Reviews with content warning for Murder - How We Fall Apart

I would have rated this higher, but I thought the reveal and ending were a bit lame. I didn't like where it went. But, it's a solid read. Another great example of YA mysteries, plus it features an all Asian cast. Which was even better! I see that this is going to be a series and I have a feeling I'll tune into the next book to see where it goes.

Content Warnings

plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ve really been enjoying dark academia books these last few weeks, and definitely wanted to read this book after seeing so much hype surrounding its release.

Overall, I liked it. The characters were complex and well-written, and honestly, I felt bad for most of them. Sinclair Prep’s cutthroat nature kind of terrified me, as a white person that attended a public school and never truly tried to be top of my class. That and the anonymous person leaking secrets gave me Ace of Spades vibes, and it worked well.

Zhao did a decent job crafting the mystery, and an excellent job balancing the dual timelines. The main reason for my rating is that I found so much of this book’s plot predictable. Although I never imagined the culprit’s identity, didn’t even come close and was quite surprised by the reveal, I guessed almost everything else. I’m not sure if this is on the book for being predictable or on me because I’ve read a fair amount of thrillers, but nonetheless, I figured most things out early, and that took away from a lot of the story’s suspense and intrigue.

Despite that, I do still recommend the book, and I can see myself picking up more of Zhao’s YA in the future.

Representation

Chinese protagonist and side characters
Chinese bisexual side character
Korean sapphic side character
Indian side character
side characters of color

Content Warnings

deadbookishsociety's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Trigger warnings : death, overdose , drug abuse , racism , classism , murder, underage drinking, grooming , arson

This book left me shook , I couldn't really write or speak about it and I had to gather my thoughts before I even thought about what happened in the book, it was so fast paced and perfect that I didn't even realize I read the whole book in less than 24 hours , it was griping , shocking and very entertaining.
I have read so many thriller in the past few months but I never saw the twist coming in this book , they always were foreshadowed but I didn't really spotted them until that actually happened .

For this book the mystery was just a part of it, it wasn't the main thing or theme of the book , this book showed us a part of how it is it be a person of colour in a place where the systemic racism is so deep rooted how a poc has to go through so much to prove their worth and the fact that they deserve to be there and so is the situation for classism , how there is a vast barrier between people just because how much they earn or what position they hold in society.
How we fall apart is about friendship , love , identity , betrayal and how far you are willing to go to make a place for yourself in a place where you feel an outsider .

Jamie, Nancy , akil , Alexander, Krystal and every single character that were shown in the book were flawed, they were humane they made mistakes and faced the consequences in the same way or some other . Jamie who is a rich popular queen bee who is the best at everything and has everything she ever wanted has secrets , dark ones and those ultimately catchup to her one day and it's over for her and then it created a loom over her ex friends who have betrayer or have been betrayed by her .

I don't know how to explain this book expact that it's totally worth your and my time and that I'm looking forward to the next book .

Content Warnings

aargot1's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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