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_alyssar_'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Child death, Death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking
chaos_na_regale's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, and Misogyny
cozywithraven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Gore, Genocide, Misogyny, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Slavery
ailsaod's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Classism
Minor: Child death
kaziaroo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's a shame to see that children's stories still rely on fatphobia and making fun of "ugly" people for humour, and there was a lot of stereotyping of what "good" and "evil" people look like – although a lot of this is critiqued by the narrative, there were some blurred lines: for example, while we are shown that being mean to Dot about her fatness is bad, the author also mentions her size nearly every time she appears, and her size and appetite makes up most of her characterisation. Thankfully, there wasn't a hooked nose in sight, unlike in the film.
While the plot dragged a bit in places, I really enjoyed the characters in this book and loved the portrayal of a character's descent into madness and the protagonists' respective identity crises. It was a really fun, if dark, read.
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Medical content, Body shaming, Bullying, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Mental illness
saskiajva's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Death, Murder, War, Body shaming, Child abuse, and Child death
samantha_06x's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The book does a good job of making you as a reader become invested in Sophie despite her questionable decisions and ultimately want a happy ending for the 2 main characters.
Lost a star as
As well as this when linking being evil to ugliness there will always be some issues as the concept of ugliness is inherently racist/abelist/fat-phobic. I don't think this was handled well with
Although the book is written for a younger audience I think anyone who enjoys fantasy books like Harry Potter will also enjoy this book.
Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Minor: Kidnapping, Death, Homophobia, Death of parent, Child death, Sexism, and Grief
chrisljm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexism, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Confinement, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Child death, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Violence, Murder, Slavery, War, and Torture
Minor: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Racial slurs, and Stalking
rumireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
- I haven't encountered a book so viciously fatphobic in at least a decade
- the way it sexualised 12 year olds is absolutely disgusting (I can see why they aged the characters up for the movie)
- weirdly homophobic as well. kids calling each other gay as an insult might be accurate but it's certainly not something that I'd like to model for them??
- I think this author has a reeeealy poor opinion of women
please don't give/recommend this series to the youths, it's genuinely awful towards most kinds of people
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny
Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Torture, Blood, and Body horror
hayleyvem's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Violence, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Torture, Child death, and Confinement
Minor: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Lesbophobia