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jeaniegreenie 's review for:

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall
4.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I went back and forth on what I would rate this book. It was terrifying, thrilling, heartbreaking. The various styles of chapters were fun and engaging, I generally liked the characters and grew to like some I didn't, and I felt the premise was unique! My overall grievances were that some stuff/ideas were too farfetched and confusing and the unforgiving nature of some events were too dark and graphic for YA imo. I really didn't understand who/what Dahut was (maybe I missed this?) and the ending was even more confusing. And by ending I mean the very, very last chapter/supplement G. There were just some gray areas in general towards the end. Maybe to open it up for a sequel or a Conjuring-type universe expansion potential? Not sure. But I do think this would make a phenomenal and horrifying movie, maybe without some of the confusing stuff in the end (unless it is intentional for future books, again). I also enjoyed the casual representation in the story, such as queer characters, adoption, fertility issues, stuttering/speech impediment, hearing aids/hearing impairment, etc. Overall, this was a riveting, creative story and I'm already looking forward to reading more by Marshall!