, drug abuse, homophobia, classism, toxic masculinity, religion, and more. It doesn’t *plunge* into any of them, except homophobia, but it’s mindful of them.
The characters are decent, the setting is fun, the pace is great, the scale is ambitious, and the twists are plentiful. I would have liked some more atmosphere building, which would require some slower parts.
Now, onto that big twist of the final act. If this were written by a straight person, I’d feel super uncomfortable with the boldness of it. But it’s an own voices story regarding the queerness, so I feel it’s less easy to criticize.
But is this a neat and clean portrayal of queerness that’s ready-made for teaching people about homophobia and encouraging support for queer liberation? Not at all. It’s kind of a bad look, in general, of gay men. Is that valid? To an extent, yeah. And it’s written by a gay man, so again, it’s harder to criticize. I’m a bit worried about what kind of messages an uninformed straight person might take away from this story, but as for queer people, the commentary on grooming, in-fighting, and more will likely resonate.
I do really wish there was some lesbian and genderqueer representation. This book’s coverage of queerness is limited to gay and ambiguously bi cis men.
The supernatural element could have been drawn out more, and it does result in some confusion on exactly what the book is critiquing, who’s to blame, and what the root of these social ills is. So, this is not a great queer book in a serious, political sense. It’s more of a gripping mystery with lots of queerness present.
Overall, it’s one of those books I’m not too sure how to feel about. But I might say it’s appealingly—or just intriguingly—messy.
I’ll probably need some more time to wrap my head around the last act and sort out my feelings.
I will say, the epilogue has a great emotional two-punch.
Critical Score: B
Personal Score: B
Not sure what to say. Certainly one of the most uncomfortable and bold plot twists I’ve ever read in a mainstream novel. Wtaf?
I’ll comment on the novel before the last 120 pages, and then I’ll talk about the ending. Vague spoilers ahead.
The bulk of the book is impressively complex. Does it get convoluted? Maybe a bit. But it is riveting nevertheless. I was relieved to see the politics deepen over the course of the narrative; they’re muted at first, but then the story finally gets into racism, drug abuse, homophobia, classism, toxic masculinity, religion, and more. It doesn’t *plunge* into any of them, except homophobia, but it’s mindful of them.
The characters are decent, the setting is fun, the pace is great, the scale is ambitious, and the twists are plentiful. I would have liked some more atmosphere building, which would require some slower parts.
Now, onto that big twist of the final act. If this were written by a straight person, I’d feel super uncomfortable with the boldness of it. But it’s an own voices story regarding the queerness, so I feel it’s less easy to criticize.
But is this a neat and clean portrayal of queerness that’s ready-made for teaching people about homophobia and encouraging support for queer liberation? Not at all. It’s kind of a bad look, in general, of gay men. Is that valid? To an extent, yeah. And it’s written by a gay man, so again, it’s harder to criticize. I’m a bit worried about what kind of messages an uninformed straight person might take away from this story, but as for queer people, the commentary on grooming, in-fighting, and more will likely resonate.
I do really wish there was some lesbian and genderqueer representation. This book’s coverage of queerness is limited to gay and ambiguously bi cis men.
The supernatural element could have been drawn out more, and it does result in some confusion on exactly what the book is critiquing, who’s to blame, and what the root of these social ills is. So, this is not a great queer book in a serious, political sense. It’s more of a gripping mystery with lots of queerness present.
Overall, it’s one of those books I’m not too sure how to feel about. But I might say it’s appealingly—or just intriguingly—messy.
I’ll probably need some more time to wrap my head around the last act and sort out my feelings.
I will say, the epilogue has a great emotional two-punch.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Scary and feels like something close enough to reality. I think the eldritch element actually detracted from the story though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder
Well, I think I did excellently for managing to finish this one, all 470 pages of it. The Bright Lands is a multiple POV (emphasis on the multiple, there are about 600 characters in this book) tale of a football team, the superstars of their small Texas town, with a secret to keep. Years after fleeing the town he was so desperate to escape from, the disappearance of his brother brings Joel back to do anything he can to find out the truth, but many of the town’s inhabitants will stop at nothing to keep that buried. It’s a story of loyalty, small-town views, drugs, and something much more unexpected. To start with, it’s hard for me to enjoy a book that’s this long; when I say slow burn I truly mean it. Not much happens for a really long time, and by the end I was well and truly lost as to who all of the characters were and what part that had to play in the whole thing. Don’t get me wrong, the plot had potential - it’s definitely unique and like nothing I’ve ever read before - but after a time it becomes so convoluted that I’d completely lost track. I wanted to enjoy it, because it’s part of a book club with my friend, and there were elements that gripped me. I really did want to just know what the hell had happened at some points, but the reality of actually finding out the truth wasn’t so satisfying to me in the end. If you like: a slow burn, multiple POV’s and a very unique storyline, give it a go, I can see why people would enjoy this, but ultimately I was lost towards the end unfortunately. 2.5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️.5 rounded down
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
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
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No