Review: Solitaire

 So the lot of you who are currently new to my blog don't know that sometimes I like to do an author binge? Like I just pick a particular author of my liking and then I just binge all of their novels or 2-3 of their novels. I was kinda thinking of doing that again, maybe it would save me some time, maybe not.

In case you’re wondering, this is not a love story.

My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that’s all over now.

Now there’s Solitaire. And Michael Holden.

I don’t know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don’t care about Michael Holden.
I really don’t.

QUICK THOUGHTS AND REVIEW: 3.9/5, CONSIDERING THIS IS ALICE'S DEBUT NOVEL, THE WRITING IS SIGNIFICANTLY NOT AS DEVELOPED AS THEIR OTHER NOVELS.

Possible Trigger Tags:

1. Reference to suicide and suicidal attempts

2. Suicidal ideation

3. Self harm

4. Depression

5. Eating disorders

6. Obsessive-compulsive behaviours

7. Narrator has implied undiagnosed depression

8. Brief incidents of homophobia

9. Unchallenged misogyny and ableism

WHAT DID I FEEL ABOUT THE  BOOK'S: 

1. Writing Quality: So I have read Radio Silence and Loveless when I went on an Alice Oseman binge-ish thingy, and I can say now that Oseman's writing has significantly changed and improved. Considering Solitaire is their debut novel, and now that I actually have material and the experience [partly] to compare it with, I'd say that while the story is definitely very interesting, the series of events is very very meh to me. I feel like that it lacked dynamic and the tension that was there throughout the other books.

2. Character Development: Okay, so everyone who's read Osemanverse or actually even cared to go through Heartstopper, either the show or the comic, you'll pretty much know everyone in the book, other than the main male leads and Becky of course. Charlie, Nick and Ben get mentioned quite a number of times in it. 

Tori Spring: Tori suffers from depression. That's actually effing clear from how she narrates the whole story. People might think that she's a pessimistic, psychotic person, but in reality she's just burnt out from everything that is happening around her and also that she has to keep a front for everyone else and clearly it keeps on breaking her from the inside. Kind of like acid that keeps on corroding her from the inside, emotionally, until she's left a husk of who she used to be. And I think I'd really love to hug her because she needs it. Just like Charlie's seeking help, I'd love it if she does. Petition for Tory to get the help she deserves and needs.

Michael Holden: Why does his name sound deliciously familiar? Like seriously, Michael Holden gives me the vibe that I know another deliciously hot character with most probably the same name and that's why he gives me this delicious book boyfriend vibes. I kind of like his character. He'd probably be a very dramatic golden retriever if he was a dog lmao.

Lucas Ryan: CREEP. Simply, I don't got anything else to say.

3. Couldn't put it down- Ness: 8/10, pretty interesting novel in itself.

4. Intellectual Depth: Solitaire was made by Lucas as his declaration of his love for Tori, and I think that's actually very fucking creepy. I would have fucking gone insane if someone did something so crude for me. But anyways, Tori's a victim of burnout and depression. Which literally goes ignored and I think it manifests itself into something so bad that it collapses into itself and creates a void that sucks everything inside. Kind of like how a star dies, it collapses in on itself and becomes a black hole. And we all know how black hole works. Maybe Holden realizes that there is maybe something worth saving in Tori and that she's not a star that has died yet,

5. Plot: If anyone remembers Radio Silence, in the beginning it says that the Higgs school was actually burnt down. I was a dumbass so I kind of read Radio Silence first without reading this book, but finally being able to know why it actually burned down was pretty rad and funny for me. But otherwise the plot is very much character driven and is actually showing us how Tori, despite actually seeming like the very perfect sister to Charlie in Heartstopper, she has her own problems and it feels like the world is closing in on her. 

OVERALL, A NICE READ, first book read for 18 books before 18!!