Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - One for All: A Novel

This book was incredible. The chronic illness rep was amazing and I felt so seen and saw so much of myself in Tania, and found her strength and determination so inspiring, I absolutely loved the friendships and banter in this book as well!

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stripes_and_naps's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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novella42's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

4.75

I loved this book very very much. At times it felt a little confusing, so I took off 0.25 stars, but I loved it anyway. Seeing a chronically ill protagonist fight through the ableism in the world AND her own internalized ableism was just fantastic to witness. The afterword made me cry and inspired me to work on my own fiction and dream about my own disabled protagonist. I'm grateful for this book.

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mengzhenreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

3.5

Less of a retelling than a continuation of the Three Musketeers except now it's four instead of three. Very cute but nothing groundbreaking with the writing and stuff.

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

3.0

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thebankofbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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bookforthought's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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? Yes

4.5

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when I picked up One for All, but a gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers sounded like something I would enjoy, and I was entirely right in that!

This book had everything I could have wanted: spies and court intrigue, balls and swordfights, a school that isn't at all what it seems, and a delightful found family. The story starts off a bit slow as we're introduced to Tania and her struggles to live a normal life. She suffers from a condition that causes her to have frequent dizzy spells and fainting, which we know to be POTS but in 17th-century France causes her to be dismissed as a "sick girl" who'll never amount to anything. That is, from everyone except her father. Tania's relationship with her father was beautiful, and the way he always believed in her and pushed her to defy other people's expectations and labels was heartwarming. Until he was murdered.

The pace picks up when Tania arrives in Paris to join a mysterious finishing school as her father's last wish. Between training, fencing, learning high-society etiquette and uncovering a potential assassination plot, Tania will need to learn whom to trust: her newfound sisters-in-arms or the charming Étienne?

I loved the way the author handled this work compared to the original. Unlike some other retellings, this isn't a scene-by-scene replay of the original with female characters. Rather, she took the essence of the story and weaved something new and original from it, so much so that at times I felt as though this could almost be a companion novel to The Three Musketeers rather than simply a retelling. I also liked the inclusion of French words and phrases throughout the novel, as it helped to bring the setting to life for me, although sometimes there were a few needless repetitions in translation.

Reading about this time period was also very interesting, as I realised I knew hardly anything about La Fronde and the following years (as always, thank you Wikipedia for helping me fill in the gaps!), and I love a book that pushes me to do some research and learn something new! The plot was captivating enough, although I had guessed most of the surprises (as many avid, adult readers will probably also do), but it does a good job for a YA novel and a debut at that.

The representation in this was also a major plus point for me. The book is OwnVoices, as the author herself shares Tania's chronic health problems and is a fencer. This was really cool and shown through the writing, making it all feel more authentic. As a former fencer myself, I particularly loved those scenes and how real they felt. Alongside the disability rep, there are also discussions on women's rights and social expectations, as well as a lovely LGBT rep. This last one I particularly appreciated because it was handled so delicately and not used as a conflict point. There was also a bit of social commentary, with references being made to the poorest and most marginalised in society, and how they are often exploited and used as scapegoats by the higher classes - again, one of my favourite themes (as you may have gathered if you're a regular around here!).

The dynamics between the characters were probably my favourite thing. I adore the found family trope, and this was one of the best I read recently. Every interaction between Tania and her newfound sisters Portia, Théa and Aria was an absolute joy, and I loved every moment spent together. The individual character development wasn't quite as strong for me. This is a YA novel and the characters mostly act their age, which I'm fine with, but it felt as though there was something missing in their characterisation and growth. Tania especially was a little bit of a disappointment in this sense: I loved the fact that she grew more confident as the novel progressed, but she seemed to continue to lack common sense and maturity by the end.

I accompanied this with the audiobook, which is narrated by Mara Wilson (forever Matilda in my mind). She does a wonderful job of it, both with the English and the French lines. Definitely worth it if you like audiobooks.

Overall, this was an extremely pleasant read, expertly mixing adventure with a number of social issues and some great representation. I had a few minor issues with it, but they didn't take much away from my enjoyment of this book and are very likely things that will be ironed out in future works. If this is Lainoff's debut, I'm really curious to see what she'll write next!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

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