I hope this doesn't get shadowbanned, that will not be appreciated :/
I don't get this books high ratings, especially since most are from middle-aged adults. I'm a kid and I know better. Some others that rated this knew better.
Also, I understand this is chaotic. I just needed to get it all out there. (*Spoilers*)
This had the most interesting premise, and it was put repeatedly on hold. So I had to check it out. Like, you can't read that summary and not think so. It had every sign to be good, but it unfortunately didn’t live up to it. Like, at all. First of all, there are so many kids on the plane, but they only focus on the “main'' ones. It would be fine if it was done well, y’know, get some description of them here and there, reactions, deaths, etc., but it was so unnatural that it took me out of the story. Did I mention that these “special” kids are literally so special that I can’t even tell them apart? Oh, and that they have no personality that their dialogue and interactions have to rely on cliche stereotypes? I thought the supernatural being would be an actual, badass otherworldly creature. Whatever the hell we got is deffo not this.
Me: I want a cool supernatural creature
Mom: We have a cool supernatural creature at home
The supernatural creature at home:
(pstt it's a grandma)
This sounds like something a middle schooler would write--actually, no. A middle schooler could do better than this.
Right off the bat we know that Devon has been dressing in Emily’s clothes in the hopes that she’d somehow become her, filling the void Emily left behind and give her friends closure (which she didn’t get along with btw), while also using it as a coping mechanism to make her feel like Emily’s with her. This fact doesn’t sit well with me because it doesn’t make sense. The book makes it clear that they were nothing alike. Emily was the goody-two shoes, popular, girly. Devon was the sneaky, rock-star, not like other girls type. They had nothing alike, and didn’t get along either. Emily wanted to do good by her sister, but Devon never listened to her. But now decides to be all sad and wear Emily’s clothes? Make that make sense. The main girl always has to have a suspicion, Jack was it in this case, the guy she had a thing with, although there was never any proper evidence. It was him because…it was just him? Spoiler alert: It wasn’t him, and the whole time acted like Devon’s savior, trying to comfort her, protect her, hold her back (you get the picture). Devon’s character is the embodiment of self-pity and it got super annoying really fast. I guessed the killer from the very first chapter. The nonchalant, hot-shot, mysterious boy who writes in a leather journal and the boyfriend of Kiara (Emily’s bff). The main character should be figuring out multiple things, the story shouldn’t be so straight-line. The old lady showed three “sinful” events from three diff. students. It went from putting the charity box in a locker to frame someone, to actual battery (guy beating wrestling athlete w/ a bat bc they bullied them, and ruined their future in wrestling), to a replay of Emily getting struck (which was unironically comical), and Devon and Emily’s last interaction (Devon took keys and drove home, leaving Emily to walk home in the cold) and said she hoped she froze to death. Boo-hoo, literally the most unoriginal thing. This convo takes place in so many teen movies it's unreal.
The journal itself discredited all the events that had happened, and makes the reader think: what’s the point? What’s worse, Andrew admits to the murder by writing it down. No person in the world—not even the dumbest criminal ever would do this and keep the page. His demeanor, the fact that he is Kiara’s Bf, Emily’s bff, led me to believe that yeah, this guy bc the dynamic in itself could cause a series of conflicts when the endgame came, and it would be intense (this did not happen; I will explain soon). When Devon noted “book” in the front seat, that only reinstated my belief. Who’s the only one that carries a book-like object around 24/7? Andrew. The fact that nobody came to this conclusion is sending me. He’s popular. People would know what it looks like. Also, we never hear from him again, only Kiara’s reactions. Clearly he served no other purpose but to be the “killer.” Nobody ever questioned the whereabouts of the rest of the kids, and the only one they did after seeing her shoes in the shot of Emily’s dead body lying on the road (which people have no emotion at witnessing) was actually her secret girlfriend. Even more outrageous, she freaked out, called the cops, and hid in the woods and waited for them to come bc she couldn’t stand leaving her alone. Wtf. This isn’t normal behavior. What was the point in showing 3 videos? Clearly no purpose. The first one wasn’t even sinful, and everyone went apeshit for it. The second was bad. And the third, Devon, wasn’t bad either. Normal sibling crap. Movie type crap. Literally had nothing to do with one another. When Devon noticed Andrew and Kiara went missing and took the gun, I realized then nothing would happen, as she would magically talk them down after hitting Kiara upside the head and easily got the gun away from Andrew. He literally resigned so fast.
Realistically, nobody would do that, especially after he was described as such a non-affected guy. When the voting came to choose who was sacrificed, Rebecca (girl that looked on in lust at Andrew and put charity money in Kiara’s locker) said something along the lines of “You put everyone on the plane in danger.”...How? People started choosing Devon instead of Andrew… bro. And he was like, no, choose me, I had all the time to do the right thing, it’s my fault… heh? Also, aren’t icepicks on planes really small? How did that knock Kiara unconscious? The sister coming back as a ghost came off as childish and novice. The only purpose she served was to move the plot, to make Devon come to a conclusion she wouldn’t otherwise make. She was very convenient. The last scene where Emily and that kid who died (he’s so forgettable I forgot his name) and waved to her from the plane window was the last straw. I laughed out loud. There was literally no point in his death. He was another guy who was introduced at the beginning, and was brought back just for this scene. The fact that a dumbass, frankly stereotypical, teenage group is going to keep quiet about this--that they are not even traumatized is like…what? Devon’s mom literally did not question anything, and no adults, about the literal chaos and blood bath inside the plane. No ambulance tended to the people whose teeth got knocked, bruised pretty bad, and other inexplicable injuries. Honestly, this whole thing reeks of privileged white people problems. This was an 8 hour, rambling fever dream.
Would I recommend? No. Save yourself.