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watermelleon's Reviews (254)
adventurous
funny
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reread - this was absolutely wonderful, but.
I feel very disheartened about the henchperson of no clear gender. I've tried to do a bit of reading around this, and I believe that handler is a strong queer ally with better representation elsewhere, but I'm not sure if the right balance was met between "there are horrible people in this world including transphobes" and "children are scared of this person because they can't figure out this person's gender." I would be concerned with a child reading this in terms of instilling the idea that being trans is not favourable - which is such a shame considering the other diversity on display within this book.
It also does not keep in line with the characters of the triplets, who are very neurodivergent coded, very intelligent and absolutely would not fear a trans person for being a bit mysterious.
I feel very disheartened about the henchperson of no clear gender. I've tried to do a bit of reading around this, and I believe that handler is a strong queer ally with better representation elsewhere, but I'm not sure if the right balance was met between "there are horrible people in this world including transphobes" and "children are scared of this person because they can't figure out this person's gender." I would be concerned with a child reading this in terms of instilling the idea that being trans is not favourable - which is such a shame considering the other diversity on display within this book.
It also does not keep in line with the characters of the triplets, who are very neurodivergent coded, very intelligent and absolutely would not fear a trans person for being a bit mysterious.
Content Warnings
Minor: Transphobia
adventurous
medium-paced
Used as an audiobook to help me sleep so will pass on a rating!
This was a childhood favourite of mine, it does feel a bit younger but a good replacement for another well known wizard boy series. I will also add that I easily read through and enjoyed these as a child when I couldn't with the latter after a number of attempts. So they are definitely better written too!
If I have to be reallyyy picky I do think I love Nimmo's "the snow spider" series a little bit more :)
This was a childhood favourite of mine, it does feel a bit younger but a good replacement for another well known wizard boy series. I will also add that I easily read through and enjoyed these as a child when I couldn't with the latter after a number of attempts. So they are definitely better written too!
If I have to be reallyyy picky I do think I love Nimmo's "the snow spider" series a little bit more :)
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Edit: changed from 3.5 to 2*
Tldr review: "Its a book for teenagers/children/babies/young people" is not a good enough excuse for bad writing. Everyone should have the right to good fiction regardless of ages, and it already exists in the world.
I'll be the one to say I'm disappointed in this book. So much potential that fell at my feet. So many promising moments that immediately disintegrated into pure frustration. I wasn't expecting a 5 star read, but I also wasnt expecting to feel so insulted.
The Good Bits!
Tldr review: "Its a book for teenagers/children/babies/young people" is not a good enough excuse for bad writing. Everyone should have the right to good fiction regardless of ages, and it already exists in the world.
I'll be the one to say I'm disappointed in this book. So much potential that fell at my feet. So many promising moments that immediately disintegrated into pure frustration. I wasn't expecting a 5 star read, but I also wasnt expecting to feel so insulted.
The Good Bits!
- Raj/Sal/their whole family tbh were so well characterised
- I had some strong emotional reactions and at one point gasped out loud on the bus!
- loved the format of the book, pulling together different mediums was very interesting!
The issues:
- The book had a huge issue trying to find the right tone. The jump to darker parts were not transitioned well and felt very sudden and
- The protagonist was completely insufferable, starts immediately breaking rules that are initially very sensible and ethical (i.e. her teacher gives her ethical approval for a school project on the condition that she does not speak with the families whose children DIED or she will immediately fail and get a zero??? and on getting approval she IMMEDIATELY does that?? and then no one really disqualifies her anyway because she's suddenly a 'local hero' who solved a murder case???
- Pip is just insensitive in general, persistently stalks and harrasses people who clearly do not have the capacity to be talking with her including
calling her best friend 16 times and wondering why she isn't answering... AFTER LITERALLY GETTING HER DAD ARRESTED FOR MURDER? . This girl is not likeable at all, and comes across not only deluded, but as someone who is not supportive to her family and friends in the slightest if it doesn't allign with what she wants to do. - Some things are completely left open. Leads that ultimately had no resolution or purpose at all, which is fine when they're addressed and cast aside. in this case, when it is clear they are no longer relevant, they are completely dropped.
- Ableism : I feel this wasn't immediately obvious, but I left this book feeling a bit sick about a disabled character being used purely as a plot device.
It's andie's "double", she appeared out of nowhere quite conveniently, with "the mental age of a child" and disappeared once the plot device was used. its explained who she is and where she comes from, but she doesn't get an ending past that. Does she get a care home, does she get left back on the streets? its an afterthrought, and the protagonist doesn't care. - Inappropriate Age Gap relationships made me feel uncomfortable throughout. I don't mean the
secret older man storyline, but the relationship between Pip and Raj. Raj is a great character and very likeable, but he is an adult that she looks up to (and likely has a crush on), and considering some of the other content within this book, you would think this would be more of an issue! a child is spending a lot of time with an ADULT MAN, but he's nice so its cool ig. but cool let this be an ideal relationship for the target audience (teenagers/ya!) - Characters for the most part were not fully actualised, and I found myself not feeling strong emotions towards them past annoyance or missing many of them by the end.
- There was missed powerful social commentary that could have been made. My favourite scene was
the confrontation with Becca, where Pip realised that a difficult life had lead to the outcomes that andie and becca faced. This could have been an excellent moment to view Becca as a victim, and change her future path, before a vilifying moment. -
The entire thing with Barney was completely unnecessary
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Tbc!
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pleasantly surprised by this one!
This was a book club suggestion - someone discovered that my work is being used as a filming location for a police station (exciting!). It has only just been commissioned, but quite excited to be ahead of the curve and looking forward to watching the adaptation to see how it stands up!
In not knowing much about the book beforehand, my internal biases were at play with this one. a child abduction story written by a man was not filling me with great confidence in capturing a mother's emotions accurately, and I was expecting at best a cheap american holiday thriller. Within the first few pages I dive into the deep nordic setting (written by a woman!) and knew I had missed a trick. That showed me!
Note I wanted to raise: It is easy to wonder how this kidnapping could even happen - to a non-scandinavian reader it feels so negligent! I would advise all readers to consider the culture context of this book first before pulling judgement - Dahl wrote a fascinating article about the "surprising scandinvian approaches to child-rearing" here: https://www.frostmagazine.com/2020/10/the-surprising-scandinavian-approaches-to-child-rearing-by-alex-dahl/
Things I loved about this book:
This was a book club suggestion - someone discovered that my work is being used as a filming location for a police station (exciting!). It has only just been commissioned, but quite excited to be ahead of the curve and looking forward to watching the adaptation to see how it stands up!
In not knowing much about the book beforehand, my internal biases were at play with this one. a child abduction story written by a man was not filling me with great confidence in capturing a mother's emotions accurately, and I was expecting at best a cheap american holiday thriller. Within the first few pages I dive into the deep nordic setting (written by a woman!) and knew I had missed a trick. That showed me!
Note I wanted to raise: It is easy to wonder how this kidnapping could even happen - to a non-scandinavian reader it feels so negligent! I would advise all readers to consider the culture context of this book first before pulling judgement - Dahl wrote a fascinating article about the "surprising scandinvian approaches to child-rearing" here: https://www.frostmagazine.com/2020/10/the-surprising-scandinavian-approaches-to-child-rearing-by-alex-dahl/
Things I loved about this book:
- Mental Health representation: there is some Excellent coverage of mental health within this book, one specific character is established almost immediately to have ADHD, and is possibly the most prominent and accurate account of a character with this that I have read so far. It was nice to resonate with her excessive hyperfocus and burnout, decision paralysis, dealing with rejection sensitivity, and unquavering sense of justice. Other characters present (unlabelled) OCD/Anxiety which also came across to me as a good understanding of these conditions.
- The Book Structure: This book jumps between a number of narratives to view the incident through different perspectives, which keeps the story incredibly addictive and exciting! This pieces together in a satisfying way.
- Character Psychology : I was so pleased to see the women in this book all incredibly unique, with their own very human flaws and sympathy. No woman was fully demonised, and the characters all had a thoughtful psychology that left you disagreeing with them often, but understanding their rationalle behind what could appear to be a bad decision.
- The Location and Setting : Dahl's wanderlust was very apparent to me, her loving and detailed descriptions of the various locations she knew well were very obvious and well researched.
Things I am hesitant about:
- Lucia's POV - Although Lucia's POV chapters were much needed and an interesting perspective, I felt they didn't really read like how a child would write the chapters? It felt very much like someone obsessed with her was writing about it, which led me to the wildest theory of all -
that perhaps Selma in her obsession in the case was writing the whole story how she felt it had happened. . - Selma - As much as I loved Selma's character and ADHD representation, there were a lot of fears with where her character was going.
Ultimately this was okay in the end, but there are so many books ending with the disabled character being in the wrong and this was constantly a worry when reading this, as possibly her characters obsession was pushed slightly too far? - Pacing - for the most part, the book was very difficult to put down. but I did feel a dip around 3/4's through where it felt like some of the story could have been shortened slightly. however after this the pace immediately raced forward again and I was reading for hours!
Did I guess the mystery correctly? I guessed everything that was revealed- but there were some wacky theories that were completely wrong! In the end everything ties together in a wonderful way.
Spoiler question about this:
Questions for Reading Club:
- What could have been the best case scenario for Lucia?
- How would this storyline change if based in another country?
- What does "playdate" suggest about the effectiveness of crime and punishment institutions? What does it suggest about criminals and those who are involved in crime?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Terminal illness, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Minor items listed are only briefly mentioned without detail, have little reference to the overall plot. Moderates are mentioned slightly more but not in depth.
The areas most of concern would be:
trafficking of a child along borders,
references to organised crime, harmful organised religion (details of group and situation) estrangement from family who are emotionally abusive and jehovas witnesses, ,
mental health and hospitalisation due to grief loss of child and husband in a car crash ,
emotional impact of death of family members Young daughter, husband, father (in less detail)
(details of death)
1 car crash
2 car crash
3 cancer
Fire includes adults, children, and animals, detail: at the end of the book, a man dies in a house fire with graphic detail. A child nearly dies but is saved and has minor injuries. Animals in a barn also are injured but survive
The book is in multiple perspectives including the mother, missing child, and kidnapper.
Does the girl survive at the end? yes, although she has likely emotional trauma.
Is there any sexual content or sexual abuse regarding children? no, there is none within this book.
Other trigger areas not listed in the list: social media/stalking, indirect animal endangerment (without death or injury), mind control (?) kidnapper forces child to believe she is her child and has a different identity
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emotional
informative
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:
Complicated
Another "book that I couldn't bear to finish so I left it 90% read for months"
There are so many things I love about this book: the detailed characters and their morally grey complexities, luscious and rich descriptions oozing with depth, complex commentary on difficult subjects from white saviours to colonialism.
Writing this makes me want to bump up the score! It's a deeply emotional yet darkly funny read, that has taught me so much about the plight of Sri Lanka. Shehan made a strong case throughout that this was an expertly researched book, very thoughtfully structured and layered with careful and intelligent literary influence (including my beloved favourite book- cloud atlas). You can feel the time and care and passion he took into writing this book.
I read the last of this via audiobook, which immediately made me sad that I had not chosen that route to begin with. the audiobook is INCREDIBLY performed, and added such a strong and emotive voice which in my opinion connected the reader even more to the country the events took place.
I find I'm wanting to bump up the score again, but I'll restrain myself. The main dilemma is one of personal opinion: I am not thoroughly convinced that the writing style is 100% to my specific tastes. But this is a flaw on no ones part, and I wouldn't choose to change it. This is absolutely a book I would put on everyone's bucket list.
There are so many things I love about this book: the detailed characters and their morally grey complexities, luscious and rich descriptions oozing with depth, complex commentary on difficult subjects from white saviours to colonialism.
Writing this makes me want to bump up the score! It's a deeply emotional yet darkly funny read, that has taught me so much about the plight of Sri Lanka. Shehan made a strong case throughout that this was an expertly researched book, very thoughtfully structured and layered with careful and intelligent literary influence (including my beloved favourite book- cloud atlas). You can feel the time and care and passion he took into writing this book.
I read the last of this via audiobook, which immediately made me sad that I had not chosen that route to begin with. the audiobook is INCREDIBLY performed, and added such a strong and emotive voice which in my opinion connected the reader even more to the country the events took place.
I find I'm wanting to bump up the score again, but I'll restrain myself. The main dilemma is one of personal opinion: I am not thoroughly convinced that the writing style is 100% to my specific tastes. But this is a flaw on no ones part, and I wouldn't choose to change it. This is absolutely a book I would put on everyone's bucket list.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, War
Struggling to follow the story via audio book, I'll return to this at some point but definitely liked the initial vibe of what was going on! 💕