I wanted to love this book. Horror with Black & LGBTQ+ representation? Sign me up. Unfortunately, this book was confusing and unorganized.
Jake’s character development was almost nonexistent. Anything about Jake’s backstory felt random and detached from the plot. We actually get more information about Sawyer, the school shooter. The way his backstory was written made me sympathize with him which was so uncomfortable. In fact, the entire school shooting storyline felt a bit insensitive.
I also didn’t love the writing style. Everything was a metaphor and it distracted from the story. Also, the paranormal elements of this book were written in a way that confused me instead of scared me. There were ecto-mists, astral projections, and other “spooky” elements that just felt thrown onto the pages. Most of the time I had no idea what was happening and eventually gave up on rereading passages. Maybe if this book was longer, the author could have spent more time explaining and fleshing out the paranormal stuff.
Overall, I was left feeling pretty disappointed. The flow of the plot, character development, horror elements, and even the romance fell flat for me. I still think this book is important from a representation standpoint, but this just wasn’t for me.
Jake’s character development was almost nonexistent. Anything about Jake’s backstory felt random and detached from the plot. We actually get more information about Sawyer, the school shooter. The way his backstory was written made me sympathize with him which was so uncomfortable. In fact, the entire school shooting storyline felt a bit insensitive.
I also didn’t love the writing style. Everything was a metaphor and it distracted from the story. Also, the paranormal elements of this book were written in a way that confused me instead of scared me. There were ecto-mists, astral projections, and other “spooky” elements that just felt thrown onto the pages. Most of the time I had no idea what was happening and eventually gave up on rereading passages. Maybe if this book was longer, the author could have spent more time explaining and fleshing out the paranormal stuff.
Overall, I was left feeling pretty disappointed. The flow of the plot, character development, horror elements, and even the romance fell flat for me. I still think this book is important from a representation standpoint, but this just wasn’t for me.