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i love this book
and i have loved this book
and i will love this book
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Vomit, Car accident, Abandonment, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, War
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War
Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Murder
I think this book is aiming for something similar to what The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and This is How You Loose The Time War were trying to do, but does it better and actually pulls it off. I enjoyed how expansive the locations and time periods were, it truly gave the sense of how long these characters had been fatefully intertwined, but we are only in each setting very briefly and the majority of the book is spent following the present timeline.
I think the weakest aspects of the book were in the present timeline. The present never felt like it had as much weight as it should have because it was written in the same style as the fleeting glimpses of past lives. I also felt like the reveal of what had caused the entire premise was somewhat lackluster. I really didn't feel the romance, either. Despite all the poetic prose about the love between the main characters, it just felt like I was being told they loved each other and it seemed more like a trauma bond if anything.
Again, I think other people will enjoy this book more than I did. It's not bad, and I think the premise was done justice, I just prefer characters to feel a little more grounded and rounded.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, War
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Classism
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Not only that, but our characters reincarnate over and over again, living their lives from birth to 17. About half of this book takes place in the year 2022, with Evelyn, the viewpoint protagonist, being 17 about to turn 18. Her younger sister has extremely serious cancer and she's about to donate stem cells in an attempt to save her sister, but the usual deadline for her eternal lover/enemy to show up and kill her is looming. Throughout the modern sections of this book, Evelyn, a character younger than me by five years, who would have grown up even that much more of a digital native, constantly reflects ideas about the modern world and modern technology that don't match either a modern teenager OR in my opinion, someone who has actually lived through the past. At one point the author uses one of the worst similes I've read in a while to talk about modernization, which was especially jarring because despite making me want to roll my eyes at points, the actual quality of the prose was good! I found it completely defied belief that Evelyn, who has lived through a millennia of a mostly not-modern world would complain about smartphones and neon lighting and brush past the miracle of modern medicine in a single sentence when modern medicine is the plot point the entire modern half of the story revolves around? Without it, her sister would have been long dead, and she wouldn't have a remote chance of actually being involved in saving her. I've spent a lot of words on this, but this part was so jarring and struck me as deeply ahistorical, and the author projecting her/our attitudes about modern life onto a character who has actually lived through times before now that we look back on with some strange nostalgia. Sure, they didn't have smartphones; they also didn't have any cures for cancer.
And the ending... truly whatever. I enjoyed the epilogue, but the way the climax of the plot goes is so cliche I didn't even read it, I fully skimmed through those two chapters basically yawning. I thought perhaps we might go somewhere interesting after Arden finally revealed information but no.
At the end of the day, if you aren't a jaded aroace low empathy autistic person who's tired of stories this deeply up their ass about romantic love and the power of empathy to make even monsters human, you might enjoy this book. I just want to roll my eyes out of my skull.
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content
Moderate: Suicide, Torture
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Confinement, Torture, War