Reviews

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

heathercottledillon's review against another edition

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3.0

I can't decide how I feel about the Crank series. I think it's great that that the books are out there and depicting the dark side of drugs and what they do to abusers and their families. And I like the premise of this final book in the trilogy: it jumps forward twenty years and shows how the children of the original main character are dealing with the consequences of their mother's drug abuse. On the other hand, there's too much teen angst for me in this one, and I don't particularly like the format (of all three books). I think the author writes in verse to to make her books stand out and draw in kids who shy away from dense pages of text, but it was distracting for me at the parts where it reads more like regular prose but just has weird spacing and line breaks. Despite the distractions and angsty drama, the series held my interest throughout.

tcgarback's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

⭐️💫
Critical Score: D+
Personal Score: D

I put off reading this for a long time because I expected it to be really boring, and it is. 

It’s so slim on plot, the hot topics are lukewarm, Kristina is sidelined (and seemingly irredeemable) in her own trilogy, the titular fallout is so underwhelming as to be hard to define, and the point at which the kids’ paths all finally cross is too little too late.

Yawn.

I do like that Hopkins occasionally returns to the shorter and more experimental verse of Crank, but that’s a minor compliment.

And about those epistolary add-ins; they are so vaguely connected to the story that they almost feel inserted by mistake. Weird.

trishellis's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

allieskat17's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is by far one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. I was raised by my grandparents after my mother lost custody of me and it meant so much to me to see others out there in my situation. 
This book continues Kristina’s story in the perspectives of her three oldest children. This book follows hunter, autumn, and summer as they try to navigate the life they’ve been left with due to their mothers addiction. 

thesimplereader's review against another edition

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3.0

This is the third book in the "Crank" series, which completely consumed me; however, this book just could not catch my attention. It was wonderfully written, just like all of Ellen Hopkins other works, but it was a story that just should have ended with "Glass".

In Fallout, the story continues with the main character's illegitimate children and their struggles. I found it as a weird spin off of the main story.

redvelvetpenguins's review against another edition

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3.0

it took me a long time to finish this book. Crank was really great but at this point Kristina's story is just played out.

mehsi's review against another edition

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5.0

This time no Kristina, no this time we get 3 of her kids (out of 5) telling their stories.

I was quite delighted that we didn't have any Kristina any more. Don't get me wrong, her story was heartbreaking, but I was getting tired of her making all the stupid mistakes over and over again, and apparently not always caring about people. However, I have to say, that while reading this I felt oddly protective of her. I get that her kids are hurt, that they are unhappy with how Kristina treats/treated them, and more like that, but really they were just being overkill. Plus it was interested that while they were all like Boohoo Kristina, and we will never do her mistakes, but they all did or you could see they were clearly all having her genes (or those of their dads).

SpoilerHunter cheats, at times uses stuff, and lots of times he is an insensitive prick. Summer is in love with two guys, though she eventually picks one guy, the one who is using meth... yup. Thankfully she at least has the brains to say no to him. Autumn gets pregnant after the first time sex because she apparently didn't think to use protection.... Then there are the mental problems she apparently has.


Hunter was my least favourite character, he was A TERRIBLE person. I disliked him so so much. For instance when he cheated on his girlfriend (and then frankly didn't understand why she was so pissed at him), or when he was bitching about Kristina, instead of listening to her and giving her a chance (as she does try to make good with people, but some parts of her brain are just fried). Then there is one instance, at the end, that made me flip so many fucking tables. He tells Kristina he met Brendan (aka mister Rapist), and then he has the fucking guts to say this to her in regards to her rape: "Don't suppose you'll take some responsibility for what happened that night?" What the actual fuck dude. That is victim blaming, you don't fucking do that. Fuck you. And I will throw in some more fucks for good matter. It doesn't matter if she instigated it (which she didn't) , she fucking said no. NO. And that means NO. Again, no. Bah. And throughout the story he makes some really sexist remarks that made me want to kick him in his fucking balls so so hard. He just doesn't understand why Nikki gets mad at him, and just thinks she is acting like a silly woman. What the hell dude. Also I found it highly creepy he would just enter her home, even if she wasn't home or if she didn't know he was coming inside.

Summer was a pretty nice girl, but I was pissed at her not being able to close things off with Matt better. I did like that she at least was brave enough to say no to meth, as Kyle, her new boyfriend uses it. Though there is one instance she says yes, but thankfully Kyle, who at first seemed to be a pretty big dickwad turns out to be a very sweet guy.

Then there is Autumn, the only one from Kristina's kids who has no contact with Kristina. We later find out why, and I was so sad for her. That poor girl.

There were a few parts in the story that had me going NOPE, with Cora's wedding, and what happened at the foster home.

It was all interesting to see how everyone connected, who their fathers were, and if Kristina still had contact with them. If she tried to meet up with them. I also loved seeing how Kristina was doing, if she was drugfree (so far it seems she is, though her smoking habit has gone up way too far). I loved how the story and the characters all came together in the end. A real Christmas miracle.

Each character has their own font, which made it easier to discern between them, though they were pretty discernible on their own already.

We also have several newspaper clippings and I am delighted they are added, as they gave insight to characters from the previous books.

There were times I didn't like the book much, but in the end I just have to give this book 4.5 stars as it was masterfully written and I just adore how everything got together.
I am definitely happy that I had a chance to read this trilogy, and I would recommend it to everyone.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

booklover97's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

blairfrank's review against another edition

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4.0

Not my favorite in the series, but I liked it more toward the end.

dontwritedown's review

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emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A good Al-Anon book