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leftovergarlicbread's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was well written, and the characters were all wonderful, but I simply think I was just not the right audience for this book. I think this was simply a bit too young for me. I found the interpersonal conflicts of the main characters to feel childish and pointless. It honestly made me not really want to read at some points because I didn't like the conflict between the characters. I found it to give me a degree of secondhand embarrassment.
Despite this though, the plot and setting was very interesting and was able to keep me going through the harder character parts. The story is set in Seattle and as someone from Seattle that was an instant draw. I love reading things set in a place I know so well, and it was fun to see the characters run down streets and go to locations that I've been myself with my friends. Morris did a really good job of capturing the extreme disparity you see in Seattle, rich white vegans and tech workers, versus the working class side of the city that gets hidden away and just barely covered up to try and preserve the "image" that Seattle has as this uber progressive paradise. It was this very nice touch of realism that added a lot of depth to the story especially considering that all of the main characters are of working class backgrounds and 3/4 of them are POC.
The characters were all very unique and distinct and it made them very fun! I loved the way they all had their specialties and each did their own part of a much greater puzzle, the teamwork they had was really really nice, when they weren't arguing over inane stuff that could be fixed with one honest sit down.
Han's autism was done quite well, although you can definitely tell he was written by an allistic author. Part of it may be that I had just finished reading Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White, which has an absolutely phenomenal autistic character written by an autistic author. Despite this though, we was done in an incredibly respectful way. One thing I did really appreciate was that Han was nonverbal throughout 99% of the story. He only spoke maybe once of twice. And despite this, his intelligence or autonomy are never questioned, and he is still a full person with a unique and distinct personality that went way beyond just being the "autistic one." Nonverbal autistic representation is horribly sparse, and good, respectful representation such as this, even moreso.
Overall it was a cute, short story that I'm sure for the right audience, is an incredible read.
Despite this though, the plot and setting was very interesting and was able to keep me going through the harder character parts. The story is set in Seattle and as someone from Seattle that was an instant draw. I love reading things set in a place I know so well, and it was fun to see the characters run down streets and go to locations that I've been myself with my friends. Morris did a really good job of capturing the extreme disparity you see in Seattle, rich white vegans and tech workers, versus the working class side of the city that gets hidden away and just barely covered up to try and preserve the "image" that Seattle has as this uber progressive paradise. It was this very nice touch of realism that added a lot of depth to the story especially considering that all of the main characters are of working class backgrounds and 3/4 of them are POC.
The characters were all very unique and distinct and it made them very fun! I loved the way they all had their specialties and each did their own part of a much greater puzzle, the teamwork they had was really really nice, when they weren't arguing over inane stuff that could be fixed with one honest sit down.
Han's autism was done quite well, although you can definitely tell he was written by an allistic author. Part of it may be that I had just finished reading Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White, which has an absolutely phenomenal autistic character written by an autistic author. Despite this though, we was done in an incredibly respectful way. One thing I did really appreciate was that Han was nonverbal throughout 99% of the story. He only spoke maybe once of twice. And despite this, his intelligence or autonomy are never questioned, and he is still a full person with a unique and distinct personality that went way beyond just being the "autistic one." Nonverbal autistic representation is horribly sparse, and good, respectful representation such as this, even moreso.
Overall it was a cute, short story that I'm sure for the right audience, is an incredible read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Classism
Moderate: Police brutality
Minor: Alcoholism
kelly_e's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
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? No
3.5
Title: The Jump
Author: Brittney Morris
Genre: Young Adult
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: March 7, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Adventurous • Cinematic • Dynamic
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Influence is power. Power creates change. And change is exactly what Team Jericho needs.
Jax, Yas, Spider, and Han are the four cornerstones of Team Jericho, the best scavenger hunting team in all of Seattle. Each has their own specialty: Jax, the puzzler; Yas, the parkourist; Spider, the hacker; and Han, the cartographer. But now with an oil refinery being built right in their backyard, each also has their own problems. Their families are at risk of losing their jobs, their communities, and their homes.
So when The Order, a mysterious vigilante organization, hijacks the scavenger hunting forum and concocts a puzzle of its own, promising a reward of influence, Team Jericho sees it as the chance of a lifetime. If they win this game, they could change their families’ fates and save the city they love so much. But with an opposing team hot on their heels, it’s going to take more than street smarts to outwit their rivals.
💭 T H O U G H T S
The Jump was recommended by a trusted Booktuber, so I added it to my TBR. Recently I was really looking for something a little different from what I typically read, and this title stood out. YA and I don't always jive well, but the concept really intrigued me.
I found this novel started out really good. Told in multiple POVs, the cast is quite diverse. There are many characters with different backgrounds and life experiences. And many young readers will see themselves within these pages, which is a win itself. I also loved the challenge. The game and clues were clever, but I found the pacing was so fast that there was just too much happening all at once. With so much going on, unfortunately the backstory was lacking, which left me disappointed.
At the end of the day, this one sounded better than it actually was. I appreciated the diversity and sensitivity. Yet at some points I was left wanting more. Readers looking for an adventure will be satisficed. But it's the cinematic nature that makes me think The Jump would be better on screen than on the page.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• scavenger hunt enthusiasts
• young readers
Author: Brittney Morris
Genre: Young Adult
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: March 7, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Adventurous • Cinematic • Dynamic
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Influence is power. Power creates change. And change is exactly what Team Jericho needs.
Jax, Yas, Spider, and Han are the four cornerstones of Team Jericho, the best scavenger hunting team in all of Seattle. Each has their own specialty: Jax, the puzzler; Yas, the parkourist; Spider, the hacker; and Han, the cartographer. But now with an oil refinery being built right in their backyard, each also has their own problems. Their families are at risk of losing their jobs, their communities, and their homes.
So when The Order, a mysterious vigilante organization, hijacks the scavenger hunting forum and concocts a puzzle of its own, promising a reward of influence, Team Jericho sees it as the chance of a lifetime. If they win this game, they could change their families’ fates and save the city they love so much. But with an opposing team hot on their heels, it’s going to take more than street smarts to outwit their rivals.
💭 T H O U G H T S
The Jump was recommended by a trusted Booktuber, so I added it to my TBR. Recently I was really looking for something a little different from what I typically read, and this title stood out. YA and I don't always jive well, but the concept really intrigued me.
I found this novel started out really good. Told in multiple POVs, the cast is quite diverse. There are many characters with different backgrounds and life experiences. And many young readers will see themselves within these pages, which is a win itself. I also loved the challenge. The game and clues were clever, but I found the pacing was so fast that there was just too much happening all at once. With so much going on, unfortunately the backstory was lacking, which left me disappointed.
At the end of the day, this one sounded better than it actually was. I appreciated the diversity and sensitivity. Yet at some points I was left wanting more. Readers looking for an adventure will be satisficed. But it's the cinematic nature that makes me think The Jump would be better on screen than on the page.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• scavenger hunt enthusiasts
• young readers
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism
skylarkblue1's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings: Racism, Police Brutality, Trapped in a Burning Building , Sensory overstimulation/overload
So this is less of a normal review and more half-a-rant.
To start, I think it's a great book. However it's a horrible portrayal of ARGs and clearly shows a severe lack of even a surface level understanding of them. For one, it's constantly mentioned that just phoning any random number you find is fair game when in reality that's the number 1 rule for any solving group that you really REALLY shouldn't do..
I should have known something was fishy when the 2 "scavenger hunts" for this book were just "Go to page. Click link. Yey you won" and "read the embossed link that's mirrored on the front cover. Grats you solved it"
Which.. if you're going through the effort of physically putting a hidden trailhead on your book cover.. it needs some amount of effort gone into it :/
Were the characters great? Yes, I loved them all so much. Was the diversity great? Yes, so much good representation scattered throughout in a good way.
It's just the portrayal of ARGs and our community with that. ARGs are not mentioned by name, it's just "cryptology" which… while not entirely wrong isn't also not correct. What's portrayed in this book is ARGs (Alternative Reality Games), cryptology is a part of these but it's not the whole thing.
ARGs are generally not competitive like this with prizes, 99% of the time they're heavily community focused with a goal of bringing people together.
The author's note mentioning this was heavily inspired by Cicada 3301 was concerning but made everything make sense suddenly. Cicada is known within the ARG community as a joke. It's horrendously made, an absolute clusterfuck and it's a meme. Using that as your basis to what seemed to be an attempt at serious representation of our community is… disappointing honestly.
I would love a book around ARGs and such. If you’re even slightly interested in the concepts of this book, please join us in solving some! Currently there’s an ARG going on for Watsky - the rapper - which is incredibly high quality. Just look up the Watsky subreddit and look for the ARG posts! Bungie’s newly announced game - Marathon - also has a fantastic ARG but that’s currently on hiatus.
I would still recommend this book, but please if you wish to join in with solving ARGs look up ARG etiquette and join a group. r/ARG isn’t the best source for ARG information either - they’ve got a very bad rep in the overall community. Game Detectives has a whole wiki’s worth of information on multiple past and current ARGs, an FAQ detailing a lot of ARG information - and they’ve even created the “Academy” which serves you teach you basic cryptology skills and more that’s commonly used in ARGs. Just keep in mind that we’re not nearly as competitive as what’s shown in this book, even for the competitions where it *is* everyone competing against each other, we’re still a community at the end of the day and people still work together! Newbies are very much welcome as well as they learn the ropes and can even just watch what happens ^^
So this is less of a normal review and more half-a-rant.
To start, I think it's a great book. However it's a horrible portrayal of ARGs and clearly shows a severe lack of even a surface level understanding of them. For one, it's constantly mentioned that just phoning any random number you find is fair game when in reality that's the number 1 rule for any solving group that you really REALLY shouldn't do..
I should have known something was fishy when the 2 "scavenger hunts" for this book were just "Go to page. Click link. Yey you won" and "read the embossed link that's mirrored on the front cover. Grats you solved it"
Which.. if you're going through the effort of physically putting a hidden trailhead on your book cover.. it needs some amount of effort gone into it :/
Were the characters great? Yes, I loved them all so much. Was the diversity great? Yes, so much good representation scattered throughout in a good way.
It's just the portrayal of ARGs and our community with that. ARGs are not mentioned by name, it's just "cryptology" which… while not entirely wrong isn't also not correct. What's portrayed in this book is ARGs (Alternative Reality Games), cryptology is a part of these but it's not the whole thing.
ARGs are generally not competitive like this with prizes, 99% of the time they're heavily community focused with a goal of bringing people together.
The author's note mentioning this was heavily inspired by Cicada 3301 was concerning but made everything make sense suddenly. Cicada is known within the ARG community as a joke. It's horrendously made, an absolute clusterfuck and it's a meme. Using that as your basis to what seemed to be an attempt at serious representation of our community is… disappointing honestly.
I would love a book around ARGs and such. If you’re even slightly interested in the concepts of this book, please join us in solving some! Currently there’s an ARG going on for Watsky - the rapper - which is incredibly high quality. Just look up the Watsky subreddit and look for the ARG posts! Bungie’s newly announced game - Marathon - also has a fantastic ARG but that’s currently on hiatus.
I would still recommend this book, but please if you wish to join in with solving ARGs look up ARG etiquette and join a group. r/ARG isn’t the best source for ARG information either - they’ve got a very bad rep in the overall community. Game Detectives has a whole wiki’s worth of information on multiple past and current ARGs, an FAQ detailing a lot of ARG information - and they’ve even created the “Academy” which serves you teach you basic cryptology skills and more that’s commonly used in ARGs. Just keep in mind that we’re not nearly as competitive as what’s shown in this book, even for the competitions where it *is* everyone competing against each other, we’re still a community at the end of the day and people still work together! Newbies are very much welcome as well as they learn the ropes and can even just watch what happens ^^
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism and Gun violence
sarah984's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This started out kind of standard YA mystery for me, fun enough, but as things escalated the character conflicts didn't feel realistic and the plot got extremely silly. The final confrontation was ridiculous.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, and Deportation
jessicaludden's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
“Don’t think. Just make the jump.”
The Jump follows a group of teenagers attempting to solve a digital scavenger hunt for the to earn power and join an elite vigilante group known as the Order. But they may find out their in over their heads and things are not as they seem as they work against a rival team and the outside forces working against them.
This book was decent. I enjoyed reading it but it wasn’t something I loved. I found it to be really repetitive at times and some of the character motivations were a little fuzzy. What I did love was the diverse cast of characters in this book. I especially loved reading from Han’s point of view because he’s non-verbal and it was great to see that representation. I also liked that it painted a very realistic picture of racism and corrupt corporations that are gentrifying areas populated by minorities. It tried to touch on many serious topics, but the stakes never felt that high to me. Overall, it was entertaining to read and I really enjoyed the diversity!
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book!
The Jump follows a group of teenagers attempting to solve a digital scavenger hunt for the to earn power and join an elite vigilante group known as the Order. But they may find out their in over their heads and things are not as they seem as they work against a rival team and the outside forces working against them.
This book was decent. I enjoyed reading it but it wasn’t something I loved. I found it to be really repetitive at times and some of the character motivations were a little fuzzy. What I did love was the diverse cast of characters in this book. I especially loved reading from Han’s point of view because he’s non-verbal and it was great to see that representation. I also liked that it painted a very realistic picture of racism and corrupt corporations that are gentrifying areas populated by minorities. It tried to touch on many serious topics, but the stakes never felt that high to me. Overall, it was entertaining to read and I really enjoyed the diversity!
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book!
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Hate crime, Racism, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
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