bencaroline's reviews
55 reviews

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Deadnaming, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

"Terminal illness" is a good approximation for the magical condition of this world where one can temporarily continue 'living' as a ghost-type spirit. Treated extremely compassionately in the text. I am editing this after looking at the other content warnings; I would contend that the transphobia in this book is moderate at most. To me (a trans person), this is first and foremost a book about trans joy--no that that would negate extreme transphobia, but to me the depictions of trans acceptance and euphoria are WAY more present in the book than the negative bits, and I want to say that. There are no graphic depictions of transphobic violence, and iirc only brief descriptions of familial rejection or bigotry; Yadriel's family/community has a lot of latent transphobia, BUT, they seem to be working towards embracing his identity.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death

Moderate: Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

War, sex work

A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Mental illness and Sexual content

Severance by Ling Ma

dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Medical trauma

Minor: Racism, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Pandemic

Inheritance by Malinda Lo

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Just reread this 7/25/2023. I forgot how endearing David and Amber both are! This series is not groundbreaking, but also, it is. Brings a lot of good and important questions to a YA audience. I love it very much.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Adaptation by Malinda Lo

emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Stalking, and Car accident

Minor: Biphobia

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

challenging emotional reflective

4.75

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

adventurous dark tense

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, and Police brutality

Graphic depictions of poverty and homelessness take up a significant portion of the narrative.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

The addiction I perceive in this book is so nontraditional, even magical, that I didn't give it more than a "minor" designation, but to me, the theme of addiction is pervasive. The disordered eating in this book is similarly magical, but because the book is centered around food and eating and the protagonist's struggle with these things, I marked it as 'graphic.'