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tea_coffee_sam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Violence, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, War, Body horror, and Classism
Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Ableism
biancafrancisco's review
- 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
4.0
The way the books touches so many themes - genocide (quite relevant to today), religious as a tool of imperialism and oppression vs individual expression, eco-facism, the weaponization of ideology to frighten people into obeying, a contageous virus, trans experiences, and the MC's relationship with his body, how it is gendered but also through its mutation (this is done in a very reflective and surprisingly tender way) - and a ton more, was really interesting.
The three things it could have done well with were:
1. A better fleshed out world, it seemed a bit weird that we barely knew what was happening outside the city and that even within it was like only a group of teens and some kind of nationalist type group existed;
2. Better fleshed out characters, in the middle of all the action I feel like there was a tiny scene or two thrown in there about them hanging out and getting along, but we barely saw any of their personalities beyond "this is their sexuality/identity, this is their ethnicity and here is one personality trait". I recognize this can be hard with so much else going on, and it is a debut so I'm confident their next works might improve on it;
3. It really bothered me that, for people who have been surviving for 2 years in shitty conditions, they showed zero attempts to improvise and adapt?? Are you telling me they couldn't have made reusable pads (this one really stood out to me) or any type of agriculture, etc? One of the kids came from a doom prepper family! And either way, people are nifty and crafty and it would've been so interesting to see the ways the ALC organized and became self sufficient. It just seemed really unrealistic that they basically depended only on the Vanguard's supplies. Also, the initial "there's not really anyone in charge here, we're all contributing" was such pandering to this idea of an anarchist community when during the rest of the book no one, besides the Watch a bit, had any say in any decision - might as well have kept that out. I understand these weren't the main themes the book was meant to focus on but it wouldn't have been that hard to add a thing here or there to make it more plausible.
These weren't egregious enough to bother my reading experience. On the contrary, I loved reading this book and did it almost all in one sitting. The message came across really well and I liked the premise and setting of the world. It kind of reminded me of The Last of Us - gory but very meaningful. There was so much love in this story and a lot of moments stuck with me.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Transphobia, Body horror, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Child death, Genocide, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and War
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Classism and Colonisation
winterhartarts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Eating disorder, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Vomit, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Pandemic/Epidemic, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gun violence, Genocide, Dysphoria, Death, Deadnaming, Child death, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Body horror, Transphobia, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Ableism, Grief, Gore, Classism, Homophobia, War, Cannibalism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Cursing, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Colonisation, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship
brynalexa'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? No
4.25
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Dysphoria, Genocide, Deadnaming, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Colonisation, Cursing, Confinement, War, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Sexual content, Sexism, and Alcohol
thearieslibrary's review
4.0
I really loved how inclusive and diverse the characters were within this book - it made me so happy to see. The chapters were quite short and easy to get through fast. This book made me cry because there was one moment in particular that was absolutely beautiful and warmed my heart.
I quite liked how this book used multiple POVs (Benji, Nick and Theo), however one of them I didn’t see the point as to why it was there as we only heard from that character once - it didn’t feel like it added much.
I think this is the one time where I wish the book was longer because I would have loved the ending to be longer to see how certain things would play out as it felt unfinished.
Also, there was an error within this book - on page 359 it says “castinga” but it should be casting a.
⚠️ TWs: gun use, murder, transphobia, derogatory language, misgendering, domestic abuse, self-injury, attempted suicide, victim self blame, terrorism, religious abuse, abusive parents, forced detransition, threats of transphobic violence, deadnaming, profanity, vomiting, body horror, racism, physical assault, ritual of absolution, strangulation, ableism, hanging, blood, dysphoria, mentions capitalism, sexual situations, grief, genocide, homophobia, death, alcohol use, martyr and colonialism ⚠️
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, Vomit, Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, and Transphobia
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Colonisation, Genocide, and Ableism
sapphicacademic'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Transphobia, Gun violence, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Classism, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Blood, Death, Cursing, Chronic illness, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders
This book is, despite its fantastical elements, about the reality of being queer. The author has really good trigger warnings detailed on his website/goodreads.spooderman's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexism, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Genocide, Child death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Hate crime, Grief, Medical trauma, Deadnaming, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Deportation, Misogyny, Body horror, Mental illness, Gun violence, Self harm, Transphobia, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, War, Ableism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Torture, Mass/school shootings, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Stalking, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Slavery, and Cannibalism
Minor: Terminal illness, Sexual content, Rape, Miscarriage, Lesbophobia, Eating disorder, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt
eddiehits'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Outing, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Sexual assault, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Murder, Mental illness, Abandonment, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Torture, Acephobia/Arophobia, Biphobia, Violence, and War
corpseparty'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
3.25
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Colonisation, Transphobia, Death, Vomit, Body horror, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, War, Child death, Classism, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Outing
schausjk'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
However, I found most of the characters that weren't the main trio to be really one dimensional. It's one thing when it's just a random side characters that get that treatment, but even characters that are super relevant to the plot (like Benji's parents) felt like they were really boiled down to just one or maaaybe two traits in a way that didn't feel believable and took away from my general immersion. It gets worse when those really flat side characters are meant to be different types of representation. It's good in theory, but in practice it felt very tokenizing.
I also would have appreciated more worldbuilding on what more of the world looks like. If the main headquarters of the church is in a random city in Pennsylvania and they can't even stamp out a group of starving kids that have been systematically killing off their people, what would the rest of the world look like? I find it very hard to believe that the Flood decimated everywhere but the place it was created.
The last thing that bothered me was the sense of time. I know it's set like 15-20 years in the future, but it all reads very much like it's from 2020-2021. A lot of the same discourse within the queer community still happening despite the literal apocalypse, a lot of the same slang, and of course the obvious comparison to the ongoing pandemic. It really could have benefitted from either being set in the nearer future or from more development on how the community may have changed.
Ultimately, this book was an awesome premise, but wound up being mostly just disappointing.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Deadnaming, Grief, and Homophobia
Moderate: Terminal illness, Torture, Medical trauma, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, War, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Vomit
Minor: Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, and Sexual content