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tinysierra's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I liked the way that time was portrayed. The scenes at night had a black backdrop while the daytime had a white backdrop.
Book 9 for the
#TransRightsReadathon2024
Graphic: Animal death and Bullying
Moderate: Confinement and Kidnapping
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
novella42'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, and Animal death
Moderate: Body horror, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting
pastelkerstin's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexism and Kidnapping
Moderate: Bullying
cat12345'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Sexism, and Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Bullying
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Confinement
bi_n_large's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
lunarxcross'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Bullying, and Toxic relationship
onefineelephant'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Animal death, and Kidnapping
strict gender norms, enforcement of gender rolesvaguely_pink'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Sexism, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping and Transphobia
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail
rtaire'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? No
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Bullying
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Gaslighting
readaloud_mom'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? No
4.5
As noted by other reviewers, Aster seems to be some variety of gender-noncomforming/genderqueer/nonbinary/etc., though the book never declares a specific identity. (I have mixed feelings, but am basically cool with the lack of name; I feel like it works with the worldbuilding that Aster wouldn't have the language to talk about his identity, I know I sure didn't when I was his age).
There is also some quiet queer-parenting rep here - on the family tree, I can see that Aster has an aunt who is married to another woman, and his friend Charlie has two dads. I would have liked to ever actually SEE Charlie's two dads, and I would have liked to see the married aunts interacting. For instance, one of the stolen cousins has two moms, and the other two stolen cousins are brothers with a mom and a dad. We see the mom and dad hugging each other and Bearing Up Bravely and so on, but we don't get those same kinds of images with the two-mom family - I actually wonder a little bit about whether all of the queer parents were added to the story at the last minute, after much of the drawing was done? (FYI, subsequent books in this series remain pretty light on the aunts, but do introduce Charlie's dads as visible background characters.)
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, and Kidnapping