A review by lkristin2018
Destroy the Day by Brigid Kemmerer

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

0.0

Although the action and characters are well developed and engaging, I cannot give this book a good rating due to the

glorification of suicide and  murder as the way to solve the main problem. While the author ultimately allowed the king and Quint to escape, their intention was to die while killing the evil consuls. The glorification of suicide and looking at it as a sacrifice for the greater good is especially problematic in a book marketed to teenagers when teenagers currently have a shockingly high rate of suicide. Suicide is a tragedy, not a clever plot point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy

multiple reference to suicide, including by drowning, setting oneself on fire, and by explosives. Using suicide/murder to solve a major plot point

Many uses of terms that are pejorative towards mental illness, such as insane and crazy. Extremely vivid depictions of torture and death.