A more grown up, darker Paranorman

I loved this. Loved the concept of deadworld. Choices were made for voicing girls. lol

3 people found this helpful

Brings up too much trauma

I am graduated and gone from high school and college, but I was part of the post-columbine active shooter culture. This book brought me right back to the terror of the American schooling system as I experienced it. There's a strong focus on school shooting, and I thought I could handle it, but about an hour and a half in I just can't stomach the reminder of how scared I was in high school. It's not often that I return an Audible title, but this one is going back because I just can't put myself through the pain of reading it.

It does seem to be a well-written YA novel. The narration fits the story well -- sometimes too well for my nerves in the sections narrated by the school shooter -- and the voices are fairly well differentiated. I wouldn't say it's not appropriate for the YA audience, but I would recommend screening it before giving it to a child. Things that are scary in adulthood sometimes aren't so scary to a younger person, and I think this is likely the case here. I read books about school shootings while I was in school and didn't find them a fraction as disturbing as I found this book now.

1 person found this helpful

I genuinely love this book!

I was just looking for something a little spooky to listen to well doing some Fall cleaning and stumbled upon this. All the characters were really well-written, and they seemed really realistic. It's not the scariest thing I've ever read but it definitely has its moments. The narrator also did a really good job differentiating the voices and not making the female characters sound ridiculous. Also, I really liked the commentary about queer media and just the general struggles of coming out in the book. A lot of depictions of coming out in Media is so bombastic and unrealistic, this felt like such a personal and realistic depiction of it.

one thing I will say is that the book is pretty dark at times which I wasn't expecting (i think cuz it was labeled a teen book). It was fine for me, but I will say if you're extremely sensitive to child abuse, sexual assault, racism, homophobia or school shooting imagery, you might want to wait a bit on this book.

I liked it but...

I am an adult. I enjoyed this book, but I don't know if I would want my teenager under the age of 17 reading this book. It is a little gruesome in some descriptions (which I actually enjoyed but didn't find age appropriate for younger kids). I would recommend you read the book before letting your kids or teens read it.

great

the book is good a little slow at parts but good all around yes

Pretty good

This was my first read by this author. There are a lot of plot twists, but the story is interesting and well told. Good read.

Loved this story!

Initially, I was a bit taken aback by the narrator and was going to return the book, but he grew on me and the story was quite intriguing. Highly recommend this listen.

Great performances, story feels underdeveloped

Cool concept with this one, but I wish certain parts of the story were developed more thoroughly, namely Jake's family dynamic and Deadworld. The romance is a little hard to care about, too, save for a cute final chapter. Narrators killed it though

So Intriguing

It's awful to see what people are capable of doing. This book does a lot of that, but the discomfort from the scenes is what made this book great. Gruesome, ghouls, gay, perfect combo.

Modern day goosebump with a twist

Overall I truly love this book. Very vivid and descriptively well done. The characters were super relatable. I really hope to see more stories like this in the future