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a11yssa'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Bullying and Child death
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Gun violence, Torture, Vomit, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Child death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, Murder, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Eating disorder
thesawyerbean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Gun violence, Gore, Ableism, Alcohol, Car accident, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Racism, Torture, War, and Xenophobia
highcrisis'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
4.5
katherine applegate: i wonder if we have anything in common? for example, I love writing novels that contain extreme body horror and disturbing settings-
michael grant: omg for 12 year olds?
katherine applegate: omg yes for 12 year olds
content warnings: body horror, dead babies, bulimia, nuclear(?) mutations, gore, animal horror(?), opioid addiction, alcoholism, amputation, mass child graves, car crash
honestly the fact that I went from reading a grimdark adult fantasy to this and the tone barely changed at ALL??
fucked harder than when I read it as a kid. this book really shows you that you don't need to dumb writing down for kids, this shit was hard, the character motivations were great (like, these 14 year olds kids were complex!!), the mystery, the fantasy mystery, the gross body horror!! jeff vandermeer was taking NOTES when he wrote annihilation!
this book is better than most YA and middle grade fiction right now to be quick fucking honest! and also reinforces my opinion that kids books in the 2000s were better because there was no weird american puritanical bullshit insisting they had to insert ~moral learnings~ into the novel every few chapters. like, michael grant wrote a charming, manipulative asshole as the villain in this novel, and it fucking lands!
4.5 rounded up (4 bc it was a bit dicey towards the end, 5 bc it fucking slaps)
anyways book 2 lets go
Graphic: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Drug use, Car accident, Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Body horror, Gore, and Animal death