A review by atlas_shruggs
Solitaire by Alice Oseman

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Tori has been a favourite character of mine since the first time I read Heartstopper, and this love was reinforced by the Heartstopper TV series. Solitaire sees Tori as the main character of the story, and dives deeper into her character and the depression she's dealing with. It's definitely a darker story than Heartstopper, and is more in tone with volume four of Heartstopper. But something about this book didn't quite click with me. Tori somehow felt like a completely different character, which I suppose was sort of the point of the book; we see her as who she actually is rather than how Charlie sees her in Heartstopper. Still, I felt it was a bit confusing following her mood swings as well as trying to figure out the plot. Overall the book was pretty good, the characters were realistic in a way that none of them really fit into the stereotypes that were placed on them, but it also read very much like a teen novel. 
I do think this would make an excellent movie or mini series, so I hope Netflix gets on that ASAP. 
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