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panprincess's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child death
maresuju's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Child death, Murder, and Grief
serendipity421's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Grief, and Child death
literarydumpling's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Gun violence and Death
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Cancer and Terminal illness
ladythana's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Terminal illness, Murder, Grief, and Child death
madmantha's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
That being said… I don’t think it’s for everyone. It was very interesting re-reading it in 2022.
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness
Minor: Mental illness, Outing, Acephobia/Arophobia, Biphobia, Car accident, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic friendship, War, Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, Cursing, and Emotional abuse
… so what ever happened in Untitled Patel..?sowm's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Anyways, I checked the book out from my library again. Did I enjoy the book? Not really. I still found the protagonist to be a little annoying, I found her interactions with Imogen to be annoying as well. The shifting between the Darcy chapters and the Afterworld chapters really got me sometimes, although it ended up becoming much less of an issue. Maybe the reason I was finally able to finish the book was because I was finally the same age as Darcy. Either way, I was really glad to read the book. I think another thing that helped me finish the book this time around was that I didn't need to worry about the exposition or lack thereof, especially for the beginning, since I had read a good 3/4 of the way into it previously. When rereading that portion, I was mostly just reminding myself of what had already happened which was definitely better than reading it for the first time and being quite confused.
Positives: I finally understood the way Darcy's character developed throughout the book. Seeing how the edits Darcy was talking about were actually reflected in the book was definitely cool. Seeing the way that Darcy was talking about having to rewrite the ending, and the way we got that ending after more of the book focusing on Darcy herself was a nice touch and I enjoyed that. These are mostly superficial things.
Cons: I didn't really like the characters. I found their interactions to be annoying, for lack of a better word. The whole Imogen and Darcy relationship was a bit cringeworthy, and made me feel weird, sometimes. A decent part of the book was about telling us what Darcy's character development was and naturally, that turned me off the book a little. Additionally, not a big fan of the entire Lizzie/Yamaraj storyline. I think overall, in the book, everyone fell in love way too fast. Imogen's character didn't have much to it.
I also don't really want to go in to everything that went wrong with Westerfeld trying to showcase exactly how being a young, South Asian lesbian works with family dynamics and whatnot, but, um, it's not great. I don't have any particularly strong feelings about the whole Yamaraj-god-of-death thing, because let's be real, Hindu religion has never been particularly respected, and theres is a bit of a precedence with this, however, I do believe that he could've made Darcy white and nothing would've changed. There is an inherent difference to living as a POC, and while it may not affect every decision you make, it's a conscious thing that you always have in the back of your mind, and it would've been interesting to see at least some of that.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Violence
Moderate: Child death and Medical content
Minor: Chronic illness