housegnome's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
caliesha's review against another edition
3.0
SDH has a knack for making philosophical topics contemporary and relatable. Like in [b: We Are The Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034] and [b: The Edge of the Universe|28763240|At the Edge of the Universe|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463790854s/28763240.jpg|48954372] we follow a character driven story about the potential end of the world. Speaking of, I loved his little references of other works. Hutchinson really made an effort to make these characters diverse which was really cool to see. Overall I enjoyed the premise and story, although I think it could have wrapped up a little better. I know leaving you handing is a SDH trademark, but this one could have been explained more.
Overall - 4 stars!
Overall - 4 stars!
halschrieve's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book! I LOVE the premise of a messianic figure/antichrist who is a teenage girl. I love unique books where the magic is totally new. I loved all the trappings of Elena’s life—her bisexuality, her ex, her shitty job, her predictable crush, her abusive stepfather who gets away with being a deadbeat. I like the idea of a ridiculous miracle in a Starbucks parking lot that seems outlandish to the hero of the story and to everyone around her. In theory, I like the arc of the plot. The narrator-protagonist is swept forward by a series of events she can’t explain but which she nevertheless rolls with. She confronts uneasy realities about who she cares about and what her priorities are and has to decide what it means to maybe be able to save people at the cost of the mysterious disappearance of other people.
But somehow the execution is off.
I can’t help but feel that this book could have used at least two more editorial sweeps. For one thing, it is very long, and many of the conversations characters have with each other are redundant (not to mention the multiple throwaway scenes of Elena healing people that don’t seem to up the stakes of the story). Additionally, the teenage characters talk to one another in a way that sounds like a middle-aged nerd is arguing with himself. They don’t swear at the appropriate times, they all have similarly weird and overwrought senses of sarcasm and similar one-liners, none of them seem to have particular goals or senses of self, and they sit and have tedious, never ending conversations with one another about morality that come off as annoying on all sides. It feels as if there are moments where the characters cease to exist and the book becomes a monologue from the author on some issue close to his heart. Authors should be able to argue their ideas using their characters as a vehicle, but in this case the kids are so weighted down with long sentences that their personalities sort of fade into the background.
The bullies, too, have strangely implausible motivations and insults. While kids do make fun of each other over dumb shit, and are unusually cruel to anyone seen as being weird, neither example of bullying that we see repeated (kids calling Elena Mary and shunning her because she was born from parthenogenesis? bullies hanging sugar plum decorations on a kid’s house because he does ballet?) come off as realistic or actually that cruel. While they are mixed with real-world insults related to racism and homophobia, it would suit the story better to have the bullies be recognizable as the frightening adversaries faced by marginalized kids everywhere, rather than confusing, comedic and creative weirdos.
The scene where Elena retrieves Freddie from a party she wasn’t having fun at is realistic in the particulars and the arc of it, but I failed to believe in either girl as a real person even in a scenario I know well from my own high school days. Scenes that should be touching just aren’t. A scene where Elena assures a gay boy that he isn’t wrong or sick comes off as a 4th season flop from Glee; a scene where out of nowhere Elena diagnoses Fadil as asexual because he isn’t that into kissing his girlfriend is preachy and absurd. It sucks, because in terms of wide ranging representation this book is probably the first of a new wave. Unfortunately, it isn’t enough to write a bisexual Latina protagonist with lots of LGBT friends and friends of color—you also have to write them well.
Unlike a few other reviewers, I don’t actually have an issue with the general arc of the plot and I would happily watch this book as a TV show provided it was adequately edited and produced. I don’t want to give this book too low a score because I believe that it might be part of an important movement in YA writing and it does take risks that I am glad to see taken. My main issues are with the characters.
But somehow the execution is off.
I can’t help but feel that this book could have used at least two more editorial sweeps. For one thing, it is very long, and many of the conversations characters have with each other are redundant (not to mention the multiple throwaway scenes of Elena healing people that don’t seem to up the stakes of the story). Additionally, the teenage characters talk to one another in a way that sounds like a middle-aged nerd is arguing with himself. They don’t swear at the appropriate times, they all have similarly weird and overwrought senses of sarcasm and similar one-liners, none of them seem to have particular goals or senses of self, and they sit and have tedious, never ending conversations with one another about morality that come off as annoying on all sides. It feels as if there are moments where the characters cease to exist and the book becomes a monologue from the author on some issue close to his heart. Authors should be able to argue their ideas using their characters as a vehicle, but in this case the kids are so weighted down with long sentences that their personalities sort of fade into the background.
The bullies, too, have strangely implausible motivations and insults. While kids do make fun of each other over dumb shit, and are unusually cruel to anyone seen as being weird, neither example of bullying that we see repeated (kids calling Elena Mary and shunning her because she was born from parthenogenesis? bullies hanging sugar plum decorations on a kid’s house because he does ballet?) come off as realistic or actually that cruel. While they are mixed with real-world insults related to racism and homophobia, it would suit the story better to have the bullies be recognizable as the frightening adversaries faced by marginalized kids everywhere, rather than confusing, comedic and creative weirdos.
The scene where Elena retrieves Freddie from a party she wasn’t having fun at is realistic in the particulars and the arc of it, but I failed to believe in either girl as a real person even in a scenario I know well from my own high school days. Scenes that should be touching just aren’t. A scene where Elena assures a gay boy that he isn’t wrong or sick comes off as a 4th season flop from Glee; a scene where out of nowhere Elena diagnoses Fadil as asexual because he isn’t that into kissing his girlfriend is preachy and absurd. It sucks, because in terms of wide ranging representation this book is probably the first of a new wave. Unfortunately, it isn’t enough to write a bisexual Latina protagonist with lots of LGBT friends and friends of color—you also have to write them well.
Unlike a few other reviewers, I don’t actually have an issue with the general arc of the plot and I would happily watch this book as a TV show provided it was adequately edited and produced. I don’t want to give this book too low a score because I believe that it might be part of an important movement in YA writing and it does take risks that I am glad to see taken. My main issues are with the characters.
theshiftyshadow's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
(Realistically I'm probably never going to rate a YA book 5 stars, except for the one that I did..... so 3.5 is, relatively speaking, a very decent rating.)
I enjoyed this for the most part. Any issues I had with it stem from the fact it's YA and I am not the target audience for that, so they're not flaws as such. I find with most YA I've read that they always touch on some heavy issues but tend to only go surface deep, especially emotionally. I guess that's kind of accurate for teenagers, but as an adult reader I'm often left frustrated when scenes end too soon, or conversely, when a character has some overly profound thoughts on an issue. But as I said, that seems to be a common feature of this type of book and something I've come to expect the odd time I read one.
That said I liked the characters, and I liked the plot. I liked that the author didn't try overly hard to explain what was happening, but did enough to make it believable that it was. I really liked how they had Elena have to reassess her friendships/relationships along the way. The romance was nicely done, and I appreciated the acknowledgment that crushes are quite often based on the people we imagine someone to be, and how they took the time to allow Elena and Freddie to get to know each other properly. A lot of the interactions between the characters felt refreshingly healthy but in a believable way.
At times it did start to feel a little repetitive, especially with other characters constantly telling Elena that she was making too big a deal of having to make a choice. That also got a little bit annoying simply because the choice she was making was genuinely difficult and could have monumental consequences, so she was making a perfectly acceptable sized deal about it, in my opinion. But I guess the point, or message, or whatever, of the book was about letting people make their own choices and the repeated conversations were there to drill home that idea, rather than to make light of Elena's choice.
I enjoyed this for the most part. Any issues I had with it stem from the fact it's YA and I am not the target audience for that, so they're not flaws as such. I find with most YA I've read that they always touch on some heavy issues but tend to only go surface deep, especially emotionally. I guess that's kind of accurate for teenagers, but as an adult reader I'm often left frustrated when scenes end too soon, or conversely, when a character has some overly profound thoughts on an issue. But as I said, that seems to be a common feature of this type of book and something I've come to expect the odd time I read one.
That said I liked the characters, and I liked the plot. I liked that the author didn't try overly hard to explain what was happening, but did enough to make it believable that it was. I really liked how they had Elena have to reassess her friendships/relationships along the way. The romance was nicely done, and I appreciated the acknowledgment that crushes are quite often based on the people we imagine someone to be, and how they took the time to allow Elena and Freddie to get to know each other properly. A lot of the interactions between the characters felt refreshingly healthy but in a believable way.
At times it did start to feel a little repetitive, especially with other characters constantly telling Elena that she was making too big a deal of having to make a choice. That also got a little bit annoying simply because the choice she was making was genuinely difficult and could have monumental consequences, so she was making a perfectly acceptable sized deal about it, in my opinion. But I guess the point, or message, or whatever, of the book was about letting people make their own choices and the repeated conversations were there to drill home that idea, rather than to make light of Elena's choice.
voidstar's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
aziraphales_left_shoe's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
burstnwithbooks's review against another edition
3.0
This book was alright, but it didn’t really do anything special for me. It feels like Shaun David Hutchinson has created a cookie cutter and he just keeps writing the same book with different colored sprinkles. Regardless, this book has some of my favorite quotes ever. Ironic, but I’m not complaining. I think I’m done reading from this author, though.
eli5za's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-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? Yes
4.75
emdowd's review against another edition
5.0
Really phenomenal magical realism-esque story about choice, mystery, love, and faith. Elena is a great, GREAT example of a bi protagonist, too.
Highly recommend the audio book version, if for no other reason than for the voices of "the voices" Elena hears. Imagining a My Little Pony calling the other ponies "bitches" would have been funny, hearing it was hysterical.
Highly recommend the audio book version, if for no other reason than for the voices of "the voices" Elena hears. Imagining a My Little Pony calling the other ponies "bitches" would have been funny, hearing it was hysterical.
cocogoran's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars! I can’t tell you how much I love Shaun Hutchinson’s books. They’re weird, surreal and romantic and I love them so so much. All of his books have a lot of representation, for example in this book Elena is bi, her best friend is Muslim and it is implied that he’s asexual, and Freddie has depression. I do have to say that most of his books have very similar plots, but the writing style is amazing and I love all the concepts. All the characters were really well developed, especially Elena. She cares so much about other people and her struggle with her choices that she has to make is very visible. She may have made a few stupid decisions but they all contributed to the book. Overall, incredible book and I can’t wait for more!