A review by joliendelandsheer
Want by Cindy Pon
3.0
I have to admit I'm a little bit disappointed in this book. I've heard so many great things about this YA sci fi set in Taipei, so my expectations were admittedly somewhat high. The main reasons I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped to are:
a) one of the events in the synopsis only happens 200 pages into this 320 page book
b) from the first page, the main character is incredibly attached to a girl he is supposed to immensely dislike, for no reason
c) I felt like I didn't actually know any of the characters beyond the one characteristic I kept getting clobbered over the head with: stealthy, emotionally closed-off Iris, kind computer genius Lingyi, Zhou who lost his mom early on in life & likes to climb, Arun who is a scientist, Victor who dresses well and pretends to not care about anyone but really loves them. that's all you really get to know about these people, and it keeps being repeated throughout the book, again and again
d) everything was too easy. every obstacle or issue that came up was solved so easily
e) the plot twist was predictable from chapter 2.
I realize this all sounds really negative now. I still gave this book 3 stars, which means I did enjoy reading it! I would still recommend it as a solid YA science fiction novel, especially being an ownvoices book set in Taipei. Perhaps it would be better going into it without sky-high expectations - which is entirely my fault, tbh.
a) one of the events in the synopsis only happens 200 pages into this 320 page book
b) from the first page, the main character is incredibly attached to a girl he is supposed to immensely dislike, for no reason
c) I felt like I didn't actually know any of the characters beyond the one characteristic I kept getting clobbered over the head with: stealthy, emotionally closed-off Iris, kind computer genius Lingyi, Zhou who lost his mom early on in life & likes to climb, Arun who is a scientist, Victor who dresses well and pretends to not care about anyone but really loves them. that's all you really get to know about these people, and it keeps being repeated throughout the book, again and again
d) everything was too easy. every obstacle or issue that came up was solved so easily
e) the plot twist was predictable from chapter 2.
I realize this all sounds really negative now. I still gave this book 3 stars, which means I did enjoy reading it! I would still recommend it as a solid YA science fiction novel, especially being an ownvoices book set in Taipei. Perhaps it would be better going into it without sky-high expectations - which is entirely my fault, tbh.