reader_of_books88's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
I really loved this book. Zed and his friends were such a joy to read about, and the mystery kept my interest throughout the book. I especially loved Zed's friendship with his best friend Gretchen, and how much they were there for each other, and how their both being disabled added a deeper understanding and love to their relationship, and I really enjoyed their banter and sense of humour. When you're disabled, there are times when we just have to laugh at ourselves, and there is lots of that in this book. This book makes a joke out of the "inspiring" and "brave" disabled characters found so often in books and other media written by abled writers, and I was so glad to see it. At the same time, the book is refreshingly honest about daily life with Zed's muscular dystrophy and Gretchen's cerebral palsy, while never portraying them as someone you should pity. And to make it even better, this book has lots of queer characters! Zed's friends are bi, non-binary, and other forms of queer, and Zed certainly has an interesting answer if you ask him what he is, but judging by a conversation he had with someone, it sounded like he's on the ace spectrum. Queer disabled characters are still fairly uncommon in fiction, so this aspect of the book made me very happy as well. I would definitely recommend this book if you want a story full of friendship and humour and a mystery to put the characters in a lot of danger.
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