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davidbythebay's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
I am truly in awe of SDH and all of his books I've so far read, including this one. Taking a shrinking universe concept, he has created a masterful work that I say is best to go into blindly. SDH is a genius whose praises I cannot sing more loudly. The elements of mental health are all over this book, as with his other works, and he handles them beautifully. The fact that Ozzie, our main character and narrator, is LGBTQ+ is never once the focus. I really appreciate how SDH tells a story with gay characters and not a story about gay characters. This one in particular could have worked with any main character - any race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. - and it would still be the same impactful story. Here we have Ozzie (gay) with a missing boyfriend, and a few other characters including his best friend Lua who uses he/she pronouns depending on their mood and dress. And it never is treated as an odditiy or dressed in a neon sign with sequins calling attention to the diversity and representation of the characters. Lua is just Lua in all his glory and I live for it.
I absolutely LOVE SDH's humor! I love it when a book makes me laugh or giggle and I did both with so many humorous lines and thoughts.
My one gripe with this novel is the ending was a bit quick. We get some explanation for the state of affairs - shall we say - but some things aren't fully explained. In the last chapter - and I'm being vague to avoid spoilers, but those who have read this will hopefully get what I'm saying - there is at least one character that has a large roll in the bulk of the novel and is dealt with rather quickly. I think I understand what happened there, but I just wanted a touch more explanaition of this circumstances we end on. I may add a spoiler to clarify this, or I may not. I'm omitting that for now.
SDH is absolutely a favorite author of mine - one I just discovered this year, 2022, and have devoured many of his works so far - and I look forward to reading his books more and more. I want to say this is like a 4.75 star, because of my gripe, however I have to speak my heart and say it's a lovely 5 star book I look forward to digesting and probably rereading in the future several times. Brilliance doesn't begin to even describe how I feel about this.
I absolutely LOVE SDH's humor! I love it when a book makes me laugh or giggle and I did both with so many humorous lines and thoughts.
My one gripe with this novel is the ending was a bit quick. We get some explanation for the state of affairs - shall we say - but some things aren't fully explained. In the last chapter - and I'm being vague to avoid spoilers, but those who have read this will hopefully get what I'm saying - there is at least one character that has a large roll in the bulk of the novel and is dealt with rather quickly. I think I understand what happened there, but I just wanted a touch more explanaition of this circumstances we end on. I may add a spoiler to clarify this, or I may not. I'm omitting that for now.
SDH is absolutely a favorite author of mine - one I just discovered this year, 2022, and have devoured many of his works so far - and I look forward to reading his books more and more. I want to say this is like a 4.75 star, because of my gripe, however I have to speak my heart and say it's a lovely 5 star book I look forward to digesting and probably rereading in the future several times. Brilliance doesn't begin to even describe how I feel about this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Self harm, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Medical trauma
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Gore
ninaevan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
Short story: Amazing pitch, strong stakes, great writing- not to young but also appropriately angsty, a little dragged out but the ending was worth the wait. Wow this was a rollarcoaster… CW- a lot of unexpected sensitive content, check warnings.
Long story: my feelings abt it changed so much throughout the book- for the first half I was totally obsessed by the concept and griped by the mystery and then it took so long to reach to reach resolution that for a minute I thought it wouldn’t. From about the half way point til about 50 pages til the end I thought it was a flop because it almost felt like an entire book about the first half of a story… I just expected more lead chasing and clue uncovering. When it opened with the plane crash mystery, it felt like the start of something and then he just never got another lead and I really thought it would be irredeemably undeveloped but those last 50 pages really pulled everything together and it ended up blowing my mind. I do think that something more could have happened in the 200-400 page section or that it could have been cut down cause it was a little long and felt like it was loosing track of the original plot and going off into some other plot but not fully committing to the switch… but again, it pulled thru and achieved the “above 4 star” rating.
My scoring:
5.00 | = everyone in the world must read this book
4.75 | = between 4.5 and 5
4.50 | = dessert island book
4.25 | = between 4 and 4.5
4.00 | = great, solid, recommendable book
3.75 | = almost a 4, but not quite
3.50 | = not a 4, but I had a good time
3.25 | = rough patches, but not bad
3.00 | = meh, read-able but nothing to write home about
2.75 | = between a 2.5 and 3
2.50 | = there’s something I liked here but it wasn’t enough to be good
2.25 | = between a 2 and 2.5
2.00 | = not good and there was nothing I liked
1.00 | = bad
Long story: my feelings abt it changed so much throughout the book- for the first half I was totally obsessed by the concept and griped by the mystery and then it took so long to reach to reach resolution that for a minute I thought it wouldn’t. From about the half way point til about 50 pages til the end I thought it was a flop because it almost felt like an entire book about the first half of a story… I just expected more lead chasing and clue uncovering. When it opened with the plane crash mystery, it felt like the start of something and then he just never got another lead and I really thought it would be irredeemably undeveloped but those last 50 pages really pulled everything together and it ended up blowing my mind. I do think that something more could have happened in the 200-400 page section or that it could have been cut down cause it was a little long and felt like it was loosing track of the original plot and going off into some other plot but not fully committing to the switch… but again, it pulled thru and achieved the “above 4 star” rating.
My scoring:
5.00 | = everyone in the world must read this book
4.75 | = between 4.5 and 5
4.50 | = dessert island book
4.25 | = between 4 and 4.5
4.00 | = great, solid, recommendable book
3.75 | = almost a 4, but not quite
3.50 | = not a 4, but I had a good time
3.25 | = rough patches, but not bad
3.00 | = meh, read-able but nothing to write home about
2.75 | = between a 2.5 and 3
2.50 | = there’s something I liked here but it wasn’t enough to be good
2.25 | = between a 2 and 2.5
2.00 | = not good and there was nothing I liked
1.00 | = bad
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Blood, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
pogue's review
emotional
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
ohanaaa's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? Yes
5.0
I'm so glad I read this book... and not just because it really reminds me of a situation I've been processing as of late and almost felt like I got tricked into a therapy session. Definitely worth the read. By far the best book I've read so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Self harm
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Sexual content
Minor: Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Homophobia
readingsomebooks's review
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
This book covered some heavy topics but was a good read, but I’m not sure I’d read it again. I found the main character’s view of the universe shrinking interesting and I liked how it could, in some ways, add layers to the book. But it just wasn’t for me. This book does have lots of representation. Also, I found the main character to be frustrating at times and not super relatable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, and Self harm
Sorry if I forgot any important content warnings it’s been a while since I read it
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