Phillip Abraham
while i did appreciate a lot of the subjects that were touched upon, it just didn't make up the bland writing and rushed pacing for me. spencer also had me frustrated at times as a main character - i feel like a lot of the conflict (not including the main one) would have been easily preventable through more communication.
the romance also felt underdeveloped for me - i think it was the best part of the book (especially during the middle) but the third act just left me unsatisfied with how it concluded.
i thought this would be a fluffy ya contemporary i could chill with - and it was! until i started crying and everything happened at once
god i love this book
yeah now that i think about it, this was not worth 4 stars. amazing prose can't make up for the fact that i can't remember a single piece of plot development that happened in this entire book
Oh boy, did I get mad after reading this. COME ON LEMONY SNICKET! Why would you just leave the series on THIS? All the build up, all the suspense that the previous books had is just.. gone. This series ends on a cliffhanger (which is one of my biggest pet peeves) and NOTHING was even solved! It was basically “Here's a mystery. There's no answer because I was too lazy to finish it!”. All I can say is, don't read this book. It's isn't worth your time if you read the previous 11.
i mean... was i invested in the drama? definitely. the last 50 pages or so ramped up the action, and the twists were genuinely surprising, but everything else about this was underwhelming.
none of the six main characters were all that likeable or even memorable, with the exception of one that absolutely infuriated me, and the ending felt underwhelming. i found myself often skimming pages either because red's inner monologue felt overdone, or because the main characters were all planning something too ridiculous to even be plausible.
overall, i don't fully regret my time reading this book since i did find some enjoyment in the sheer dramatics of the plot, but i really don't see any reason i'd ever come back to this.
2.75 ⭐️
we are nearly at at volume 8 and i STILL haven't encountered the scene that made me read this entire series in the first place. i'm shaking in my boots please do not emotionally devastate me
edit: this is hilarious the scene i was talking about is from erha LMFAO
i'm really about to commit to reading an 8 volume long webnovel... but alas i have no regrets
This book definitely got heavy, especially toward the end, but I really enjoyed it! The twist was a bit obvious, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the latter half of the book at all. I think the portrayal of the emotions surrounding the reveal was especially well-written. Safiya and Jawad's POV's also felt very distinct, which is surprisingly rare in a lot of young adult fiction I've read.
Overall, a great book with important and well-researched theming!
this book was such an enormous slog. the first half was so incredibly dull, and the second half felt like a compilation of events rather than a cohesive narrative. it's a post-apocalyptic setting, yet our sources of conflict are:
• andrew constantly trying to abandon jamie
• a flooded highway tunnel
• naked man with axe
• homophobia
• escaped zoo lions (???)
there wasn't a real overarching plot - seriously, both of the main characters' goals just disappeared after chapters of them talking about their importance!! i felt like i was getting whiplash!!
and speaking of the main characters, i'm sorry, but they felt so incredibly insufferable. i understand that they're teenagers and don't have the best emotional regulation, but SO MANY of the decisions that andrew and jamie made throughout this book were infuriating to watch. the only other character of note in this entire book was cara, who i wish had a bigger role than she did because she was honestly the best character in the entire book.
other than that, the constant pop culture references grated on me. i didn't understand most of the references, so they just fell completely flat for me. the writing style also felt very stripped down and dull at times.
i really tried to love this - in theory, i should've! gay people in the apocalypse??? count me in! but this was just an absolute chore to get through, i'm so sorry.
i still dont have words for how amazing this book is and how annoying im going to be about it for the rest of my life
this was absolutely incredible. learned so much, and felt so much. for a lot of my initial five-star reviews, i look back on later and reconsider my rating - but even now, i immediately know that this one will remain five stars.
literally the only thing i remember about this book is how much i love cas and lena but i had a good time! probably around 3.75 stars
edited for reread: this book is just as, if not more amazing than i remember it being. so glad i chose to read it again
original review:
i need to write this before i start getting emotional from how GOOD this book is.
by the halfway point, i realized just how INSANE this book is. so much happens that i was just in shock for most of the time - literally from 50% onwards i was either in shock or tearing up the whole time.
DNF @ 80%
now - you might be wondering why i chose not to finish this book AND still rated it 4 stars! it's because i absolutely hate love triangles, and this book sets one up right around the 70% mark AND makes it incredibly obvious who the endgame love interest is.
i, for the life of me, cannot stand reading about love triangles in any capacity, ESPECIALLY ones where the other option is discarded immediately afterwards - and since I know that's exactly what the end of this book sets up and the sequel executes... i just couldn't do it
possibly one of the slowest starts in any book i've read BUT it's all worth it in the end