Scan barcode
A review by house_of_hannah
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
2.5
This book takes place in 1989, and is basically a love letter to the 80s. It is overflowing with references, but I was born in 1991, and unfortunately a lot of them went over my head. It made reading this not flow very well, and when I did know a reference it just felt so much smoother, and could even change the meaning of a paragraph or sentence. It just makes me wonder how much I missed by not understanding everything.
The story itself moved at a great pace in the beginning, but then it shifted to where each chapter focused more on an individual character. It definitely slowed things down, and made it to where there would be all this exposition on the individual's family, upbringing, feelings, and then it would gloss over an event that happened in just a few sentences. This really started to bother me at the end when the climax of the story was just a few paragraphs tucked into a flashback.
This book also has a lot of characters. To the point where the author uses their full names quite often. I was fine with keeping the main group of characters straight, but it was just too much to try and keep up with all the side characters. I also found the switching between the parents first names and Mr/Mrs so-and-so confusing, especially when there were a lot of characters in a scene.
I picked up this book for the witchcraft, but it went in a different direction than I was expecting. I did enjoy those aspects of the story, but not understanding the 80s references was just a hinderance in my enjoyment of this book. The climax for me also fell flat. I liked that it became a coming of age story, but I don't think the plot should have been left behind to accomplish that.
The story itself moved at a great pace in the beginning, but then it shifted to where each chapter focused more on an individual character. It definitely slowed things down, and made it to where there would be all this exposition on the individual's family, upbringing, feelings, and then it would gloss over an event that happened in just a few sentences. This really started to bother me at the end when the climax of the story was just a few paragraphs tucked into a flashback.
This book also has a lot of characters. To the point where the author uses their full names quite often. I was fine with keeping the main group of characters straight, but it was just too much to try and keep up with all the side characters. I also found the switching between the parents first names and Mr/Mrs so-and-so confusing, especially when there were a lot of characters in a scene.
I picked up this book for the witchcraft, but it went in a different direction than I was expecting. I did enjoy those aspects of the story, but not understanding the 80s references was just a hinderance in my enjoyment of this book. The climax for me also fell flat. I liked that it became a coming of age story, but I don't think the plot should have been left behind to accomplish that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Animal death and Homophobia