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hodgepodge's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Holy christ. The idea of this book is quite interesting! Lori and the mysterious relationship with this being called Handler lulls you into the story, then slaps you across the face with some dumb, downright annoying teenage banter while it shoves a cast of characters down your throat. And I will admit that the cast of characters is quite diverse, but it is not handled very well. Theres this character in a wheelchair—and to be honest, I can’t remember her name, let alone most of the characters names— and in the first battle she is thrown against her will. What? It just, my mouth was agape reading this book either from snoring or total shock from how weirdly insensitive some things seem.
kiiouex's review
2.0
I don't even know with this one.
Here's the review: I wrote an exhausted, scathing, one-star review when I was about 100 pages in because the side characters annoyed me so fucking much with their distracting, intrusive, inane banter about subs vs dubs. Because they quipped no matter how poorly the timing, because the love interests were declared apropos of nothing, seconds after the characters had met. Because I had really loved the first chapter, with the protagonist alone, and then I felt like I'd been sucker-punched by a novel designed to sell to twelve year olds by mentioning all their favourite things.
The flip side of that is that Lori and Handler's whole thing was well-written and intriguing and deeply appealing, enough that I actually made the fight to read it.
Did the Quip Squad get less annoying as I went on, or did they wear me down? The pop-culture references never stopped grating. The incredibly shallow romances did not improve or appeal. Some of the Carefully Diverse cast ended up paying off pretty well, while some of it continued to feel patronising the whole way through. The core story - Lori's story - felt worth it, even if you had to trudge through everyone else's PoV to get there.
I'm just throwing my hands up. Some of it was excellent! Some of it was mindbogglingly terrible! I feel like something in the author/editor/publisher relationship broke down, to allow this book to happen the way it did.
Well, whatever. It's over now.
Here's the review: I wrote an exhausted, scathing, one-star review when I was about 100 pages in because the side characters annoyed me so fucking much with their distracting, intrusive, inane banter about subs vs dubs. Because they quipped no matter how poorly the timing, because the love interests were declared apropos of nothing, seconds after the characters had met. Because I had really loved the first chapter, with the protagonist alone, and then I felt like I'd been sucker-punched by a novel designed to sell to twelve year olds by mentioning all their favourite things.
The flip side of that is that Lori and Handler's whole thing was well-written and intriguing and deeply appealing, enough that I actually made the fight to read it.
Did the Quip Squad get less annoying as I went on, or did they wear me down? The pop-culture references never stopped grating. The incredibly shallow romances did not improve or appeal. Some of the Carefully Diverse cast ended up paying off pretty well, while some of it continued to feel patronising the whole way through. The core story - Lori's story - felt worth it, even if you had to trudge through everyone else's PoV to get there.
I'm just throwing my hands up. Some of it was excellent! Some of it was mindbogglingly terrible! I feel like something in the author/editor/publisher relationship broke down, to allow this book to happen the way it did.
Well, whatever. It's over now.
straystarlight's review
4.0
My brain kept going, "Wait, does that make sense? But what about--" as I read, and some action sequences actually felt like they resolved a little too fast, if that's possible, but Feeder is such an emotionally sincere book and the characters are honestly just adorable. I enjoyed it a lot. Also, Handler. <3
samahcanread__'s review against another edition
2.0
DNF: 50 pages in.
Maybe it was the writing style, the choice of language, or the lack of direction in this book, but I couldn't push myself to go further.
I don't know if it is me, but before starting the book, I didn't pay attention of the writer was a man or a woman, but two pages in, I would've bet all my money that it was a man. The over-sexualization of the main character, a 16 years old girl, was over the top. So many details that weren't necessary were put in, like a passage saying she picked a shirt and a bra. Do we need to know this?
Another small detail that made me cringe was when the main character met a person and said that he spoke with "an accent from Africa", um, honey, what do you mean African accent? Africa isn't a country, I don't know what it means.
I tried, but it's not my cup of tea
Maybe it was the writing style, the choice of language, or the lack of direction in this book, but I couldn't push myself to go further.
I don't know if it is me, but before starting the book, I didn't pay attention of the writer was a man or a woman, but two pages in, I would've bet all my money that it was a man. The over-sexualization of the main character, a 16 years old girl, was over the top. So many details that weren't necessary were put in, like a passage saying she picked a shirt and a bra. Do we need to know this?
Another small detail that made me cringe was when the main character met a person and said that he spoke with "an accent from Africa", um, honey, what do you mean African accent? Africa isn't a country, I don't know what it means.
I tried, but it's not my cup of tea
flapjack_octopus's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Genuinely enjoyed this book and I liked the characters a lot! Personally I could relate to some of the characters, especially towards the end. It's a good read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Bullying, Mental illness, and Self harm
meliemelo's review
4.0
A thoroughly enjoyable book, with compelling characters, and a good balance between fun moments, action and more emotional scenes. The story is pretty original and well written, the various points of view definitely serve it well.
My favourite Weekes novel to date appart from the Dragon Age one!
My favourite Weekes novel to date appart from the Dragon Age one!
itsemmane's review
2.0
I read this as a part of The "Letting People Choose What I Read" Challenge & this was what my friend, Patrick chose.
The story revolved around Lori Fisher, a "contractor" that specifically hunts monster-like aliens that were called Feeders. Lori was being guided by a mysterious creature with no known origin. During one mission, she stumbled upon a shipping container that revealed extraordinary teens with extraordinary powers, and together they need to stop an evil corporation.
This was basically a superhero novel with weird superpowers set on Earth where the ocean rose and covered the entire planet. It's like a cheap version of XMen on water. The writing was ok, it was easy to read. The pacing was fast, too fast. I didn't have enough time to care for the characters before they were thrown into the main problem of the story.
Definitely action-packed and the concept was pretty good but it still didn't meet what I expected of it. It tried so hard to make everything intriguing but it failed with its execution. It felt like this was created out of all the superhero cliches ever. It was very cartoonish & I struggled a bit with how to feel while reading it. I can tell that the author probably had a big concept for this, but fell short on how to actually tell the story that he wanted.
I really tried to get myself into this but from start to finish, I didn't care.
2/5 Stars
The story revolved around Lori Fisher, a "contractor" that specifically hunts monster-like aliens that were called Feeders. Lori was being guided by a mysterious creature with no known origin. During one mission, she stumbled upon a shipping container that revealed extraordinary teens with extraordinary powers, and together they need to stop an evil corporation.
This was basically a superhero novel with weird superpowers set on Earth where the ocean rose and covered the entire planet. It's like a cheap version of XMen on water. The writing was ok, it was easy to read. The pacing was fast, too fast. I didn't have enough time to care for the characters before they were thrown into the main problem of the story.
Definitely action-packed and the concept was pretty good but it still didn't meet what I expected of it. It tried so hard to make everything intriguing but it failed with its execution. It felt like this was created out of all the superhero cliches ever. It was very cartoonish & I struggled a bit with how to feel while reading it. I can tell that the author probably had a big concept for this, but fell short on how to actually tell the story that he wanted.
I really tried to get myself into this but from start to finish, I didn't care.
2/5 Stars
mtk_reads's review
5.0
Oh man, I LOVED this. Creepy, atmospheric near-future SF with incredibly compelling LGBTQ+ characters. Yes, characterS, as in, there are multiple queer characters in this book and NONE OF THEM DIED, it was great, I loved it, more like this please.