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cwgonzales's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Murder, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Classism
leahthebooklover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
As a book about training killers, there is (not surprisingly) quite a bit of violence. There are hints of romance between Citra and Rowan, but no sex (the Scythes are a celibate society). Mild language, no profanity. Because of the violence I wouldn't recommend this to highly sensitive people, or anyone under the age of 13 or 14. But for those with the maturity to handle it, it would open the door to some great discussions about life, death, purpose, faith, and power.
"My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There’s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that."
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Child death, Bullying, and Fire/Fire injury
charmainslibrary's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Death, Violence, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Medical trauma, and Bullying
Minor: Torture and Child death
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Body horror, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Torture, Grief, and Fatphobia
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Confinement
a_cera_t0ps's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The book looked at the inherent fault in the concept of a utopia: to be flawed is to be human. To live is to one day die. To love is to risk losing.
In a perfect world, humanity ends up desensitized and stagnant. There are no big emotions, no real wants, and no true progress. Life is boring. The only thing that's still human, ironically, is found in the most horrific, inhumane act someone could commit. Humanity barely lives, and the rest just live to die. To kill. To "glean," as a shiny, perfect, desensitized world would prefer to call it.
The book has a refreshing take on the future. It believes that, if we were to cure death before fighting our way into space, we would never leave. We would grow comfortable in safety, and seek vanquish any attempts to jeopardize it. It was interesting, and I felt it was realistic.
Neal Shusterman shows just how bad humanity is. True humanity leads to the worst of the worst worming their way into power every time. True humanity values themselves over morality. True humanity is ignorant and judgemental. True humanity, simply put, is dangerous. Yet, I we strip mankind of its sin, we are left with nothing worthwhile.
The plot is well connected. It wraps enough of the story up to have a clear, clean plot while still establishing conflict to be dealt with in the following books.
The characters well fleshed out nicely. The ones that were meant to be likeable were wonderful. The antagonists were scary. If not in a thriller/horror way, in a philosophical way. You didn't want them to win, but the threat of their success was just too real. Each response to the conflicts were clever. Nothing was too predictable to be enjoyable or too convoluted to be good storytelling.
The Shustermans are amazing, as always <3
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Bullying, Gun violence, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
cadybooks's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Death, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Grief, Animal death, Suicide, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Blood, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
bessadams's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Gun violence, Body shaming, Death of parent, Bullying, and Alcohol
hales_1243's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, Racism, Child death, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Body horror, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fatphobia
Minor: Vomit and Alcohol
galexy_brain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Abandonment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Mental illness
wisteria1111's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Car accident, Addiction, Ableism, Cursing, and Death
Boring ass romance plot between main characters, if you don't wanna read that then don't read this