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abigail_lo's reviews
377 reviews
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Excrement, Racism, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
Minor: Ableism and Drug use
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: War, Violence, Police brutality, and Gore
Moderate: Xenophobia
5.0
Graphic: Suicide, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use
Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Mental illness
Minor: Cancer, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Chronic illness
2.75
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexism, Racism, Sexual violence, Rape, Colonisation, and Misogyny
Minor: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Ableism
- 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
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Antisemitism
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
so, me and irinya (the main character) got off to a rough start. i thought she made some ... questionable decisions that play right into the "girl who's never seen a man in her life" trope -- very miranda and ferdinand of her, for any other fans of the tempest out there. i literally have so many notes just talking about every infuriating thing she does in the first 25% of the book. but from there, it turns into a pretty decent fantasy book! i was truly on the verge of rating it 3.5 stars (or potentially 4 stars for the wazir -- but with deep shame in my heart). sure, she didn't pick up on some of the reveals that she should have, and i was a bit frustrated with the pacing. but it is a ya fantasy book, and i'm willing to forgive a lot of technical errors if i still get swept away in the magic of young love, and it was truly happening. and then: the ending happened. mild spoilers ahead:
4.0
it's fascinating to me that abuse can result in so many different types of trauma. mccurdy romanticizes her mom in a way that i've never felt about my dad -- i think my struggle has always been that i've never felt loved by the person who's supposed to love me. it's almost like (as terrible as it is to say) mccurdy has the relationship with her mom that i wished i had with my dad. and although she didn't have a childhood due to icarly, she still has memories of those times, which is more than i can say. there's something so disorienting about knowing next to nothing about your own childhood.
long story short: i felt way more emotionally distant from this book than i thought i would, mostly because her experiences with eating disorders and her mom are so different from my own experience with abuse. but i deeply admire the courage it took for her to share her story, and i hope the act of writing this helped in her journey towards healing.
also -- she read this audiobook?? i'd rather skydive from the highest plane than read a 6.5 hour audiobook about my life. that is literally a feat i cannot even conceive of.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Sexual assault