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gar42's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
sad
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
3.0
An alternate timeline when Al Gore won the election against Bush and pursued a war on climate rather than a war on terror. The premise explores the ways in which white supremacy and greed are baked into America, regardless of the prevailing political ideal of a given time.
I found the conceit of the book interesting, and many parts of the book exciting and fun to read. But this book is filled with white tears, white guilt, over-explanation of political ideology, and in-your-face critiques of America that are founded, but written without the nuance or craft that I would hope for in a work of satire or literary fiction.
I look to books like Chain Gang All Stars or Our Missing Hearts as models of how a dystopian, alternate timeline book can point back to the flaws of present-day America without hitting the reader over the head. When a dystopian plot is too similar to the plot of reality, it can feel more like an uncanny valley reflection than an effective piece of probing political commentary.
For what it is, though, a fun and exciting read!
I found the conceit of the book interesting, and many parts of the book exciting and fun to read. But this book is filled with white tears, white guilt, over-explanation of political ideology, and in-your-face critiques of America that are founded, but written without the nuance or craft that I would hope for in a work of satire or literary fiction.
I look to books like Chain Gang All Stars or Our Missing Hearts as models of how a dystopian, alternate timeline book can point back to the flaws of present-day America without hitting the reader over the head. When a dystopian plot is too similar to the plot of reality, it can feel more like an uncanny valley reflection than an effective piece of probing political commentary.
For what it is, though, a fun and exciting read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Death, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: War, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
joannalouise's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
s_evan's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I like this author's content on IG and the premise sounded good, but I was disappointed by this novel. When I told myself it was YA, I could accept the writing and approach to telling/showing us about activist circles. Overall it felt very surface and young, which the narrator is, but I feel like needed depth could have be added through more insight, better writing and/or more robust character development.
*TW/SPOILER/LEARNING LESSON: don't shame people who use drugs so that they use alone and OD w/o possibility for reversal. Making someone carry naloxone does NOTHING if that person is alone. For such a "woke" book when it comes to race and class class consciousness, as well as other forms of oppression, it really was not progressive when it came to substance use or people who live with addiction!
https://neverusealone.com/
*TW/SPOILER/LEARNING LESSON: don't shame people who use drugs so that they use alone and OD w/o possibility for reversal. Making someone carry naloxone does NOTHING if that person is alone. For such a "woke" book when it comes to race and class class consciousness, as well as other forms of oppression, it really was not progressive when it came to substance use or people who live with addiction!
https://neverusealone.com/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Rape
julialeigh's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual assault and War
bugle's review against another edition
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Police brutality, and Transphobia
Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, Addiction, Deadnaming, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Suicide attempt, and Sexual violence
Minor: Antisemitism
alsoapples's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
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? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Classism, Racism, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Transphobia, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Addiction
savvylit's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The concept of the Free People's Village? Amazing. I love the idea of autonomous zones, especially ones that crop up in protest. Some of the aspects of the Village - including group meals, art builds, and horizontal organization - warmed my leftist heart to see illustrated on the page. I also really appreciated many of the anti-authoritarian & abolitionist sentiments shared by the character of Gestas. He reminded me of people I know & love in real life.
Beyond the aspects mentioned above, though, I did not enjoy this book. I tried to write a thorough review explaining all of the reasons why but I ran into the Instagram character limit. Thus, I present to you a list of qualms:
1. Maddie is irritatingly spineless and naive. She has nearly zero personality beyond being in love & being afraid.
2. Maddie constantly demands the emotional labor of people of color to assuage her fears and extreme naivete.
3. The love interest, Red, is sexy but super toxic. It seemed we were supposed to be rooting for xim & Maddie. I couldn't.
4. The structure of this book is uneven and jumbled. It's a journal but the jumps in time are often abrupt.
5. Everything in this novel is heavy-handed and over-explained. All of part 1, in which the characters are introduced in unnecessarily repetitive detail, could have been eliminated & the story would have been better for it.
6. Relatedly to the above, this is a New Adult story that relies on constantly telling versus showing. I know that Kern has a background in teaching, but I didn't enjoy feeling like one of their students.
7. Parallels & meta nods to our real-world timeline were made. They were cheesy and awkward.
Beyond the aspects mentioned above, though, I did not enjoy this book. I tried to write a thorough review explaining all of the reasons why but I ran into the Instagram character limit. Thus, I present to you a list of qualms:
1. Maddie is irritatingly spineless and naive. She has nearly zero personality beyond being in love & being afraid.
2. Maddie constantly demands the emotional labor of people of color to assuage her fears and extreme naivete.
3. The love interest, Red, is sexy but super toxic. It seemed we were supposed to be rooting for xim & Maddie. I couldn't.
4. The structure of this book is uneven and jumbled. It's a journal but the jumps in time are often abrupt.
5. Everything in this novel is heavy-handed and over-explained. All of part 1, in which the characters are introduced in unnecessarily repetitive detail, could have been eliminated & the story would have been better for it.
6. Relatedly to the above, this is a New Adult story that relies on constantly telling versus showing. I know that Kern has a background in teaching, but I didn't enjoy feeling like one of their students.
7. Parallels & meta nods to our real-world timeline were made. They were cheesy and awkward.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Rape, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, Death, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, and Grief
misha_ali's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-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
TL;DR: The opposite of a white saviour book.
This is an electric, nuanced book about revolutions, intersectionality, and fighting the good fight. I was initially side-eyeing the choice to make the POV character a cis white girl but this works out really well as an audience surrogate for learning and growing as a character as she interacts and falls in love with this group of people trying to make the world a better place.
It feels almost incidental to have the setting be an alt-history world where Al Gore wins the election in 2000 and launches a war on climate change. The result is depressingly similar: the prison complex to incarcerate people of colour and profit from their labour, the carbon tax loopholes used by the wealthy white people to make more money, the gentrifications of run-down neighbourhoods so that the residents are priced out and then the affluent take over the trendy new area. It's all depressingly similar to the world we face today.
Maddie is such an interesting and deeply flawed character. She is cognizant of her privilege and the fact that she is risking less than others by simply being white, cis and female in a protest alongside people of colour and various queer presentations. She's likeable despite (or perhaps because of?) having relatable flaws such as guilt for profiting from a system that the people she loves are trapped by, railing in her own small ways against the injustice of the system, and trying to take that one step to support her comrades. Her journey from feeling selfish to contributing to the fight is engaging and relatable.
The cast of characters around her are fiery, engaging, and knowledgeable, and also sometimes assholes. I appreciate the nuance. This is not your historical text about people being larger than life, but a story about a collection of humans who are tired, beaten down and worn out by the world they exist in, but continue to fight to make it better.
If you're ever tired and worn down by the good fight in whatever way you contribute to it, this book will make you laugh, deeply sad, invigorated, and eventually hopeful.
This is an electric, nuanced book about revolutions, intersectionality, and fighting the good fight. I was initially side-eyeing the choice to make the POV character a cis white girl but this works out really well as an audience surrogate for learning and growing as a character as she interacts and falls in love with this group of people trying to make the world a better place.
It feels almost incidental to have the setting be an alt-history world where Al Gore wins the election in 2000 and launches a war on climate change. The result is depressingly similar: the prison complex to incarcerate people of colour and profit from their labour, the carbon tax loopholes used by the wealthy white people to make more money, the gentrifications of run-down neighbourhoods so that the residents are priced out and then the affluent take over the trendy new area. It's all depressingly similar to the world we face today.
Maddie is such an interesting and deeply flawed character. She is cognizant of her privilege and the fact that she is risking less than others by simply being white, cis and female in a protest alongside people of colour and various queer presentations. She's likeable despite (or perhaps because of?) having relatable flaws such as guilt for profiting from a system that the people she loves are trapped by, railing in her own small ways against the injustice of the system, and trying to take that one step to support her comrades. Her journey from feeling selfish to contributing to the fight is engaging and relatable.
The cast of characters around her are fiery, engaging, and knowledgeable, and also sometimes assholes. I appreciate the nuance. This is not your historical text about people being larger than life, but a story about a collection of humans who are tired, beaten down and worn out by the world they exist in, but continue to fight to make it better.
If you're ever tired and worn down by the good fight in whatever way you contribute to it, this book will make you laugh, deeply sad, invigorated, and eventually hopeful.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia
parkerela's review
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Death, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Police brutality
kleinekita's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Grief, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Moderate: Pregnancy, Vomit, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Rape, Transphobia, Classism, Toxic relationship, and War