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kiwichill's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Medical content, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
themoodreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Confinement
Minor: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Murder, Self harm, and Medical trauma
alisonfaith426's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Torture
Moderate: Car accident, Trafficking, Blood, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Self harm
Minor: Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Confinement, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Alcohol
toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I put my physical TBR in a randomizer and let it choose for me, and it chose spooky apparently - and in terms of spookiness, this book delivers on all fronts. I loved the gothic apartment building setting. To me, it felt extremely vivid and claustrophobic. The gargoyles, the colors, the faces in the wallpaper, I felt like I could see it all. I loved that every single person in the book was suspicious as hell. There wasn't just one person I was side eye-ing - I was side eye-ing them all, even the MC's parents who were dead when the book began. I would compare this to American Horror Story: Hotel, but less unhinged because the writing is better. As a whole, the story was compelling and kept me guessing what direction it was going in.
There are parts, however, that had me scratching my head or made me uncomfortable - and not in the way that you hope to be uncomfortable when reading a thriller. There was some casual homophobia within the inner monologue of the main character that really took me aback, it didn't serve the story at all and it was the kind of casual homophobia that queer people like myself pick up on very easily. Additionally, there is some queer "rep" in the history of the Bartholomew, but it is all negative rep that does not serve the story. Speaking of the MC, Jules, she was incredibly annoying, and not to be mean, but she was dumb as rocks. I didn't care about her breakup, I barely cared about her life, I wanted to know more about the Bartholomew building and its history. This next critique is petty, but I'm wondering if Sager really needed to use the word "meager" as many times as he did while writing this book. It got to a point where I had to roll my eyes every time I saw it. Please open a thesaurus, for the love of God.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia