Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Marcada

This was a series I read in middle school (back in 2011ish) and decided to reread as adult to see if it still held up to my 12 year old expectations of what a fantastic book was. Unfortunately, it did not, at least not fully.

First, the writing style felt inconsistent. I’m not sure if this was due to the two authors or not, but the first 5 chapters were not well written at all. The middle was more captivating.

Second, for a book written in 2007, I have to say the cast of characters is fairly diverse. However it shows that it was written in 2007, and that two white women were very clearly playing on stereotypes of Native American culture, black culture, and gay culture. That being said, to have the cultures represented at all, in positive ways, as lovable characters, is still better than not.

Third, the pace of the story and the character’s moral development and acceptance of her fate/the development of an intense love interest was just felt immature. The whole first book takes place in the course of a week. Without giving away spoilers, there’s so much that happens, it just seems too rushed.

That being said, I loved the friend group, I loved many of the characters, I loved the aspect of fantasy in which normal life is just slightly altered, and I appreciated the different perspective on vampire stories. Worth a read, but also definitely NOT a YA book if you’re under the age of 16

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joklo's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Attempts at diversity are really just stereotypes and tropes. Very, very cringey humor and a wildly unlikable not-like-other-girls heroine. Wanted to reread the series because I really remember liking them in like junior high and while the plot is interesting, all the snark and cringey asides made this a painful albeit quick read. Multiple uses of r****d as an insult as well as body shaming and slut shaming.

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flyintothestorm's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

No recordaba este libro tan desastre absoluto. Vine por el mamarracheo, pero me quedé por cabezonería: no se puede aguantar a Zoey.

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sar_bear's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

I don't think I've ever read a book/series this bad. I could not finish the series despite being given most of the books as a gift. The writing in general is just horrible (good news is that it makes others feel so much better about their own writing), and the main character is so unlikeable it feels purposeful. I could talk about the problematic things with the series but I don't think I have enough time in my day to cover everything.

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nautikal's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

1.0

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abbyleinbach's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

My friends asked me to read this with them and I will never forgive them

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msradiosilence's review against another edition

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I’m 95 pages in, and the last book I DNF’d was Allegiant 9 years ago, but I fucking CANNOT with this book.

First of all, way to whitewash your main “native” character. Very SMeyer of you. How is it that the other POC character (Shaunee, a black woman) is allowed to have ‘mocha’/‘chocolate’ skin but Zoey goes from ‘tanned’ to ‘pale white’ hm? Sounds very…cultural appropriative, no?

For a book that has a gay character and a black character in the main cast, this book was *checks notes* fatphobic, transphobic, racist, and slut shame-y all in the first 8 pages! And it only gets worse!! This is why I fucking DNFed, because there is much better shit out there.

The writing was annoying as fuck, Zoey was super judgmental and annoying as fuck, all the other characters were shallow and annoying as fuck…did I mention how annoyed I was with this book?

I read it back in middle school (and bc of the blow job scene in the beginning was subsequently banned from reading it) but as an adult I’ve been going through a nostalgia period and this was one of the books I wanted to revisit. Honestly, thanks Mom and Dad for sparing me from the rest of this series.

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nick13's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

Ok, let me say this first, this book is not very good. Now that that's over with, let me also say that this book is also really damn good! Not in the good way, but because the writing is so bad it's really enjoyable. One minute characters are cussing and calling people sluts and then the main character says someone is poopy, like, wtf!
Along side this terrible writing, the beginning is so rushed it gives me whiplash and the main character a hollow bitch who thinks they are awful yet amazing! Yet, I enjoyed almost every moment of this book! There are so many things wrong with it and the rip-off of Twilight it starts out as yet the rip-off of Harry Potter it ends as is so bizarre that I can't help but love it. That and the characters, love interests, and the actually kind of intriguing plot at the end just kept hooking me in!
I'm giving this book a 2.25 solely due to the bad pacing, bad writing techniques, and overall terribleness of this book, but I will continue this story because it a 2 star read that feels like a 4!

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