Reviews with content warning for Gore - Meddling Kids

Oh this was just so FUN!

It's totally not something I'd pick up on my own. The presence of tentacles on the front cover, making it a "monster book" would have immediately put me off it if it wasn't a rec from a friend. And let me tell you, I am so glad they did recommend it.

The start is STRONG and throws you right into it without mincing words. It's almost like you've been thrown a pile of newspaper clippings and have to piece it together as the narrative unfolds and then watch it all fall into place. Loved that. At first this stylistic choice made me feel very removed from the characters, but this didn't last long at all. I was DOWN BAD for Kerri and Andy. Right from the beginning where Andy has that incredible passage personifying Kerri's hair...I knew I would go down with this ship. I, myself, have been head over heels for far too many curly redheaded femmes. Nate was not *unloveable*, but he just didn't shine like the girls did. But that's okay. It's about time the sapphics outshone the men in a novel, especially one written by a man!

The mystery had me guessing! And I wasn't right at first! It definitely ended up being more whacky and goofy than anticipated, but when the book is a direct reference to Scooby Doo and there's a literal Zoinx river...I didn't care too much haha.

So many of Andy's one-liners had me rolling on the floor. I bookmarked them in the audiobook but it returned. Will add later. The group banter was excellent. The METAPHORS had me laughing. The way he described a thought being stopped from coming out of Andy's mouth like a person being stopped by a burly bouncer...WHO COMES UP WITH THAT! It's brilliant and so funny.

The hurt/comfort bed sharing scene???? I WAS ON MY KNEES!

Thoughts on certain aspect of twist ending:

Important to note: Lindsay Ellis has a great video unpacking this topic, but the twist ending DOES contribute to the harmful stereotype that all trans women are just evil men dressed as women, who dress as women for the express purpose of doing said evil. Of course I don't think that was the author's intention, but in the world we live in, we need to at least acknowledge that these tropes can still find their way into media, however innocent and dormant they seem.

Other than that! The twists were GREAT. Only saw them coming like a page ahead of when they actually came. And the VERY LAST ONE AT THE END. I WAS GIGGLING LIKE CRAZY. WHAT A WAY TO END.

I should have known that the SCOOBY DOO BOOK would have a talking dog.

This is what I'm talking about. A level of unhinged I would never usually go for but I'm so glad I did. Amazing. So close to perfect.

Content Warnings

thechocolatefinger's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

1.25

It was written like a sequel to Scooby Doo and clearly inspired by it:
Peter = Fred (leader)
Kerri = Daphne (popular) + Velma (smart)
Nate = Shaggy (on drugs and vaguely mentally ill)
Tim = Scooby Doo (dog)
Andy was just a tomboy and didn’t reflect any of the characters tbh

The writing style was like half normal speech and then written like a script sometimes. It was inconsistent and annoying. There was some breaking-the-4th-wall metaphors and descriptions which were funny though

Overall it was bad and it was so clearly man writing lesbian relationship
The trans character wasn’t even trans unless it was so transphobic that the writer thinks trans people choose to be trans
it was a

Ace Ventura film

vibe of transphobia

Content Warnings

hauntedboi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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

4.0

Content Warnings

ash_ton's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Okay so. Originally I had given this book 4 stars but after thinking about it, I lowered it to 3. I couldn't get past a lot of things no matter how much I liked the actual story.

First, though, no matter how much I complain, I did like the book. I like the concept of the

talismans

even though I know that isn't a novel (haha) idea. I was still shocked and wasn't expecting

the kids to be part of the ritual.

I also wasn't expecting

Dunia Deboen to be involved, nor was I expecting her to be Damian Deboen.

Maybe in hindsight it should have been obvious but *shrugs*. So, despite the things I'm about to complain about, I did like the book because the story itself was good, in my opinion.

These are things I know others have talked about, so I'm just going to be another voice agreeing with them. The random insertion of the script format throughout the book wa sso jarring and unecessary. It did nothing for the storyline. If all the dialogue would have been in script format, sure. But that would've sucked and I would have hated it lol. In the same vein, I hated the amount of ridiculous "big" words added that seemingly were only there to beef up the sentences. Also, the made up words as well. Myriaphonic, as far as I can tell from googling, is not a real word. After some clicks, I found out a miraphone is a type of tuba, so maybe that's what he was going for? But like, bud. Pick something else.
The one random 4th wall break 75% into the book was also super jarring and unnecessary to me. If you're going to break the 4th wall, only doing it once isn't gonna cut it. Is the book self-aware or not?
My one last small gripe is how

Dunia/Damian spoke at the end. Like he was trying to be old but hip at the same time. No one, not even a 200 year old dude, is gonna talk that cringy and weird.

One last thing. I'm confused about the ending. I get that Tim is Sean's great-grandson. Fine. Makes sense. But

the spirit inhabiting Tim says he's been possessing all the dogs and that it got easier when Kerri was at college? And then the spirit makes Tim smile "bittersweetly" and says "It's all been done before." Bro wtf does that mean.

Idk if I'm just stupid, but I don't understand. I don't see anyone else mentioning that part.

Bottom line: I liked the book/story, I just mostly hated some of the writing style. Usually, I can get over that and in this case I did. I'd still recommend it, especially if you like Scooby Doo and/or retellings.

Content Warnings

itsheyfay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

gentlellama's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious medium-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

5.0

This is a love letter to all the horror fiction and horror films that came before, mixed with a touch of Scooby-Doo, of course. I must admit that I got drawn in by the Scooby-Doo angle as I am not an avid reader or watcher of the horror genre. However, if you are, I think you’ll love the book even more. It plays with different tropes beautifully, twisting them into something new but still recognizable. The characters are l stereotypes but not the ones you’d expect, and I think this may make it hard for some readers to relate to them. I found them to be fascinating— broken weird misfits with an ennui that all 20-somethings experience. Plus there’s a dog. Cantero’s writing won’t be for everyone— his metaphors are weird, but remarkably apt and razor sharp, and his word choice absurd (I’ve never looked up so many words in a single book) but brilliant. There are parts where you go from narrative to screen play, and even though this initially took me out of the story, I came to appreciate it at the end when the book reached its cinematographic climax. I highly recommend it for a bizarre, trippy horror read. I want a sequel to it!

Content Warnings

kalzeb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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