Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

32 reviews

evelynyle_88's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Adib Khorram, you did it once again! I decided to listen to this beautiful story about Darius Kellner to continue my journey with him, his family and his friends... I feel like this story gave me comfort. 

Knowing that there's Landon in his life at the start of the story... I could picture how happy he was. But, I sometimes felt Landon was too pushy toward Darius. 

Darius really deserves better than the love he got from Landon. And I'm glad this quite heavy story ended well for all of them; including Darius. Great job, Mr. Khorram! You made me love Darius even more!🩷

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Bullying, and Homophobia

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Racism

Minor: Sexual content

archiveofrasa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I think I missed Iran from the story, that's probably why this book didn't hit as hard for me as the first one did. I still found a lot of things interesting and it still maintained the nuance of the first book, but there was also a lot more going on. I also read this in one sitting just a few hours after finishing the first book, so perhaps the speed at which I read it affected my perspective. I'm glad with how it ended and how a lot of the topics were handled, it was really nice to see in a YA contemporary, especially for a gay boy of colour. Darius absolutely deserves better.

I'm almost sad to see that the story ends here, because I would've loved to see more fo the main cast of characters, they are genuinely still so interesting to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Bullying, and Homophobia

Moderate: Racism, Grief, and Death

Minor: Sexual content

thebookpaiges's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Bullying, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, and Grief

Minor: Transphobia, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

adalinemccormick's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Body shaming, Grief, Racism, Death, and Fatphobia

joisaddler's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Homophobia, Death, and Racism

telliot's review

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, and Bullying

mconant's review

emotional funny hopeful sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Bullying, Grief, Death, Homophobia, and Islamophobia

anniereads221's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Bullying, Death, Grief, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content

bladelikesbooks's review

medium-paced

• 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

Like the first book Darius is still going through a lot. Darius has to deal with a lot of complicated teenager feelings while also worrying about his family’s financial position, grieving his grandfather, maintining a long distance friendship, still dealing with bullies, and dealing with a boyfriend who wants more from him. 

I love Darius as a character so much and i could easily read 10 more books about him. Khorram gives such a real presentation of teenage depression and regular teenage life. I really enjoyed the narration too! I literally don’t have a single bad thing to say about either of these books. I also really appreciated the inclusion of crisis lines at the end of the book. 

Representation - Asthma (MC); Bahá’í (SC); Bisexual (LI); Black (BGCs); Depression (MC/A); Fat (MC); Gay (MC); Iranian (SC); Iranian American (BGC); Iranian/Persian American (MC); Korean American (BGC); Muslim (BGC); POC (SC); Queer (SC); They/Them (BGC); Trans MTF (SC); Sapphic (SCs)

TWs/CWs - Bullying; Death of a Loved One; Discrimination; Fatphobia; Homophobia; Islamophobia; Mental Illness; Racism; Weight Talk

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Fatphobia, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death

riannesdijkstra's review

emotional funny hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, and Terminal illness