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ninetalevixen 's review for:

Blackout by Mira Grant
4.5

This trilogy is a super engaging narrative and a masterclass in storytelling. Somehow Grant keeps raising the stakes without crossing the line into drama for the sake of drama or major cliches, without compromising all the character development and deaths that have come before.

The news cycle waits for no one, but the crew of After the End Times reminds us to take a moment for human dignity.

Everything else is spoilers, sorry.


- Dual POV can be a tricky one to pull off (I've seen a lot of authors try), but Grant does it pretty well; Shaun's and Georgia's voices are pretty well differentiated, even after they're back in the same scenes. And it wouldn't have felt right to have this book told any other way, really.
- I can't believe I have to rethink everything I ever thought about Georgia and Shaun's relationship.
- Although it is incest (and they're aware of it) and it makes me uncomfortable on a fundamental level, I can't help melting a little bit seeing them reunited, how fiercely protective they are of each other, how it's like they've each regained their equilibrium.
- The ending is maybe a bit cliched, but if anyone's earned the drive-off-into-the-sunset, disappear-from-society-together ending, it's probably the Masons. And if anyone's earned the right to write it, it's probably Mira Grant.


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content warnings: 
past major character death, survivor's guilt & grief, suicidal ideation, incest (adopted siblings), blood, gore, ableist language


rep: 
biracial (Hispanic/Caucsian) bi/pan major character, Chinese-American (Cantonese speaking) major character & family, Indian-British major character, Black minor character, past F/F relationship


CONVERSION: 13.4 / 15 = 4.5 stars

Prose: 9 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 8 / 10
Emotional Impact: 8 / 10
Development / Flow: 10 / 10
Setting: 9 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: 4 / 5
Intellectual Engagement: 5 / 5
Originality / Trope Execution: 5 / 5
Rereadability: 4 / 5
Memorability: 5 / 5