Scan barcode
root's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
In all honesty, for the time that this book came out, it is not half bad in its depiction of DID, trans identity, or trauma. It does manage to get a lot of things right, and it's clear the author did some research. I was pleasantly surprised at how casually a character was trans considering the time, again, and also that the story didn't focus on or obsess itself with transphobia. I also thought it was somewhat funny that the author referenced real textbooks and psychologists and just slightly changed the names. I will say I did read this expecting that it was going to be funnily bad, and it was definitely funnily bad but the above points surprised me enough to warrant a review.
The book's problems are these:
The book's problems are these:
- Incredibly rambly, tangential writing style that reads a bit like if a manual writer mixed up their project with their work. It's not even purple prose type of lengthy detail, just objective descriptions of things like what is inside a tent that never becomes relevant to the story.
- On that note, it takes ~300 pages before the author finishes setting up the premise and gets to the actual plot.
- The fact that the book waits until the epilogue before clarifying to the reader that multiple bits of DID misinformation was actually just the way the main character saw it. I'm all for flawed character perspectives and unreliable narrators, but misinformation for a heavily stigmatized and misunderstood disorder is not the place for it. Especially since the plot takes so long that many readers will stop reading before the epilogue.
- The characters are all just deeply unlikeable. The main character is really very self-centered and stalkerish, the love interest is incredibly manipulative and toxic, and the other character feels like she was just tossed in because the plot wasn't interesting enough.
- The dialogue is very awkwardly paced and written.
- Some of the things claimed about DID is just...not really how it works logistically (ordering 10 different dishes at the same time at restaurants because alters, etc).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Outing, Forced institutionalization, and Toxic relationship
More...