*I received an audio copy of this from the Libro.fm ALC program. This has not influenced my review.*

This was a book about messy queer teens, and I loved that. They were imperfect and complicated in ways that made them feel believable. Their individual stories touched on a lot of complex topics without trying to truly tackle them, just letting them be part of the characters. And the friendships and relationships they had with each other were sometimes imperfect too but ultimately mostly touching.

The story felt pretty dark, though not without hope. Death and grief were big topics. It also touched on serious things like abuse, drug use, and homophobia. But it was also just the supernatural elements, the deals that were made, how it affected characters.

This is a little off-topic for a review, since it’s more about personal thoughts than the book itself, but isn’t making you think about things half the point of books? *SPOILER* The characters didn’t know about Bastion’s deals with the evil creature, so they thought he had a mental illness. And they were so set on “fixing” him (some even wanted to do a spell on him without his consent), even though Bastion kept telling them to stop, that they were just causing him emotional pain. In this case, everyone eventually realized their behavior was wrong, but seemingly only because Bastion’s quirks had a supernatural cause, and therefore couldn’t be “cured.” Which is fine, characters can do hurtful things! (Though this was the decidedly not-touching element of the relationships for me. They were just teens though, maybe they’d have realized eventually.) But I kept thinking the whole time about how this applies to real life too. If someone wants help, then they absolutely should have access to that help and support in seeking it. But if someone isn’t hurting other people and doesn’t want to be changed or seek treatments, they should be allowed to live as they are and not have treatments forced on them. I feel like this is an idea that’s starting to gain traction in regards to autism, but it still has a long way to go, in my opinion, especially for other things. Even not being able to say the words, “I love you,” is not an objectively harmful thing. It was upsetting to Nesbit, but that was his own insecurity, especially since Bastion still showed his love in other ways. I actually really liked it when Bastion said, “If you are not happy with me, maybe you should be looking elsewhere for a relationship.” Because yeah. But I don’t claim to know what the author’s intended message was, or if there was one. These are just my own thoughts. *END SPOILER* So I guess, trigger warning for people wanting to force medical treatments / therapy on someone, though it doesn’t actually happen (well, it might’ve happened to that character in the past, I’m not sure).

The audiobook narration by Giordan Diaz was not quite to my personal taste. It wasn’t the most natural, there was a sort of planned cadence, instead of going with the natural way different sentences would be said, which sometimes created random pauses. But it wasn’t the worst I’ve heard, and I did like how he adjusted for the mood of scenes. More urgent and dramatic in dramatic scenes, more calm in calm scenes, etc. Voices weren’t that different, but I didn’t usually have any confusion.

Somewhat off-topic thoughts aside, I don’t have a ton to say, but I really liked this. Overall, it was a great book with imperfect teen characters, touching friendship, difficult real life topics, supernatural horror, and a story that was fairly heavy but not without hope.

*Rating: 4 Stars // Read Date: 2024 // Format: Audiobook*