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A review by lunagirl_alice
May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have mixed feelings so i thought i’d better get them out straight away. The start of the book was really really good, i was loving it so much and convinced it was going to be a high 4 star read or even a 5 star read. Then the middle really let the book down, i found it so difficult to keep reading because it was so unpleasant, the characters i know are supposed to be messy but some of the things they did were outright nasty and horrible and were way past “messy”. So that really disappointed me i think and that’s why i didn’t love it as much as i was hoping. The last third did pick up however and i really enjoyed it so i’ve finished with a nice feeling and i’m glad. I’ve seen people really hate how it ended and honestly to me the ending wasn’t bad. Obviously they wouldn’t fix all their problems and issues at the end…they’re kids.. literally 17&18 and if you expect then to have their life and personality ironed out and perfected then you need to really change your perspective because that’s unattainable for anyone at that age. I did like the ending, they both did some really crappy things and didn’t deserve to win the crown in my opinion so i’m glad that’s how it turned out.
Im not a trans reviewer (i’m Cis) so please listen to Trans OwnVoice reviewers about the rep, i’ve heard from other Trans reviewers that the rep was very realistic and good representation.
There was one line in relation to TERFs that i felt was unnecessary when talking about TERFs one character says “a lot of them are lesbians unfortunately, they hate trans people because they like to claim they’re the most oppressed queers in existence”. I am not trying to say that lesbians can not and are not TERFs, nor am i trying to erase the Transphobia within the lesbian community of which there is a disgusting amount, but that comment isn’t followed by any further explanation or rebuttals, no one challenges it or expands on it. If this was going to open a discussion about the transphobia in the lesbian community and highlight the issue this would’ve made more sense. But there’s nothing it just feels unnecessary to just villainies lesbians like that for no real gain. Especially as this may be some peoples first encounter with the term TERF and there was no need to the comment, it really served no purpose.
I am Autistic and i’ll share my opinions about the Autism representation in this book. Lukas one of our main characters is Autistic. I found the Autism representation actually pretty good, it’s not often we see any kind of realistic representation even in todays media for Autism so it was refreshing. Obviously I won’t relate 100%, i don’t think you’ll find many Autistics who will, if you know 1 Autistic person…you know exactly 1 Autistic person but also Lukas is a Cis Male, and i am a Cis Female and that does affect peoples experiences with Autism, but i will say it was good representation and i was happy to see it.
For anyone who wanted to know the author Z.R Ellor is an OwnVoices Author and is Trans & Autistic.
Im not a trans reviewer (i’m Cis) so please listen to Trans OwnVoice reviewers about the rep, i’ve heard from other Trans reviewers that the rep was very realistic and good representation.
There was one line in relation to TERFs that i felt was unnecessary when talking about TERFs one character says “a lot of them are lesbians unfortunately, they hate trans people because they like to claim they’re the most oppressed queers in existence”. I am not trying to say that lesbians can not and are not TERFs, nor am i trying to erase the Transphobia within the lesbian community of which there is a disgusting amount, but that comment isn’t followed by any further explanation or rebuttals, no one challenges it or expands on it. If this was going to open a discussion about the transphobia in the lesbian community and highlight the issue this would’ve made more sense. But there’s nothing it just feels unnecessary to just villainies lesbians like that for no real gain. Especially as this may be some peoples first encounter with the term TERF and there was no need to the comment, it really served no purpose.
I am Autistic and i’ll share my opinions about the Autism representation in this book. Lukas one of our main characters is Autistic. I found the Autism representation actually pretty good, it’s not often we see any kind of realistic representation even in todays media for Autism so it was refreshing. Obviously I won’t relate 100%, i don’t think you’ll find many Autistics who will, if you know 1 Autistic person…you know exactly 1 Autistic person but also Lukas is a Cis Male, and i am a Cis Female and that does affect peoples experiences with Autism, but i will say it was good representation and i was happy to see it.
For anyone who wanted to know the author Z.R Ellor is an OwnVoices Author and is Trans & Autistic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Moderate: Emotional abuse