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squids_can_read's Reviews (718)
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A man who can’t remeber anything before the moment he died is being haunted by visions of mystical creatures who no one else can see. Daryl has to let go of these visions if he is ever going to get better but maybe he has to embrace the mystical instead.
I really liked the world of this book. The way it was crafted and the way it was built was really interesting. The combination of fantasy and sci-fi was super well done and super interesting. However, I think that the author tried to explain this too much. The world in this book doesn’t actually have to make sense in our world which is what it felt like this author was trying to do. It just felt very forced and some of the stuff flew over my head even as someone who is a science major.
The characters were interesting but felt very flat including the main character. None of the characters felt like they changed but that their true nature was reveleved to us because Daryl doesn’t have his memory to give us the background of these characters. Daryl himself doesn’t really change because we have no basis for his past besides what we are told.
The way this story was told was also really confusing. We go back and forth between present and past without any notice and there is still a decent amount of Daryl’s past that we don’t understand. I just felt so confused throughout the book because of the way it was written and the way it was paced.
A really cool world in a very confusing 280 pages.
I really liked the world of this book. The way it was crafted and the way it was built was really interesting. The combination of fantasy and sci-fi was super well done and super interesting. However, I think that the author tried to explain this too much. The world in this book doesn’t actually have to make sense in our world which is what it felt like this author was trying to do. It just felt very forced and some of the stuff flew over my head even as someone who is a science major.
The characters were interesting but felt very flat including the main character. None of the characters felt like they changed but that their true nature was reveleved to us because Daryl doesn’t have his memory to give us the background of these characters. Daryl himself doesn’t really change because we have no basis for his past besides what we are told.
The way this story was told was also really confusing. We go back and forth between present and past without any notice and there is still a decent amount of Daryl’s past that we don’t understand. I just felt so confused throughout the book because of the way it was written and the way it was paced.
A really cool world in a very confusing 280 pages.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
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
Thank you Scholastic and NetGalley for the ARC.
A perfect take on the age-old Scooby-Doo story with inventive characters and an interesting plot.
I absolutely loved this book. The characters were beautifully developed and I loved reading chapters from all of their perspectives. The relationships between the characters were beautiful and even the side characters were interesting to read. The setting was fun and easy to understand. The plot of this book was amazing, a murder mystery where things are not always what they seem. The only thing that I didn’t like about the plot is that I think it was a little predictable. I knew both twists before the end of the book. But, I still loved reading it because I grew up on Scooby-Doo and this was so reminiscent of those stories.
The only other critic that I have of this book is that teenagers were investigating a serial murderer. However, I was able to put that fact aside and just enjoy the book because of how well written it is.
Any one who loves mysteries, thrillers, suspense novels, or Scooby-Doo should absolutely give this a read. Honestly, everyone should give this a read because this book is just so amazing!
A perfect take on the age-old Scooby-Doo story with inventive characters and an interesting plot.
I absolutely loved this book. The characters were beautifully developed and I loved reading chapters from all of their perspectives. The relationships between the characters were beautiful and even the side characters were interesting to read. The setting was fun and easy to understand. The plot of this book was amazing, a murder mystery where things are not always what they seem. The only thing that I didn’t like about the plot is that I think it was a little predictable. I knew both twists before the end of the book. But, I still loved reading it because I grew up on Scooby-Doo and this was so reminiscent of those stories.
The only other critic that I have of this book is that teenagers were investigating a serial murderer. However, I was able to put that fact aside and just enjoy the book because of how well written it is.
Any one who loves mysteries, thrillers, suspense novels, or Scooby-Doo should absolutely give this a read. Honestly, everyone should give this a read because this book is just so amazing!
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Thank you NetGalley and Diversion Books for the ARC.
I really wanted to like this book, I really did. The plot of the book sounded so interesting. A post-apocalyptic world where pieces of salvage, like old shoes and trading cards, have tremendous value and instead of racing on a track races take place in space. But there really was just too much going on in this book for me to know what was happening at any point.
The plot of this book was really confusing, I think especially because the world building was not the best. I think that if this book was longer and the world was able to be explained, the plot wouldn’t have been as confusing. But as it stands it feels like there were a bunch of plot points strung together with a smattering of world-building interspersed.
I liked the idea of most of the characters but there wasn’t much if any character development in the whole book. The reasons that most of the characters did anything was not clear and was actually really confusing most of the time. It was difficult to know who to trust in the book, which may be due to the book being told from the main character’s point of view, but even her actions didn’t always make much senese.
Finally, I think that the setting of this book was a little confusing. This book is set in Florida but I felt like if you didn’t know a lot about the landscape of Florida it was difficult to understand where the characters were, where they were going, and how long it would even take to get there. I don’t know if there is a map in the final copy of the book but I think that the lack of a map made it difficult to get my bearings in this book.
The only people that I think would really love this book are people who love dystopian books and love Flordia. Other than that, I think that this book should probably be a pass.
I really wanted to like this book, I really did. The plot of the book sounded so interesting. A post-apocalyptic world where pieces of salvage, like old shoes and trading cards, have tremendous value and instead of racing on a track races take place in space. But there really was just too much going on in this book for me to know what was happening at any point.
The plot of this book was really confusing, I think especially because the world building was not the best. I think that if this book was longer and the world was able to be explained, the plot wouldn’t have been as confusing. But as it stands it feels like there were a bunch of plot points strung together with a smattering of world-building interspersed.
I liked the idea of most of the characters but there wasn’t much if any character development in the whole book. The reasons that most of the characters did anything was not clear and was actually really confusing most of the time. It was difficult to know who to trust in the book, which may be due to the book being told from the main character’s point of view, but even her actions didn’t always make much senese.
Finally, I think that the setting of this book was a little confusing. This book is set in Florida but I felt like if you didn’t know a lot about the landscape of Florida it was difficult to understand where the characters were, where they were going, and how long it would even take to get there. I don’t know if there is a map in the final copy of the book but I think that the lack of a map made it difficult to get my bearings in this book.
The only people that I think would really love this book are people who love dystopian books and love Flordia. Other than that, I think that this book should probably be a pass.
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is an African-American Great Gatsby retelling that I think would have worked better as a book inspired by The Great Gatsby. There are two main plot lines in this book, which I will refer to as the Great Gatsby plot and the lawsuit plot. These plots are very, very slightly related and don’t actually intertwine much.
I actually really liked the lawsuit plotline. I thought that the discussion of the law around the time and the views of the people in the community were really interesting. I don’t know much about Sugar Hill(the place this book took place), but I thought that it was an interesting place. It also seemed like the author researched for this portion of the novel, which I think is why it was so interesting to me. Reading the differing perspectives was also interesting. (I use interesting a lot but I really did enjoy reading this plotline because it made me think and learn about things that I didn’t know before).
On the other hand, I really didn’t like the Great Gatsby plotline. I thought that it was a very close rendition of the original Great Gatsby plotline, which I thought did a disservice to the book. The lawsuit plotline was more original, though still based on something, but the Great Gatsby plotline was a regurgitation. It made me sad because I thought that the rest of the book was super interesting and thought-provoking. I will say that I didn’t enjoy The Great Gatsby, the book, that much so maybe this book just wasn’t for me but it fell much flatter than the lawsuit plotline.
Another thing that I didn’t super enjoy was some of the sexual scenes that were in this book. They seemed to come out of nowhere and didn’t seem to have a real impact on the book. I think they could have been left out and the story would have been the same. It just didn’t seem to match the vibe of the book in my opinion.
The final thing is that this book was really easy to get through. The chapters are super short and the sentences aren’t super complex. The overall crafting of the novel is done well in my opinion.
I think that people who loved The Great Gatsby, who like to learn about African American history, and like messy people, will like this book. Since I only really liked learning about African American history, this book really wasn’t for me.
I actually really liked the lawsuit plotline. I thought that the discussion of the law around the time and the views of the people in the community were really interesting. I don’t know much about Sugar Hill(the place this book took place), but I thought that it was an interesting place. It also seemed like the author researched for this portion of the novel, which I think is why it was so interesting to me. Reading the differing perspectives was also interesting. (I use interesting a lot but I really did enjoy reading this plotline because it made me think and learn about things that I didn’t know before).
On the other hand, I really didn’t like the Great Gatsby plotline. I thought that it was a very close rendition of the original Great Gatsby plotline, which I thought did a disservice to the book. The lawsuit plotline was more original, though still based on something, but the Great Gatsby plotline was a regurgitation. It made me sad because I thought that the rest of the book was super interesting and thought-provoking. I will say that I didn’t enjoy The Great Gatsby, the book, that much so maybe this book just wasn’t for me but it fell much flatter than the lawsuit plotline.
Another thing that I didn’t super enjoy was some of the sexual scenes that were in this book. They seemed to come out of nowhere and didn’t seem to have a real impact on the book. I think they could have been left out and the story would have been the same. It just didn’t seem to match the vibe of the book in my opinion.
The final thing is that this book was really easy to get through. The chapters are super short and the sentences aren’t super complex. The overall crafting of the novel is done well in my opinion.
I think that people who loved The Great Gatsby, who like to learn about African American history, and like messy people, will like this book. Since I only really liked learning about African American history, this book really wasn’t for me.
Reading this book was a slightly strange experience. The characters were written kind of weirdly because the guy would be possessive of the woman one minute then pushing her away the next. I know it was explained in the book but I think that the hot and cold got to be a little bit much. Also the guy kept saying “my woman” or “our women”. It was weird and his mindset was extremely old which was explained but the explanation didn’t make sense because people can change as they interact with the world. I think the worst part of this book was that the big battle was completed partially of page and what was on page was only like 20 pages. It just didn’t meet the buildup. I think that I’m just not the demographic for this book. The writing was okay, I just didn’t love some of the plot points.
