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The River City Duology #1
We All Fall Down
By the author of What Big Teeth, this is the first in a young adult fantasy duology set in a magical city filled with monsters and magic, where four young people discover the power and danger of stories, and the untold costs of keeping magic alive.
Hardcover
First published June 7, 2022
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10586 people want to read
About the author
Rose Szabo
5 books274 followersRose Szabo is a nonbinary writer from Richmond, VA, where they live with an assortment of people and animals and teach writing at VCU. They have an MA in English from the University of Maine and an MFA in creative writing from VCU. Their work has been published in See the Elephant and Quaint magazines. What Big Teeth is their first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 481 reviews
May 30, 2022
Rose Szabo writes books about white women inflicting violence upon gay men. This is a plot choice they have made in both of their published novels. This hardly seems to be a coincidence.
In Szabo's debut novel, What Big Teeth, protagonist Eleanor (and her grandmother) manipulated and enslaved a gay man for their own ends, and the book ultimately left each of its gay male characters dead, dying, or destitute. The author failed to confront either the internal bigotry baked into the narrative or the characters' explicitly harmful actions. The end result was a book that seemed to prioritize a white woman's victory, no matter the collateral damage. [My review here]
A similar dynamic exists in We All Fall Down.
This is a book about the murder of two police officers. Tiny white lesbian Jack knows who the murderer is—her sister. Said sister is trying to pin the murder onto an eight-armed monster-girl in order to stir up racially motivated panic amonst the citizenry. In order to deflect suspicion from her sister (who isn't great at plotting), Jack points the finger at a person she 100% knows to be innocent.
Who?
David. A seven-foot tall gay Black man who everyone is already terrified of by reason of his race and physical size.
It'll be fine, Jack tells herself, as she uses her incredible privilege as a white woman to frame a stranger. He's a professor at the university, he must be rich and well-connected and able to sort this out.
The police arrest David and hold him without charging him. They subject him to interrogation and torture in order to coerce a confession.
Jack's only apparent regret with this situation is that, when the police eventually let David go, she hadn't been able to point the finger at a more plausible suspect. She displays no awareness or insight the actual harm caused to David or how she might make amends.
And the novel itself ultimately portrays Jack as the hero and David as the villain. David's rightful quest for vengeance against the woman who attempted to frame him for her sister's crimes is Wrong and Selfish and Upsetting the Balance of Magic. In contrast, Jack is the capital-H Hero who must stop David from creating cosmic unrest as a result of his rampage. So the sequel to We All Fall Down is, apparently, going to be about Jack and her girlfriend stopping "evil" David?
The optics of this book are shit.
Rose Szabo keeps trying to tell stories about subjects that they are just not able to tell due to their own lack of perspective. You cannot write a book about police brutality against monsters but then have your hero subject a gay Black man to police brutality. You can't then take the Black man's completely justified anger at the violence done to him and turn it into an "anger is bad and forgiveness will heal the world" lesson. Some things are not forgiveable, and oppressors have no right to demand that the people they have harmed put aside their righteous fury.
(I should add that this is a fantasy novel that takes place in the American South. David has already lived in fear of falling victim to "existing while Black" his entire life, so the fact that the police who arrest him are Magic Police instead of Human Police is irrelevant, and only makes Szabo's authorial choices more egregious.)
I don't know what Szabo's deal is. They're a very good writer. But there seems to be a repeated lack of insight into the way their narratives reinforce and condone bigotry and the weaponization of white female fragility.
📌 . Blog | Review Database | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
In Szabo's debut novel, What Big Teeth, protagonist Eleanor (and her grandmother) manipulated and enslaved a gay man for their own ends, and the book ultimately left each of its gay male characters dead, dying, or destitute. The author failed to confront either the internal bigotry baked into the narrative or the characters' explicitly harmful actions. The end result was a book that seemed to prioritize a white woman's victory, no matter the collateral damage. [My review here]
A similar dynamic exists in We All Fall Down.
This is a book about the murder of two police officers. Tiny white lesbian Jack knows who the murderer is—her sister. Said sister is trying to pin the murder onto an eight-armed monster-girl in order to stir up racially motivated panic amonst the citizenry. In order to deflect suspicion from her sister (who isn't great at plotting), Jack points the finger at a person she 100% knows to be innocent.
Who?
David. A seven-foot tall gay Black man who everyone is already terrified of by reason of his race and physical size.
It'll be fine, Jack tells herself, as she uses her incredible privilege as a white woman to frame a stranger. He's a professor at the university, he must be rich and well-connected and able to sort this out.
The police arrest David and hold him without charging him. They subject him to interrogation and torture in order to coerce a confession.
Jack's only apparent regret with this situation is that, when the police eventually let David go, she hadn't been able to point the finger at a more plausible suspect. She displays no awareness or insight the actual harm caused to David or how she might make amends.
And the novel itself ultimately portrays Jack as the hero and David as the villain. David's rightful quest for vengeance against the woman who attempted to frame him for her sister's crimes is Wrong and Selfish and Upsetting the Balance of Magic. In contrast, Jack is the capital-H Hero who must stop David from creating cosmic unrest as a result of his rampage. So the sequel to We All Fall Down is, apparently, going to be about Jack and her girlfriend stopping "evil" David?
The optics of this book are shit.
Rose Szabo keeps trying to tell stories about subjects that they are just not able to tell due to their own lack of perspective. You cannot write a book about police brutality against monsters but then have your hero subject a gay Black man to police brutality. You can't then take the Black man's completely justified anger at the violence done to him and turn it into an "anger is bad and forgiveness will heal the world" lesson. Some things are not forgiveable, and oppressors have no right to demand that the people they have harmed put aside their righteous fury.
(I should add that this is a fantasy novel that takes place in the American South. David has already lived in fear of falling victim to "existing while Black" his entire life, so the fact that the police who arrest him are Magic Police instead of Human Police is irrelevant, and only makes Szabo's authorial choices more egregious.)
I don't know what Szabo's deal is. They're a very good writer. But there seems to be a repeated lack of insight into the way their narratives reinforce and condone bigotry and the weaponization of white female fragility.
📌 . Blog | Review Database | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
April 5, 2022
Thank you to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
2.5/5
This was a well crafted dark fantasy but a particular scene/action of one of the character's and the lackluster/confusing ending made this one more of a miss for me.
We All Fall Down is a dark urban fantasy which is mainly set in River City which is a magical town that exists somewhere within the US. Kind of how like The Extraordinaries takes place within the real world in a fictional locale. This book follows four queer young people: Jesse, Jack, David and Turing. Besides them we also get interludes from Astrid's POV, she's a middle aged witch.
River City exists in two parts, the Old and the New. Old River City ran on magic but as it's continually disappeared from the world, things have begun to crumble. New River City is all about research and advancing technology, they are ignorant of the way the City used to run and they don't want to go back.
For any Black, biracial and other POC readers, this may be one you want to avoid for a specific reason which I will detail more at the end of this review in a spoiler tag.
This book definitely doesn't read as YA, it is firmly more NA or even adult in my mind. And it's not just because at least two of the characters seem older. No ages are specified but David is a professor and Jack definitely seems like she's in her 20s. This could also just be me. Regardless, I was really curious about the history and mythology surrounding River City. We learn a lot about it, but there still seems to be some important information about how magic works that we don't get by the end. This book is definitely more a character study as well, so while there is action this is more so of a character driven book.
Jesse was one of my favorite characters even though their descriptions did kind of confuse me at first. Jesse was assigned male at birth (AMAB), but can transform magically and swap their gender. They aren't sure what to do with this power and they believe it's a medical condition in the beginning of the book. My confusion was more at how Jesse is described because I wasn't sure if they were a trans girl or somewhere in the nonbinary umbrella. In the beginning, Jesse gets a lot of gender euphoria when someone genders them as female. As the book progresses and they get better at controlling their power, Jesse experiments with presenting more in between the two genders, or switches between them as much as they want. For this reason, I've designated them as genderfluid-questioning, but I could still be wrong. Jesse never labels themselves on page. Either way, they were a literal sweetheart and I'm very much attached to them.
Jack is a character archetype that I love. Strong, badass queer women. She is the epitome of the "Looks like could kill you, would kill you" meme. I liked Jack up to a specific point in the book, but then I was just conflicted because I could not justify nor support something she does around 60% into the book. Jack has the most growing to do out of the characters, which is strange because I definitely thought she was the oldest of the bunch. Jack is lesbian-coded but again no labels are used, however, she never really expresses interest in men. Though there is this weird situation between her and Turing, where she genders Turing as a man like the whole book. I'm unsure if this was just to make sure Jack never said Turing was a girl in their boss's presence, but it was still strange.
I don't have much to add about David or Turing because while they're main characters, I still felt like they didn't get a lot of time to be developed on the page, especially Turing. Her POV doesn't come in until a bit later in the book. I do really enjoy these two, but I feel like I don't know as much about them. From what I do know, I love how intelligent and nerdy David is. He also struggles with his self image and it was something I related to a lot. We are always constantly sweating. I'm really hoping Turing will get more of a POV in the sequel, I want to know everything about her. These two are both going to be incredibly important in the sequel as well and I am ready for it.
This section here will have SPOILERS! They will be detailed to an extent to make people know about this situation which is charged and full of anti-Black sentiment from both a white woman and police officers. Also, I'm still so mad about this situation that I'm lowering my rating one star from 3.5 to 2.5. I won't be recommending this either.
Rep: white genderfluid-questioning queer MC, white butch female lesbian MC, Black biracial fat queer male MC, Black biracial sapphic female MC who has tentacles, Asian male side character, BIPOC female witch side character with a broken foot/limp.
CWs: Alcohol consumption, blood, body horror, body shaming, death, fatphobia, injury/injury detail, murder, police brutality (witness intimidation, attempted false confession, confinement to interrogation room), pregnancy & live birth recounted in prologue, racism, violence. Moderate: drug use (character given a sleeping potion w/o consent), gun violence, attempted kidnapping, suicidal thoughts, past mention of death of parent.
2.5/5
This was a well crafted dark fantasy but a particular scene/action of one of the character's and the lackluster/confusing ending made this one more of a miss for me.
We All Fall Down is a dark urban fantasy which is mainly set in River City which is a magical town that exists somewhere within the US. Kind of how like The Extraordinaries takes place within the real world in a fictional locale. This book follows four queer young people: Jesse, Jack, David and Turing. Besides them we also get interludes from Astrid's POV, she's a middle aged witch.
River City exists in two parts, the Old and the New. Old River City ran on magic but as it's continually disappeared from the world, things have begun to crumble. New River City is all about research and advancing technology, they are ignorant of the way the City used to run and they don't want to go back.
For any Black, biracial and other POC readers, this may be one you want to avoid for a specific reason which I will detail more at the end of this review in a spoiler tag.
This book definitely doesn't read as YA, it is firmly more NA or even adult in my mind. And it's not just because at least two of the characters seem older. No ages are specified but David is a professor and Jack definitely seems like she's in her 20s. This could also just be me. Regardless, I was really curious about the history and mythology surrounding River City. We learn a lot about it, but there still seems to be some important information about how magic works that we don't get by the end. This book is definitely more a character study as well, so while there is action this is more so of a character driven book.
Jesse was one of my favorite characters even though their descriptions did kind of confuse me at first. Jesse was assigned male at birth (AMAB), but can transform magically and swap their gender. They aren't sure what to do with this power and they believe it's a medical condition in the beginning of the book. My confusion was more at how Jesse is described because I wasn't sure if they were a trans girl or somewhere in the nonbinary umbrella. In the beginning, Jesse gets a lot of gender euphoria when someone genders them as female. As the book progresses and they get better at controlling their power, Jesse experiments with presenting more in between the two genders, or switches between them as much as they want. For this reason, I've designated them as genderfluid-questioning, but I could still be wrong. Jesse never labels themselves on page. Either way, they were a literal sweetheart and I'm very much attached to them.
Jack is a character archetype that I love. Strong, badass queer women. She is the epitome of the "Looks like could kill you, would kill you" meme. I liked Jack up to a specific point in the book, but then I was just conflicted because I could not justify nor support something she does around 60% into the book. Jack has the most growing to do out of the characters, which is strange because I definitely thought she was the oldest of the bunch. Jack is lesbian-coded but again no labels are used, however, she never really expresses interest in men. Though there is this weird situation between her and Turing, where she genders Turing as a man like the whole book. I'm unsure if this was just to make sure Jack never said Turing was a girl in their boss's presence, but it was still strange.
I don't have much to add about David or Turing because while they're main characters, I still felt like they didn't get a lot of time to be developed on the page, especially Turing. Her POV doesn't come in until a bit later in the book. I do really enjoy these two, but I feel like I don't know as much about them. From what I do know, I love how intelligent and nerdy David is. He also struggles with his self image and it was something I related to a lot. We are always constantly sweating. I'm really hoping Turing will get more of a POV in the sequel, I want to know everything about her. These two are both going to be incredibly important in the sequel as well and I am ready for it.
This section here will have SPOILERS! They will be detailed to an extent to make people know about this situation which is charged and full of anti-Black sentiment from both a white woman and police officers. Also, I'm still so mad about this situation that I'm lowering my rating one star from 3.5 to 2.5. I won't be recommending this either.
Rep: white genderfluid-questioning queer MC, white butch female lesbian MC, Black biracial fat queer male MC, Black biracial sapphic female MC who has tentacles, Asian male side character, BIPOC female witch side character with a broken foot/limp.
CWs: Alcohol consumption, blood, body horror, body shaming, death, fatphobia, injury/injury detail, murder, police brutality (witness intimidation, attempted false confession, confinement to interrogation room), pregnancy & live birth recounted in prologue, racism, violence. Moderate: drug use (character given a sleeping potion w/o consent), gun violence, attempted kidnapping, suicidal thoughts, past mention of death of parent.
dnf
May 3, 2022thank you for the arc, netgalley !
dnf-ing cause i feel super uncomfortable at a certain part in this book. I am not black so I can't fully speak on how problematic it is but basically a [black] mc gets treated badly in the book, and falsely accused (falling into the stereotype) yet the author never truly addresses it despite everything.
that cover is so pretty tho, i really wish this didn't happen
dnf-ing cause i feel super uncomfortable at a certain part in this book. I am not black so I can't fully speak on how problematic it is but basically a [black] mc gets treated badly in the book, and falsely accused (falling into the stereotype) yet the author never truly addresses it despite everything.
Read
June 28, 2022Adding this to my “no-thanks” shelf. I highly recommend reading the reviews of this book to find out why I can’t support this book.
June 10, 2022
1 star, read the full review on my blog!
This was so disappointing and frustrating because it could've been amazing but... ugh.
- great start but the plot and characters completely lost me after a few chapters
- no character development, the characters constantly accept the discrimination and violence thrown at them, it's pretty terrible in terms of representation
- i really didn't like the way the queer characters were treated, specifically the trans and non-binary characters, how it reinforced the idea of gender=body, as well as the use of racist tropes
This is really sad because I was excited about this book and there were amazing ideas :/
Content warnings: racism, homophobia, transphobia, violence, kidnapping, abuse.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for this eARC!
— ORIGINAL REVIEW
rtc closer to publication date because i definitely have things to say… but for now: I will forever be frustrated and upset that this book with an amazing premise managed to ruin itself. It was a collection of things to love, things I really enjoyed, and just when I started getting excited, it literally slapped me in the face with some offensive shit and clunky development. UGH.
This was so disappointing and frustrating because it could've been amazing but... ugh.
- great start but the plot and characters completely lost me after a few chapters
- no character development, the characters constantly accept the discrimination and violence thrown at them, it's pretty terrible in terms of representation
- i really didn't like the way the queer characters were treated, specifically the trans and non-binary characters, how it reinforced the idea of gender=body, as well as the use of racist tropes
This is really sad because I was excited about this book and there were amazing ideas :/
Content warnings: racism, homophobia, transphobia, violence, kidnapping, abuse.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for this eARC!
— ORIGINAL REVIEW
rtc closer to publication date because i definitely have things to say… but for now: I will forever be frustrated and upset that this book with an amazing premise managed to ruin itself. It was a collection of things to love, things I really enjoyed, and just when I started getting excited, it literally slapped me in the face with some offensive shit and clunky development. UGH.
July 2, 2022
VIDEO RANT: We All Fall Down is a mess
https://youtu.be/5arwbGsYSeM
I have almost nothing good to say about this.
https://youtu.be/5arwbGsYSeM
I have almost nothing good to say about this.
July 9, 2022
This ARC was provided by NetGalley! Thank you so much for letting me read this!
So, I wanted to like this book so bad. The cover is GORGEOUS. I don't know how this author keeps landing these gorgeous covers (I was previously enamored with the cover of their debut novel when I saw it out in the wild for the first time in B&N), but absolutely stick with whoever is hooking them up with them, because holy cow.
Sadly, it just... didn't live up to anything. I don't know how to put this in a nicer way, but I really haven't read a writing style and just general world-building that was so unbelievably convoluted that I couldn't follow a single thing happening in a very long time. It's like this book WANTS to confuse you. It sets up absolutely nothing and explains absolutely nothing as well, leaving the reader fumbling through a story with no idea what the heck is happening.
I actually didn't realize this was the same author as their debut novel, because otherwise I most likely wouldn't have been as shocked. I was actually turned off the debut novel because I read how convoluted and muddled the author's writing style was. Sadly, while I cannot compare the two because I didn't read their first work, I can say that the writing present here is like trying to swim in polluted water. Words shouldn't try to fight you as you read, and I sincerely hope this goes through an editor again before publication.
I could not tell you a single thing about this worldbuilding and setting in depth, which is such a shame because the prologue was SO charming but the rest just didn't follow through. I shouldn't have to be 75% of the way through by the time I finally grasp where your story falls in terms of fantasy and setting in even the barest sense, but it did.
It was also just... hard to like most of the characters. Not that they're unlikable for the most part, but because they're just flat. And it's SUCH a shame, because a monstrous queer young adult-- actually monstrous, in a delightful way-- is one of my favorite things to read about, but it just didn't feel developed enough. She had promise but it wasn't fully realized. I'm aware that this is part of a duology(?) but things simply were not developed enough for a character-driven novel, even a part one.
One of the main characters also becomes completely unlikable imo towards the end, and I was uncomfortable with her the rest of the novel.
I'll preface this next part by saying I am white. Incredibly so! That said, there are some instances of how the black characters were handled in this and some very heavy irl topics that just... felt like they were handled insensitively, and I'll be curious to see how black readers feel.
EDIT: Well, black readers have spoken now that this is out! And like I thought it's not good! I don't know why my silly little review is gaining traction but make sure to read other reviews that cover the racist shit in this book more in-depth so you can understand just how badly this author fucked up.
One final note: this is marketed as a YA novel. I... do not understand how. This is a New Adult novel, if anything. Most of the characters seemed to be in their 20s, and the topics handled were... not handled in a YA way. Not to say that YA can't deal with a whole range of sensitive topics, but this book didn't come across that way at ALL. I would seriously recommend the publisher re-evaluate promoting this as a YA book and focus on a more adult audience.
So, I wanted to like this book so bad. The cover is GORGEOUS. I don't know how this author keeps landing these gorgeous covers (I was previously enamored with the cover of their debut novel when I saw it out in the wild for the first time in B&N), but absolutely stick with whoever is hooking them up with them, because holy cow.
Sadly, it just... didn't live up to anything. I don't know how to put this in a nicer way, but I really haven't read a writing style and just general world-building that was so unbelievably convoluted that I couldn't follow a single thing happening in a very long time. It's like this book WANTS to confuse you. It sets up absolutely nothing and explains absolutely nothing as well, leaving the reader fumbling through a story with no idea what the heck is happening.
I actually didn't realize this was the same author as their debut novel, because otherwise I most likely wouldn't have been as shocked. I was actually turned off the debut novel because I read how convoluted and muddled the author's writing style was. Sadly, while I cannot compare the two because I didn't read their first work, I can say that the writing present here is like trying to swim in polluted water. Words shouldn't try to fight you as you read, and I sincerely hope this goes through an editor again before publication.
I could not tell you a single thing about this worldbuilding and setting in depth, which is such a shame because the prologue was SO charming but the rest just didn't follow through. I shouldn't have to be 75% of the way through by the time I finally grasp where your story falls in terms of fantasy and setting in even the barest sense, but it did.
It was also just... hard to like most of the characters. Not that they're unlikable for the most part, but because they're just flat. And it's SUCH a shame, because a monstrous queer young adult-- actually monstrous, in a delightful way-- is one of my favorite things to read about, but it just didn't feel developed enough. She had promise but it wasn't fully realized. I'm aware that this is part of a duology(?) but things simply were not developed enough for a character-driven novel, even a part one.
One of the main characters also becomes completely unlikable imo towards the end, and I was uncomfortable with her the rest of the novel.
I'll preface this next part by saying I am white. Incredibly so! That said, there are some instances of how the black characters were handled in this and some very heavy irl topics that just... felt like they were handled insensitively, and I'll be curious to see how black readers feel.
EDIT: Well, black readers have spoken now that this is out! And like I thought it's not good! I don't know why my silly little review is gaining traction but make sure to read other reviews that cover the racist shit in this book more in-depth so you can understand just how badly this author fucked up.
One final note: this is marketed as a YA novel. I... do not understand how. This is a New Adult novel, if anything. Most of the characters seemed to be in their 20s, and the topics handled were... not handled in a YA way. Not to say that YA can't deal with a whole range of sensitive topics, but this book didn't come across that way at ALL. I would seriously recommend the publisher re-evaluate promoting this as a YA book and focus on a more adult audience.
no
July 8, 2022Racist and homophobic. Can't understand how reviewers and Illumicrate read this book and noticed no issues with it...
June 25, 2022
I wanted to like this SO BADLY. It was a book I had on my tbr as soon as I saw it was finished and I was so excited for non binary/trans rep and a world filled with openly queer characters and a non binary author.
What I liked? The opening chapters were really strong and portrayed a world steeped in magic and wonder reminiscent of Tolkien.
That’s about all this book had to offer.
I wish, I really wish I could have loved it the opening chapters were so strong. SO STRONG. Then we appeared to tumble into a whirlwind of harmful tropes, an utterly baffling plot line (everyone and absolutely nothing happened at once?) and then we had basically zilch plot wise until the last 5 pages.
I finished the book, normally I fly through fantasy but this took me weeks. I wanted to read it all though so I could leave a full review with TW’s for those who plan to read it.
I’m used to reading both YA & adult fantasy’s and sci-fi, but this somehow had a plot more baffling than Dune.
I myself am non binary, it’s why I was looking forward to this SO MUCH. I personally use she/they pronouns. However, this books trans rep is utterly baffling. Their genders aren’t clarified until the last chapters of the book, and whilst I understand coming to terms with gender, an explanation off the bat would have helped as we have 2-3 pronouns being used for characters, many which they don’t identify as, and it’s not explained prior. And as this is a multiple voice novel it gets very confusing very fast. To clarify, I think Turing is an AMAB trans woman (she/her), Jessie is non binary (they/them). It also felt kinda uncomfortable that I had been misgendering them the whole way through because their gender is never clarified until the end.
Then we have the whole issue with the treatment and story path of the MC black characters. Other reviewers have explained this better but there is racism tropes at play that were hard to read.
TWS listed below please skip if you do not want spoilers:
Tws// homophobia (strong use of language and treatment) , transphobia, misgendering (accidental and intentional) , abusive parenting, kidnapping, PTSD, science experimentation on kidnapped people, head shaving, scenes depicting drowning, mentions of native people being held captive & tortured (not overly detailed but there), sex work (not detailed), fight rings, death of a parent, murder, racist tropes, police brutality, false imprisonment.
What I liked? The opening chapters were really strong and portrayed a world steeped in magic and wonder reminiscent of Tolkien.
That’s about all this book had to offer.
I wish, I really wish I could have loved it the opening chapters were so strong. SO STRONG. Then we appeared to tumble into a whirlwind of harmful tropes, an utterly baffling plot line (everyone and absolutely nothing happened at once?) and then we had basically zilch plot wise until the last 5 pages.
I finished the book, normally I fly through fantasy but this took me weeks. I wanted to read it all though so I could leave a full review with TW’s for those who plan to read it.
I’m used to reading both YA & adult fantasy’s and sci-fi, but this somehow had a plot more baffling than Dune.
I myself am non binary, it’s why I was looking forward to this SO MUCH. I personally use she/they pronouns. However, this books trans rep is utterly baffling. Their genders aren’t clarified until the last chapters of the book, and whilst I understand coming to terms with gender, an explanation off the bat would have helped as we have 2-3 pronouns being used for characters, many which they don’t identify as, and it’s not explained prior. And as this is a multiple voice novel it gets very confusing very fast. To clarify, I think Turing is an AMAB trans woman (she/her), Jessie is non binary (they/them). It also felt kinda uncomfortable that I had been misgendering them the whole way through because their gender is never clarified until the end.
Then we have the whole issue with the treatment and story path of the MC black characters. Other reviewers have explained this better but there is racism tropes at play that were hard to read.
TWS listed below please skip if you do not want spoilers:
Tws// homophobia (strong use of language and treatment) , transphobia, misgendering (accidental and intentional) , abusive parenting, kidnapping, PTSD, science experimentation on kidnapped people, head shaving, scenes depicting drowning, mentions of native people being held captive & tortured (not overly detailed but there), sex work (not detailed), fight rings, death of a parent, murder, racist tropes, police brutality, false imprisonment.
October 2, 2022
Ok, so I do not understand where this book is getting all that hate from. Like, seriously, on Goodreads I’ve seen one (one!) good review and one other person trying to defend it in the comments under a particularly nasty one. There are a lot of accusations that this book is racist and problematic and not diverse enough (mainly coming from white people) while this couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s a difficult book. The story isn’t easy. It’s full of triggering situations, but it is only because it mimics reality so well. And sure, one can say such realism is not needed in a fantasy book. But it’s urban fantasy, that's for starters, and even if it wasn’t, how else is it supposed to touch on hard topics? Why do we need those horrible situations to be reshaped and given a different, not so familiar context to accept them? Because it makes us uncomfortable? Because it hits too close to home? Well, that’s exactly the point of this book. To remove those situations a little bit from our daily life, maybe to lessen the bias each of us has while reading about ‘real stuff’, and to present them just as raw and complicated as they are irl. Sure, lots of people chose fantasy books for escapism, to get away from the fear, cruelty, and unfairness that surrounds us on a day-to-day basis. This book is simply not for them, and there’s nothing wrong with it. It was never advertised as a light, otherworldly book one can dive into to forget about their worries. And yet people in their reviews seem angry that this book is more complicated than they wanted it to be. That it dares to touch on difficult, sensitive topics. But those topics don’t disappear just because we won’t look at them. And maybe because of books like this, some people get to challenge and question their worldview and moral compass.
I think one of the reasons people are bothered by this book is that it doesn’t give straight answers to the questions it tries to tackle. Or rather it does, but it’s not in black and white. It’s all nuance. It’s a commentary on racism, LGBTQIA community struggles, ethics behind science, and hard life decisions no one should have to make and yet so many are forced to. A commentary and not a manifesto.
If we’re not able to talk about that stuff when they concern fictional characters, in a fictional world fueled by magic, how can we ever have a conversation about real-life examples?
The book shows how racism and ostracism can impact one’s life. How it can lead you to a very dark place. How growing up in a constant fear shapes you, how it can make you feel like you constantly have a target on your back. Because really, you do, if you deviate from the ‘normal’ by any measure. It shows the frustration life like this can cause. The desperate need to fit into society for once, to rest. And then it shows in contrast, how each of the MC’s dealing with it and growing through it. Even though they come from different places, have different stories and skin colours, they’re all outsiders. Monsters. Weirdos. And each of them reshapes the words people prescribed to them. And that’s how this book, how this story works. It doesn’t tell you plainly yes, this is a monster, this is a hero, let the battle begin. It makes you question, what being a monster or a hero really means while showing what different things those same words may mean to different people. The layers of meaning depending on the context and on cultural perception. It shows the fragility of their definition and I think it’s genius.
I loved the plot, the premise, and their twisting and winding. The representation. The loving and organic handling of pronouns as the characters discover them for themselves and each other. The sadness, the confusion, but also peace in exploring one’s gender identity. The intertwining of the people, the places, and the stories, and that, as witches say, “everything connects to everything”. The masterfully crafted balance between the fantasy magic and the magic of everyday life, coincidences, hopes and fears. The exploration of the nature of communities. The grayscale. The mundane twisted with the extraordinary. The debate on what it means to be a monster.
I loved every bit of this book and I’m already dying in anticipation of the second volume of this duology. Rose Szabo created something precious and incredible, and I’m so grateful to them for sharing this story with us.
It honestly breaks my heart to see how many people take this book off their TBR list without giving it a go, based only on the negative reviews. And to be clear, while I disagree with the general scorn, I’m glad people voice their concerns and I believe sharing our differing opinions opens the floor for a wider discussion. I’m just so sad good and interesting books get “muted” like this because it’s easier to give up on ever reading the book if it may be challenging or problematic and see for oneself if it truly is so bad as some reviews say. All in all, the point of this review is to bring a counter-voice to the discussion surrounding We All Fall Down in hopes more people decide to read it and we can all have a proper conversation about it, with voices for and against and all those in-between. So if you haven’t read it yet, and were unsure as if to do it, or decided to scratch it off your TBR, please consider giving it a go. The worst thing that can happen is that you won’t like it. You can DNF it at any point. But the chances are, you may actually enjoy it, or have very different feelings about it than other reviewers (in which case I beg you, voice them if you can! it would be so lovely to see other perspectives).
I think one of the reasons people are bothered by this book is that it doesn’t give straight answers to the questions it tries to tackle. Or rather it does, but it’s not in black and white. It’s all nuance. It’s a commentary on racism, LGBTQIA community struggles, ethics behind science, and hard life decisions no one should have to make and yet so many are forced to. A commentary and not a manifesto.
If we’re not able to talk about that stuff when they concern fictional characters, in a fictional world fueled by magic, how can we ever have a conversation about real-life examples?
The book shows how racism and ostracism can impact one’s life. How it can lead you to a very dark place. How growing up in a constant fear shapes you, how it can make you feel like you constantly have a target on your back. Because really, you do, if you deviate from the ‘normal’ by any measure. It shows the frustration life like this can cause. The desperate need to fit into society for once, to rest. And then it shows in contrast, how each of the MC’s dealing with it and growing through it. Even though they come from different places, have different stories and skin colours, they’re all outsiders. Monsters. Weirdos. And each of them reshapes the words people prescribed to them. And that’s how this book, how this story works. It doesn’t tell you plainly yes, this is a monster, this is a hero, let the battle begin. It makes you question, what being a monster or a hero really means while showing what different things those same words may mean to different people. The layers of meaning depending on the context and on cultural perception. It shows the fragility of their definition and I think it’s genius.
I loved the plot, the premise, and their twisting and winding. The representation. The loving and organic handling of pronouns as the characters discover them for themselves and each other. The sadness, the confusion, but also peace in exploring one’s gender identity. The intertwining of the people, the places, and the stories, and that, as witches say, “everything connects to everything”. The masterfully crafted balance between the fantasy magic and the magic of everyday life, coincidences, hopes and fears. The exploration of the nature of communities. The grayscale. The mundane twisted with the extraordinary. The debate on what it means to be a monster.
I loved every bit of this book and I’m already dying in anticipation of the second volume of this duology. Rose Szabo created something precious and incredible, and I’m so grateful to them for sharing this story with us.
It honestly breaks my heart to see how many people take this book off their TBR list without giving it a go, based only on the negative reviews. And to be clear, while I disagree with the general scorn, I’m glad people voice their concerns and I believe sharing our differing opinions opens the floor for a wider discussion. I’m just so sad good and interesting books get “muted” like this because it’s easier to give up on ever reading the book if it may be challenging or problematic and see for oneself if it truly is so bad as some reviews say. All in all, the point of this review is to bring a counter-voice to the discussion surrounding We All Fall Down in hopes more people decide to read it and we can all have a proper conversation about it, with voices for and against and all those in-between. So if you haven’t read it yet, and were unsure as if to do it, or decided to scratch it off your TBR, please consider giving it a go. The worst thing that can happen is that you won’t like it. You can DNF it at any point. But the chances are, you may actually enjoy it, or have very different feelings about it than other reviewers (in which case I beg you, voice them if you can! it would be so lovely to see other perspectives).
June 8, 2023
When I write a review for a book, I always try to find something nice or good to say about that book, even if I didn't like it. But I really have nothing good or nice to say about We All Fall Down. When I saw the cover and read the synapsis this sounded like something I would really enjoy. I was very much wrong.
This book was very confusing and I was entirely lost. Almost nothing made sense to me and I found myself going back to see if I had missed something the first time. The writing at times also talks directly to the reader and I really hate when books do that. It is always so cheesy and honestly super annoying. Literally nothing makes sense.
I was also excited for all the queer rep in this book, but all the characters just fell flat. There were non-binary and trans characters and while I understand that people don't immediately know what they identify as, this book doesn't give any sort of explanation of what is going on with what character. Plus, this book changes perspectives quite a lot which gets really confusing really fast. We are looking at the pronouns constantly change and there is one character that flips between he and she with no warning even when talking in their own perspective. One paragraph uses all he/him pronouns and then the paragraph right underneath switches to she/her. Plus, none of their genders are actually clarified until the end, so I felt like I was misgendering all the characters throughout the book.
There was also a lot of race related issues I felt were handled in a very unsensitized way without actually delving deep enough into those topics. They were just placed at a surface level and were never fully explained or showed a true relevance to the plot, even though there wasn't really a plot that I could find. A lot of other reviews touch on this better then I ever could, so I will leave it to them.
This book is shown as YA but I really think this is more NA than anything. Overall, this book was really unenjoyable, confusing, and uncomfortable to read.
This book was very confusing and I was entirely lost. Almost nothing made sense to me and I found myself going back to see if I had missed something the first time. The writing at times also talks directly to the reader and I really hate when books do that. It is always so cheesy and honestly super annoying. Literally nothing makes sense.
I was also excited for all the queer rep in this book, but all the characters just fell flat. There were non-binary and trans characters and while I understand that people don't immediately know what they identify as, this book doesn't give any sort of explanation of what is going on with what character. Plus, this book changes perspectives quite a lot which gets really confusing really fast. We are looking at the pronouns constantly change and there is one character that flips between he and she with no warning even when talking in their own perspective. One paragraph uses all he/him pronouns and then the paragraph right underneath switches to she/her. Plus, none of their genders are actually clarified until the end, so I felt like I was misgendering all the characters throughout the book.
There was also a lot of race related issues I felt were handled in a very unsensitized way without actually delving deep enough into those topics. They were just placed at a surface level and were never fully explained or showed a true relevance to the plot, even though there wasn't really a plot that I could find. A lot of other reviews touch on this better then I ever could, so I will leave it to them.
This book is shown as YA but I really think this is more NA than anything. Overall, this book was really unenjoyable, confusing, and uncomfortable to read.
December 7, 2023
0.5 a star rounded up to 1 on GR. I'm very disappointed by this. If you don't want in-depth details about this book or spoilers, then this is your last chance exit.
-------------------SPOILERS---------------------
Honestly, it's a Rory Powers situation where the author is clearly talented but decides to use their talent to harm marginalized communities instead of paying attention to what they're putting out in the world. I read this book because they're coming to a community event soon and I wanted to better understand the issues surrounding it.
To start with the "good" (or the 1/2 star), Szabo is a good writer on a technical level. I could see the bare bones of the story and plot wise, it could have been the start to a good Fantasy duology. The magic cycle was well explained throughout the book, there are differing ideas on how to gain magic back in the world or even if that's the way to help. I think it could have been an enjoyable Urban Fantasy without the things I'm about to dive into.
This book is riddled with stereotypes, racism, homophobia/homomisia, transphobia, etc. To get their plot points across, Szabo uses a panoply of harmful tropes that lessen their "diverse characters" in favor of one of the two who is probably the closest to them and feels like an author insert (Jack). We have four main characters: David, Turing/Zara (they use Turing for the majority of the book and change their name at the end. Since Zara is the preferred name, I will use that from this point on), Jack, and Jesse. David and Zara are the twin children of the King and Queen, who are overthrown at the beginning of the book. The King and Queen, Nathan and Marla, were the previous cycle's "Hero" and "Maiden" (the person in charge and the person who provides magic to the world). Nathan goes insane, Marla dies (Black body count +1), and Astrid (a witch but also Nathan's side-chick) saves David and takes him to be fostered but abandons Zara as she was born with octopus legs protruding from her back. Astrid is Brown and is used to legitimize some of the authors problematic views in the book. David is assumed by Astrid to be the next "Hero" and Zara is "the Monster". Jack is a white woman, a lesbian, and is an enforcer in the mob. Jesse is AMAB, nonbinary, and "the Maiden". The stories all intersect as the cycle starts again.
Before we get into the characters, Marla is the only dark-skinned Black person in the whole book and she dies IMMEDIATELY. Colorism if I ever saw it. She's described as beautiful, but it's ascribed to her being "the Maiden" and having magic. Every other BIPOC character is Brown or Mixed and light-skinned Black. I'm going to break down the issues by character as they ALL have at least one.
DAVID
-From the beginning, we are told he is "bad" the entire way through the book. He is too ambitious, too driven, trying too hard to get past where he is in life (which is currently a Physics TA who is being taken advantage of by his sexist, homophobic, eugenicist advisor who makes David teach all of his classes for him).
-In the first chapter where we meet David, he gets stopped by two cops for crossing the street while Black. The cops give Astrid a ride in the chapter before and so our first introduction to them is a Brown woman saying "they're generally good but the one kind of gets in trouble from time to time"...he's a racist. He pulls David over and harasses him for having fallen in mud and then crossing the street.
-David gets his backpack searched, they harass him a bit, and then the cops leave and his thought is "That sucks. I can't take a minute to collect myself, though, because if I do, I'LL BE LATE FOR CLASS." While I don't speak for all Black people, as a mixed-Black person who is also tall and plus-size, class is done for that day. That situation would be Traumatic™️ and it's brushed aside like it's nothing.
-The reason for this seemingly random and racist encounter is because these cops die over the course of the novel, so later it's used against David in an interrogation when he's falsely accused of murder. David is also IMMEDIATELY cast as "suspicious" after this encounter. By all accounts, he is a normal graduate student who is just trying to further his career.
-The twist that he isn't the "Hero" as Astrid thinks is seen from a mile away. He's set up to be a villain or probably "the Monster" early on.
-David is always described in terms that police use to justify encounters with Black men that go poorly. He's "giant", a "monster", "enormous", "fat", etc. Other characters make a false assumption that he's super strong because he's tall. While he's this tall because his father is a literal giant, it doesn't sit well that the author uses these racist tropes to kind of justify to the reader why the events unfold the way they do.
-David also has what I call "magically improbably genetics" which in this case means he's a light-skinned mixed Black man with AUBURN hair and RED FRECKLES. Not saying this has NEVER happened, but it's highly unlikely. He also is not portrayed this way on the cover.
-He confronts his mentor after said mentor is sexist towards a female student and is threatened with the cops again, as well as portrayed as letting his "temper get the best of him"...this professor routinely dismisses women from the field SOLELY because they're women, sleeps with students, is lazy, forces all of his work onto David and David is the one portrayed as being out of line.
-There is a part of the book where David notes that "people stop crossing the street when they see him or clutching their bags" because he...stands up straighter? Imagine! It's as easy as that to get racists to stop being racist! Just have better posture! Although later, he comes to the conclusion that this sudden posture change called attention to him and that if he had just kept hunching and making himself smaller, then he would've avoided the police's attention. Which is flawed because 1.) he had already had an unprovoked encounter with the cops when he was still hunching and 2.) people shouldn't have to make themselves lesser to appease corrupt cops.
-David is later arrested on false murder charges (which I will get into later) and they send FOUR COPS to arrest him WHILE teaching for maximum humiliation.
-He is held without bail and without being charged. He's denied basic privileges like food, water, or a bathroom. He's told they live in a "principality" that exists outside the Constitution and he is denied a lawyer. He's left in the dark alone with his hands zip-tied so tight that they're cutting into his skin. -And his ending is a character being asked to "save him from what he's becoming." This is NOT okay! This man has been wrongfully accused and tortured but HE'S the villain? Absolutely not.
-The last point I want to make is a minor character asks him if his "dad is white", which...stop asking mixed characters which parent is "the white" one. It's inappropriate and none of your business. David expresses internal annoyance but doesn't call this woman out on it and that bothered me.
Jesse
-A few sentences into chapter 1, a step-parent calls Jesse the f slur and steals their money. While this is to present the reader with the backstory of this character, I didn't feel that word was necessary, especially so early on. It was like sentence three.
-Upon arrival in River City, Jesse comes across copaganda posters portraying a white woman calling the cops on two black men shaking hands. It has been torn down and replaced by another poster that says "Old City Rise Up." Jesse expresses annoyance at this poster and says more than once it's "dangerous" but no push-back is given to the racist sign it replaced.
-Jesse is nonbinary but this is poorly explained. They change pronouns and body through magic constantly and without any real explanation. As they get better at controlling the switch, they're able to do so at will, but it took a while to realize this was an attempt to write a nonbinary character. Which is weird since the author is also nonbinary.
-Jesse in general is a bit of a Mary Sue. They're "the Maiden" which means they have magic and everyone is in love with them. That's about it. Not much super interesting happens to them and they feel more like a Deus Ex Machina than an actual character.
-Probably the least problematic because nothing happens to them.
Zara
-Zara is called "the nameless girl" after introducing herself as "Turing" (before she decides on her actual name, Zara). She is continually referred to this way even though every other character calls her "Turing". It gets confusing.
-Zara is AMAB. She doesn't wear clothing because of the way it wouldn't fit right with her octopus tentacles. As such, Jack calls her "he" when they first meet and Zara does not correct her, despite saying it feels like in the Little Mermaid when the mermaid feels like she's dancing on knives when Jack misgenders her. She continues to let the misgendering slide throughout the book. Obviously, she has control over when to and to whom to reveal she's trans, but it seems like a lot of pain to put this character through, especially with Jack whom she "loves" (more on that later).
-She is described as having "crimson skin and dark eyes." She is portrayed as being Black on the cover and is written in a way that implies she's Black after this description. It's inconsistent.
-She repeatedly runs away from Jack because of misunderstandings which had already been discussed, so that's a bad plot point.
-Zara was the most likable character (so props for that)
Jack
Oh god, where to start...
-Jack knows that the person who killed the two cops is her sister, Belle. Almost the entire plot happens because of her misguided attempt to "protect" her sister, who, again, has MURDERED two people. She knowingly submits David to the police's attention to throw the scent off her sister and Zara, who Belle is trying to frame. Her reasoning at the time is the assumption that because David goes to the university, he "must have money" and will be able to get off but then later, she says she "realized her mistake had been pinning the crime on David. University kid, too much power, friends in high places. Friends with Astrid, for that matter, even if she hadn't known that. She should've picked someone it would've stuck to ." (p. 339) So which is it? You picked a gay Black man to throw to the wolves because you assumed he'd get off or you should've picked someone else because it "wouldn't stick" to him?
-That quote in general ticks me off because it shows she learned NOTHING despite Astrid saying to her how messed up that was.
-Belle tries to frame Zara on two occasions, the second of which is in public and while surrounded by trigger-happy cops. Jack supposedly "loves" Zara but chooses to CONTINUE to protect her sister during that altercation.
-Literally every character who comes into contact with Jack tells us how she's "a prince", "a knight", "so good", etc. We are NEVER shown this in any major way. It's a bunch of minor things like not robbing a woman she's slept with while enforcing a loan owed her boss by the woman's boyfriend or helping Zara get a job for selfish reasons or being forced into giving Jesse a place to live by Astrid.
-Jack taunts an officer and threatens another into releasing a prisoner that they're holding illegally. This WORKS and she isn't pursued by cops after this. She makes a casual aside that Belle would be put in prison because she doesn't tell the cops they're operating illegally in "the right way." This gives the feeling of a girl I knew in college who said Black people wouldn't be arrested if they "complied with the cops but made a joke to break the tension."
-She HEAVILY implies to Zara that David is the one who framed her when she KNOWS it was Belle, which puts two people on David's tail for something he didn't do and that she KNOWS he didn't do.
-After Astrid calls her out on throwing an innocent person in jail, Jack does zero reflection and goes home to have crepes and sex with Jesse. It's handled as callously as it sounds.
-Jack asks Zara the equivalent of why she can't be colorblind (monsters = Black stand-ins in this world) and she immediately changes the subject after Zara explains to her.
-Jack excuses protecting a literal MURDERER who is framing her friend and throwing an innocent to the cops knowingly because her sister was sexually assaulted and has "been through enough" so she "can't go to jail." Yes, this is the actual phrasing. Never mind that most people who have been through that kind of trauma don't kill people, but that doesn't excuse her OR Jack's behavior.
-Her false accusation leads to a raid on her job where others get hurt for her mistake, so not only did she throw him under the bus, she did so to protect people that she didn't even protect. She did it for literally nothing.
-Her false accusation is portrayed as "heroic" because she owns up to it later to try and save Zara after Astrid misguidedly tells David he needs to kill her to "save magic." She in no way has made up for this grievous error nor has she reflected on why that was wrong.
-Jack is EXPLICTLY named "the Hero" at the end of the book despite ALL of this.
Other Problems
-Two BIPOC side characters are portrayed in hyper sexualized ways (Seth & Hannah). Seth is Asian (the only one in the book) and portrayed as being very promiscuous and casually homophobic (it's implied he's gay but not ready to come out yet, which leads to him saying something homophobic to David). Hannah is Black and portrayed as being a stripper and a bitter ex of Jack's. Literally no BIPOC character but Zara is portrayed very well and Zara spends the whole book being misgendered, soooo...
-There are many characters who are mixed. Three of the four of them have some kind of animalistic feature. Sir, who is the mob boss Jack, Jesse & Zara work for is a German Shepherd due to a curse. He has two sons who are half-wolf but one later asks how Zara "got like that" referring to her octopus arms and implies she's half-animal in that she has a parent who's a LITERAL octopus. I would hope I don't have to explain that othering someone in this way when they are Black is problematic. The fact that they didn't even CONSIDER that she could be cursed the same way they were floored me.
-The police describe themselves as "the silent majority" while insisting a civilian (Jack) hand over "a monster" (Zara) that the police "know" killed someone without an investigation or trial. This is incredibly problematic.
-For a book that's supposed to be "calling out" how problematic cop relations are with others, it's incredibly complimentary towards the cops. They are repeatedly introduced as "generally good but unnamed others are bad influences." Astrid praises two cops in this way, one of whom wrongfully pulls over David for racist reasons and the other who arrests and holds him unlawfully because he's "under a lot of pressure from the guys."
-The King grieves Belle's death at the end, despite never interacting with her and the fact that she tried to frame his one kid twice and almost got his other killed in a roundabout way. It's nonsensical.
If this long list of grievances hasn't dissuaded you yet, by all means, feel free to suffer through 400+ pages of this nonsense. But I was extremely disappointed to see talent go to waste through the thoughtless harm this is going to have in the real world for BIPOC and LGBT+ readers while the white woman who screwed everything up is rewarded, coddled and repeatedly told she's "a hero" because she's self-deprecating. The potential of the bare plot is vastly outweighed by that harm. I cannot in good conscience recommend this.
-------------------SPOILERS---------------------
Honestly, it's a Rory Powers situation where the author is clearly talented but decides to use their talent to harm marginalized communities instead of paying attention to what they're putting out in the world. I read this book because they're coming to a community event soon and I wanted to better understand the issues surrounding it.
To start with the "good" (or the 1/2 star), Szabo is a good writer on a technical level. I could see the bare bones of the story and plot wise, it could have been the start to a good Fantasy duology. The magic cycle was well explained throughout the book, there are differing ideas on how to gain magic back in the world or even if that's the way to help. I think it could have been an enjoyable Urban Fantasy without the things I'm about to dive into.
This book is riddled with stereotypes, racism, homophobia/homomisia, transphobia, etc. To get their plot points across, Szabo uses a panoply of harmful tropes that lessen their "diverse characters" in favor of one of the two who is probably the closest to them and feels like an author insert (Jack). We have four main characters: David, Turing/Zara (they use Turing for the majority of the book and change their name at the end. Since Zara is the preferred name, I will use that from this point on), Jack, and Jesse. David and Zara are the twin children of the King and Queen, who are overthrown at the beginning of the book. The King and Queen, Nathan and Marla, were the previous cycle's "Hero" and "Maiden" (the person in charge and the person who provides magic to the world). Nathan goes insane, Marla dies (Black body count +1), and Astrid (a witch but also Nathan's side-chick) saves David and takes him to be fostered but abandons Zara as she was born with octopus legs protruding from her back. Astrid is Brown and is used to legitimize some of the authors problematic views in the book. David is assumed by Astrid to be the next "Hero" and Zara is "the Monster". Jack is a white woman, a lesbian, and is an enforcer in the mob. Jesse is AMAB, nonbinary, and "the Maiden". The stories all intersect as the cycle starts again.
Before we get into the characters, Marla is the only dark-skinned Black person in the whole book and she dies IMMEDIATELY. Colorism if I ever saw it. She's described as beautiful, but it's ascribed to her being "the Maiden" and having magic. Every other BIPOC character is Brown or Mixed and light-skinned Black. I'm going to break down the issues by character as they ALL have at least one.
DAVID
-From the beginning, we are told he is "bad" the entire way through the book. He is too ambitious, too driven, trying too hard to get past where he is in life (which is currently a Physics TA who is being taken advantage of by his sexist, homophobic, eugenicist advisor who makes David teach all of his classes for him).
-In the first chapter where we meet David, he gets stopped by two cops for crossing the street while Black. The cops give Astrid a ride in the chapter before and so our first introduction to them is a Brown woman saying "they're generally good but the one kind of gets in trouble from time to time"...he's a racist. He pulls David over and harasses him for having fallen in mud and then crossing the street.
-David gets his backpack searched, they harass him a bit, and then the cops leave and his thought is "That sucks. I can't take a minute to collect myself, though, because if I do, I'LL BE LATE FOR CLASS." While I don't speak for all Black people, as a mixed-Black person who is also tall and plus-size, class is done for that day. That situation would be Traumatic™️ and it's brushed aside like it's nothing.
-The reason for this seemingly random and racist encounter is because these cops die over the course of the novel, so later it's used against David in an interrogation when he's falsely accused of murder. David is also IMMEDIATELY cast as "suspicious" after this encounter. By all accounts, he is a normal graduate student who is just trying to further his career.
-The twist that he isn't the "Hero" as Astrid thinks is seen from a mile away. He's set up to be a villain or probably "the Monster" early on.
-David is always described in terms that police use to justify encounters with Black men that go poorly. He's "giant", a "monster", "enormous", "fat", etc. Other characters make a false assumption that he's super strong because he's tall. While he's this tall because his father is a literal giant, it doesn't sit well that the author uses these racist tropes to kind of justify to the reader why the events unfold the way they do.
-David also has what I call "magically improbably genetics" which in this case means he's a light-skinned mixed Black man with AUBURN hair and RED FRECKLES. Not saying this has NEVER happened, but it's highly unlikely. He also is not portrayed this way on the cover.
-He confronts his mentor after said mentor is sexist towards a female student and is threatened with the cops again, as well as portrayed as letting his "temper get the best of him"...this professor routinely dismisses women from the field SOLELY because they're women, sleeps with students, is lazy, forces all of his work onto David and David is the one portrayed as being out of line.
-There is a part of the book where David notes that "people stop crossing the street when they see him or clutching their bags" because he...stands up straighter? Imagine! It's as easy as that to get racists to stop being racist! Just have better posture! Although later, he comes to the conclusion that this sudden posture change called attention to him and that if he had just kept hunching and making himself smaller, then he would've avoided the police's attention. Which is flawed because 1.) he had already had an unprovoked encounter with the cops when he was still hunching and 2.) people shouldn't have to make themselves lesser to appease corrupt cops.
-David is later arrested on false murder charges (which I will get into later) and they send FOUR COPS to arrest him WHILE teaching for maximum humiliation.
-He is held without bail and without being charged. He's denied basic privileges like food, water, or a bathroom. He's told they live in a "principality" that exists outside the Constitution and he is denied a lawyer. He's left in the dark alone with his hands zip-tied so tight that they're cutting into his skin. -And his ending is a character being asked to "save him from what he's becoming." This is NOT okay! This man has been wrongfully accused and tortured but HE'S the villain? Absolutely not.
-The last point I want to make is a minor character asks him if his "dad is white", which...stop asking mixed characters which parent is "the white" one. It's inappropriate and none of your business. David expresses internal annoyance but doesn't call this woman out on it and that bothered me.
Jesse
-A few sentences into chapter 1, a step-parent calls Jesse the f slur and steals their money. While this is to present the reader with the backstory of this character, I didn't feel that word was necessary, especially so early on. It was like sentence three.
-Upon arrival in River City, Jesse comes across copaganda posters portraying a white woman calling the cops on two black men shaking hands. It has been torn down and replaced by another poster that says "Old City Rise Up." Jesse expresses annoyance at this poster and says more than once it's "dangerous" but no push-back is given to the racist sign it replaced.
-Jesse is nonbinary but this is poorly explained. They change pronouns and body through magic constantly and without any real explanation. As they get better at controlling the switch, they're able to do so at will, but it took a while to realize this was an attempt to write a nonbinary character. Which is weird since the author is also nonbinary.
-Jesse in general is a bit of a Mary Sue. They're "the Maiden" which means they have magic and everyone is in love with them. That's about it. Not much super interesting happens to them and they feel more like a Deus Ex Machina than an actual character.
-Probably the least problematic because nothing happens to them.
Zara
-Zara is called "the nameless girl" after introducing herself as "Turing" (before she decides on her actual name, Zara). She is continually referred to this way even though every other character calls her "Turing". It gets confusing.
-Zara is AMAB. She doesn't wear clothing because of the way it wouldn't fit right with her octopus tentacles. As such, Jack calls her "he" when they first meet and Zara does not correct her, despite saying it feels like in the Little Mermaid when the mermaid feels like she's dancing on knives when Jack misgenders her. She continues to let the misgendering slide throughout the book. Obviously, she has control over when to and to whom to reveal she's trans, but it seems like a lot of pain to put this character through, especially with Jack whom she "loves" (more on that later).
-She is described as having "crimson skin and dark eyes." She is portrayed as being Black on the cover and is written in a way that implies she's Black after this description. It's inconsistent.
-She repeatedly runs away from Jack because of misunderstandings which had already been discussed, so that's a bad plot point.
-Zara was the most likable character (so props for that)
Jack
Oh god, where to start...
-Jack knows that the person who killed the two cops is her sister, Belle. Almost the entire plot happens because of her misguided attempt to "protect" her sister, who, again, has MURDERED two people. She knowingly submits David to the police's attention to throw the scent off her sister and Zara, who Belle is trying to frame. Her reasoning at the time is the assumption that because David goes to the university, he "must have money" and will be able to get off but then later, she says she "realized her mistake had been pinning the crime on David. University kid, too much power, friends in high places. Friends with Astrid, for that matter, even if she hadn't known that. She should've picked someone it would've stuck to ." (p. 339) So which is it? You picked a gay Black man to throw to the wolves because you assumed he'd get off or you should've picked someone else because it "wouldn't stick" to him?
-That quote in general ticks me off because it shows she learned NOTHING despite Astrid saying to her how messed up that was.
-Belle tries to frame Zara on two occasions, the second of which is in public and while surrounded by trigger-happy cops. Jack supposedly "loves" Zara but chooses to CONTINUE to protect her sister during that altercation.
-Literally every character who comes into contact with Jack tells us how she's "a prince", "a knight", "so good", etc. We are NEVER shown this in any major way. It's a bunch of minor things like not robbing a woman she's slept with while enforcing a loan owed her boss by the woman's boyfriend or helping Zara get a job for selfish reasons or being forced into giving Jesse a place to live by Astrid.
-Jack taunts an officer and threatens another into releasing a prisoner that they're holding illegally. This WORKS and she isn't pursued by cops after this. She makes a casual aside that Belle would be put in prison because she doesn't tell the cops they're operating illegally in "the right way." This gives the feeling of a girl I knew in college who said Black people wouldn't be arrested if they "complied with the cops but made a joke to break the tension."
-She HEAVILY implies to Zara that David is the one who framed her when she KNOWS it was Belle, which puts two people on David's tail for something he didn't do and that she KNOWS he didn't do.
-After Astrid calls her out on throwing an innocent person in jail, Jack does zero reflection and goes home to have crepes and sex with Jesse. It's handled as callously as it sounds.
-Jack asks Zara the equivalent of why she can't be colorblind (monsters = Black stand-ins in this world) and she immediately changes the subject after Zara explains to her.
-Jack excuses protecting a literal MURDERER who is framing her friend and throwing an innocent to the cops knowingly because her sister was sexually assaulted and has "been through enough" so she "can't go to jail." Yes, this is the actual phrasing. Never mind that most people who have been through that kind of trauma don't kill people, but that doesn't excuse her OR Jack's behavior.
-Her false accusation leads to a raid on her job where others get hurt for her mistake, so not only did she throw him under the bus, she did so to protect people that she didn't even protect. She did it for literally nothing.
-Her false accusation is portrayed as "heroic" because she owns up to it later to try and save Zara after Astrid misguidedly tells David he needs to kill her to "save magic." She in no way has made up for this grievous error nor has she reflected on why that was wrong.
-Jack is EXPLICTLY named "the Hero" at the end of the book despite ALL of this.
Other Problems
-Two BIPOC side characters are portrayed in hyper sexualized ways (Seth & Hannah). Seth is Asian (the only one in the book) and portrayed as being very promiscuous and casually homophobic (it's implied he's gay but not ready to come out yet, which leads to him saying something homophobic to David). Hannah is Black and portrayed as being a stripper and a bitter ex of Jack's. Literally no BIPOC character but Zara is portrayed very well and Zara spends the whole book being misgendered, soooo...
-There are many characters who are mixed. Three of the four of them have some kind of animalistic feature. Sir, who is the mob boss Jack, Jesse & Zara work for is a German Shepherd due to a curse. He has two sons who are half-wolf but one later asks how Zara "got like that" referring to her octopus arms and implies she's half-animal in that she has a parent who's a LITERAL octopus. I would hope I don't have to explain that othering someone in this way when they are Black is problematic. The fact that they didn't even CONSIDER that she could be cursed the same way they were floored me.
-The police describe themselves as "the silent majority" while insisting a civilian (Jack) hand over "a monster" (Zara) that the police "know" killed someone without an investigation or trial. This is incredibly problematic.
-For a book that's supposed to be "calling out" how problematic cop relations are with others, it's incredibly complimentary towards the cops. They are repeatedly introduced as "generally good but unnamed others are bad influences." Astrid praises two cops in this way, one of whom wrongfully pulls over David for racist reasons and the other who arrests and holds him unlawfully because he's "under a lot of pressure from the guys."
-The King grieves Belle's death at the end, despite never interacting with her and the fact that she tried to frame his one kid twice and almost got his other killed in a roundabout way. It's nonsensical.
If this long list of grievances hasn't dissuaded you yet, by all means, feel free to suffer through 400+ pages of this nonsense. But I was extremely disappointed to see talent go to waste through the thoughtless harm this is going to have in the real world for BIPOC and LGBT+ readers while the white woman who screwed everything up is rewarded, coddled and repeatedly told she's "a hero" because she's self-deprecating. The potential of the bare plot is vastly outweighed by that harm. I cannot in good conscience recommend this.
Read
May 5, 2022DNF at 15%. I wanted to love this story badly, and I already had read the first chapters as a preview. I liked them and therefore requested this title. But …
Meanwhile, I saw reviews coming in about racism in the book, and I found myself procrastinating reading the story. Eventually, I picked it up, but although I loved the writing, the story fell flat for me, while the remarks in the reviews kept nagging in my mind. I tried twice but just didn’t enjoy myself. Therefore I decided to DNF.
Sometimes it’s a bad idea to read reviews beforehand, and in this case, it probably was. I haven’t read the part about racism, so I can’t have an opinion on that matter. And maybe I’m going to pick up this story somewhere in the future again because the premise and the representation really intrigue me.
Bonus points on the cover! It is gorgeous!!
I received an ARC from Macmillan Children’s group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Meanwhile, I saw reviews coming in about racism in the book, and I found myself procrastinating reading the story. Eventually, I picked it up, but although I loved the writing, the story fell flat for me, while the remarks in the reviews kept nagging in my mind. I tried twice but just didn’t enjoy myself. Therefore I decided to DNF.
Sometimes it’s a bad idea to read reviews beforehand, and in this case, it probably was. I haven’t read the part about racism, so I can’t have an opinion on that matter. And maybe I’m going to pick up this story somewhere in the future again because the premise and the representation really intrigue me.
Bonus points on the cover! It is gorgeous!!
I received an ARC from Macmillan Children’s group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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July 29, 2022
I have some very mixed feelings about this book. And I think part of it may because this book didn’t end so much as stop in the middle (and honestly the first real plot development in a long time). I wonder if I might feel different if I am able to read the rest of it. I do like that there is a diverse cast of characters. I found it very interesting that there is a gender fluid person who literally changes shape to reflect the gender that fits in the moment. It was very, very interesting. I was a little confused by the monster with tentacles that thought of herself as female and was often called female by strangers but was dubbed male by one of the other main characters and let them correct everyone who tried to use female pronouns. I understand why some people were upset that the giant black man was falsely accused of a crime and treated extremely poorly. I’m struggling with deciding if this shows the author’s racist thoughts or if this was the author giving her main characters barriers in a poorly thought out way. I do like that every main character was queer, I’ve never read a fantasy adventure where that was the case….I wanted to like it much more than I did. Right now I’m not sure if I’ll read the second part or not. There was a lot of potential here and I find myself wishing it had come together better.
did-not-finish
February 3, 2023DNF due to the many thoughtful, well written reviews about how the core theme of the book centers white women’s privilege at all costs, which is not a message I have any interest in reading.
April 7, 2022
I luckily got an advanced bound manuscript from the North Teen Book Festival. I didn’t know anything about this book before I got it, but the cover really drew me in, so it’s the first novel I’ve managed to finish all year. Based on the cover and the prologue I thought this was going to be a more traditional fantasy story with magic and kings and castles, but it ended up being an urban fantasy set in modern America, albeit in a fantasy pocket realm/city. I enjoyed how the story felt really character driven; all the characters had strong voices and motivations. There was only one instance where plot seemed to overshadow the story (why wasn’t Jesse working when David came to the club? It’s never really addressed and just feels very convenient for the story).
Overall, however, I was compelled to read through the story fairly quickly. It’s an action-packed book with an interesting “fate” cycle: the King wins the Maiden and magic is saved. You could kind of tell some things were fated to happen and that’s what the story was building towards, but at the same time there is an undercurrent of “break the wheel” or disrupt the cycle. So I’m curious to see how the characters will fit into the puzzle more in the next book.
I also enjoyed how all the main characters were unapologetically queer. I feel like there has been an increase in regular fiction novels with characters like this but it’s nice to also have it in a fantasy setting since that’s the genre I read the most.
And it was interesting how Szabo wove real world American problems into this fantasy story too. I’ve seen some reviews criticizing the book because of the way David was treated by the police, but why would you be mad about this issue being brought to light? It’s an issue that is sadly faced by real people, and most often POC, in real life. Unfortunately I’ve seen an increase of reviews on Goodreads calling out books for having problematic content and therefore labeling the book as problematic itself, but I would say in these instances it’s important to examine the context and the message. Yes, David was wrongfully detained by police. Yes, the police got away with this treatment, which often happens in real life too. Also, while Jack (a non-POC character) was responsible for David’s arrest, she hasn’t faced any major repercussions for her insensitivity. However, these things happened near the end of the book and this is a duology, so we don’t really KNOW if she will be punished later for her choices. The author isn’t condoning police brutality, but she is making the reader aware of its existence and letting us feel how unjust and hurtful it is to those subjected to it.
It’s easy to dismiss a book because of an upsetting detail, but more often these offensive themes are included so we can unpack them and discuss WHY they are bad. It’s good to recognize that David was treated like garbage by the police; the fact that you can see it’s problematic is good, but writing off the whole book because of this treatment encourages only interacting with media that has no real life issues or avoiding these issues entirely. We cannot ignore these problems, otherwise they will never be addressed and hopefully remedied.
This controversy aside, I am looking forward to reading the next book when it’s released. I applaud Rose Szabo for a compelling read.
Overall, however, I was compelled to read through the story fairly quickly. It’s an action-packed book with an interesting “fate” cycle: the King wins the Maiden and magic is saved. You could kind of tell some things were fated to happen and that’s what the story was building towards, but at the same time there is an undercurrent of “break the wheel” or disrupt the cycle. So I’m curious to see how the characters will fit into the puzzle more in the next book.
I also enjoyed how all the main characters were unapologetically queer. I feel like there has been an increase in regular fiction novels with characters like this but it’s nice to also have it in a fantasy setting since that’s the genre I read the most.
And it was interesting how Szabo wove real world American problems into this fantasy story too. I’ve seen some reviews criticizing the book because of the way David was treated by the police, but why would you be mad about this issue being brought to light? It’s an issue that is sadly faced by real people, and most often POC, in real life. Unfortunately I’ve seen an increase of reviews on Goodreads calling out books for having problematic content and therefore labeling the book as problematic itself, but I would say in these instances it’s important to examine the context and the message. Yes, David was wrongfully detained by police. Yes, the police got away with this treatment, which often happens in real life too. Also, while Jack (a non-POC character) was responsible for David’s arrest, she hasn’t faced any major repercussions for her insensitivity. However, these things happened near the end of the book and this is a duology, so we don’t really KNOW if she will be punished later for her choices. The author isn’t condoning police brutality, but she is making the reader aware of its existence and letting us feel how unjust and hurtful it is to those subjected to it.
It’s easy to dismiss a book because of an upsetting detail, but more often these offensive themes are included so we can unpack them and discuss WHY they are bad. It’s good to recognize that David was treated like garbage by the police; the fact that you can see it’s problematic is good, but writing off the whole book because of this treatment encourages only interacting with media that has no real life issues or avoiding these issues entirely. We cannot ignore these problems, otherwise they will never be addressed and hopefully remedied.
This controversy aside, I am looking forward to reading the next book when it’s released. I applaud Rose Szabo for a compelling read.
June 29, 2022
**Many BIPOC and LGBTQ+ creators have pointed out problematic themes within this book and the author's first book. Please do research to make your own conclusion, but there have been themes of racism and violence against gay men. Because of these recurring themes I have lowered my rating and will not be supporting this author.**
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!
I'm not sure where to start with this book! I greatly enjoyed how diverse it was and how it focused on telling the stories of the groups it represented and not just having the diversity for diversity's sake. It really gave such depth to the story and gave each of the characters such a relatability even despite all the fantasy elements.
I liked the uniqueness of the world, but I wished that there had been more world-building. I'm still confused about the actual prophecy or whatever the characters are supposed to be fulfilling. It didn't seem super clear to me exactly what was going on or how they were supposed to be playing into this world.
The best part of this book was the depth of it and the way that it talks so much about self-love, acceptance, and how the world views those who are labeled as different. This part of the book really gave it something extra that a lot of books, especially fantasy, don't always have.
If you're a fantasy fan, definitely check this book out for pride month!
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!
I'm not sure where to start with this book! I greatly enjoyed how diverse it was and how it focused on telling the stories of the groups it represented and not just having the diversity for diversity's sake. It really gave such depth to the story and gave each of the characters such a relatability even despite all the fantasy elements.
I liked the uniqueness of the world, but I wished that there had been more world-building. I'm still confused about the actual prophecy or whatever the characters are supposed to be fulfilling. It didn't seem super clear to me exactly what was going on or how they were supposed to be playing into this world.
The best part of this book was the depth of it and the way that it talks so much about self-love, acceptance, and how the world views those who are labeled as different. This part of the book really gave it something extra that a lot of books, especially fantasy, don't always have.
If you're a fantasy fan, definitely check this book out for pride month!
May 12, 2022
I received an advance copy via NetGalley.
This unabashedly queer fantasy book is in a modern setting--a city that has lost its magic, and exists in a neither here nor there within the real world--and neatly twists around tropes about the Chosen One. Frankly put, the last Chosen Ones failed. They are why magic is down to dregs. However, a new generation is drawn to River City, tugged by the tight, strangling lines of fate, and the night of Carnival looms near...
The writing is fabulous. The characters--wow. Nuanced to the max. This book does need a bunch of trigger warnings up front, though. It is dark and brutally honest about racism, homophobia, and police brutality. As the first book of a duology, there are some major cliffhangers. I hope the next book comes out soon, because I really want to know what happens next!
This unabashedly queer fantasy book is in a modern setting--a city that has lost its magic, and exists in a neither here nor there within the real world--and neatly twists around tropes about the Chosen One. Frankly put, the last Chosen Ones failed. They are why magic is down to dregs. However, a new generation is drawn to River City, tugged by the tight, strangling lines of fate, and the night of Carnival looms near...
The writing is fabulous. The characters--wow. Nuanced to the max. This book does need a bunch of trigger warnings up front, though. It is dark and brutally honest about racism, homophobia, and police brutality. As the first book of a duology, there are some major cliffhangers. I hope the next book comes out soon, because I really want to know what happens next!
October 20, 2023
my review got taken down by goodreads for “violating terms” but yeah save your time save your money , don’t read !
July 16, 2022
*4.5
As my rating is pretty far from the current average, I felt that I should clarify why. So even though I'm not good at writing reviews and getting my thoughts out in a coherent way, I did my best for this one because I believe it deserves to be seen in a brighter light.
I went into this book aware of the low average rating it has here (at the time of writing this, it is 2.40) and having read quite a few of the reviews explaining why people rated it low. As I received this in a book subscription box, I decided to just give it a go and see what my thoughts on it were because the synopsis definitely sounded intriguing to me. This turned out to be a great decision, because I ended up really enjoying this story.
What I often saw in other reviews, was this book being called things like "racist", "misgendering" and "homophobic/transphobic". I personally don't believe that this book is inherently that and these are probably some of the main things that are putting people off from picking up this book. There are definitely depictions of it though, as well as police brutality. This book is portraying the brutalities of humanity and society in a very realistic way. It is absolutely uncomfortable to read these unjust scenes and I totally get that this is triggering for some people and that they would not enjoy or even want to read this book because of it. I would therefore recommend that you check out the content warnings that are displayed on the author's website. I'll also put them here under a spoiler tag:
Things that I've seen mentioned in some reviews that I can agree with, but that didn't negatively influence my own reading experience:
It being confusing: It definitely is (in its worldbuilding, characters and magic system) and I enjoyed it because of it. I really like that it puts my brain at work and makes me figure things out on my own.
Characters not being likeable: I'm sure that this can put people off, but for me it installs a greater feeling of reality and really explores the intricacies of humanity.
This should not be YA: I definitely agree that this should not be marketed toward the younger YA audience. Not just because of the age of the main characters (which is around 20), but because of the often brutal themes that are brought up. I am someone who can deal with those, but I'm sure that a lot of younger readers will have issues with that.
The things that made it not quite a 5 star read for me were that there were some instances where the book was speaking directly to the reader and I found that to be disruptive. I also saw through most of the major plot points pretty early on. I'm not sure if that is just a me thing or a general consensus. The plot was also not the main focus for my. I thought that this story was definitely being carried by the characters, their past, their interactions and their struggles. There is also one specific thing in the plot that I think is crucial, but that I don't quite understand yet. I'm looking forward to seeing that being explained in the sequel.
Let's get into some of the aspects that absolutely made me enjoy this book. I loved seeing the complex and very queer characters on their journey of self discovery and self acceptance. The writing was pretty good and I flew through the whole 400+ pages in under 48 hours. The different pov's melted together seamlessly. This was another book which has a scientific way of interpreting this magic and that is something I always tend to love. It being confusing was amazing to me, because it kept me on my toes and wanting to learn more and figure everything out. I enjoyed that there was some romance going on, but it didn't feel like the main point. It was more about the characters just figuring out and expressing to others who they actually are. This book gave me emotions. It made me mad, sad, happy, scared and compassionate, which is what a book should do for me to be fabulous.
I sincerely hope that this review might get some readers to pick up this book even though they might have written it off in the past because of other reviews they've seen.
As my rating is pretty far from the current average, I felt that I should clarify why. So even though I'm not good at writing reviews and getting my thoughts out in a coherent way, I did my best for this one because I believe it deserves to be seen in a brighter light.
I went into this book aware of the low average rating it has here (at the time of writing this, it is 2.40) and having read quite a few of the reviews explaining why people rated it low. As I received this in a book subscription box, I decided to just give it a go and see what my thoughts on it were because the synopsis definitely sounded intriguing to me. This turned out to be a great decision, because I ended up really enjoying this story.
What I often saw in other reviews, was this book being called things like "racist", "misgendering" and "homophobic/transphobic". I personally don't believe that this book is inherently that and these are probably some of the main things that are putting people off from picking up this book. There are definitely depictions of it though, as well as police brutality. This book is portraying the brutalities of humanity and society in a very realistic way. It is absolutely uncomfortable to read these unjust scenes and I totally get that this is triggering for some people and that they would not enjoy or even want to read this book because of it. I would therefore recommend that you check out the content warnings that are displayed on the author's website. I'll also put them here under a spoiler tag:
Things that I've seen mentioned in some reviews that I can agree with, but that didn't negatively influence my own reading experience:
It being confusing: It definitely is (in its worldbuilding, characters and magic system) and I enjoyed it because of it. I really like that it puts my brain at work and makes me figure things out on my own.
Characters not being likeable: I'm sure that this can put people off, but for me it installs a greater feeling of reality and really explores the intricacies of humanity.
This should not be YA: I definitely agree that this should not be marketed toward the younger YA audience. Not just because of the age of the main characters (which is around 20), but because of the often brutal themes that are brought up. I am someone who can deal with those, but I'm sure that a lot of younger readers will have issues with that.
The things that made it not quite a 5 star read for me were that there were some instances where the book was speaking directly to the reader and I found that to be disruptive. I also saw through most of the major plot points pretty early on. I'm not sure if that is just a me thing or a general consensus. The plot was also not the main focus for my. I thought that this story was definitely being carried by the characters, their past, their interactions and their struggles. There is also one specific thing in the plot that I think is crucial, but that I don't quite understand yet. I'm looking forward to seeing that being explained in the sequel.
Let's get into some of the aspects that absolutely made me enjoy this book. I loved seeing the complex and very queer characters on their journey of self discovery and self acceptance. The writing was pretty good and I flew through the whole 400+ pages in under 48 hours. The different pov's melted together seamlessly. This was another book which has a scientific way of interpreting this magic and that is something I always tend to love. It being confusing was amazing to me, because it kept me on my toes and wanting to learn more and figure everything out. I enjoyed that there was some romance going on, but it didn't feel like the main point. It was more about the characters just figuring out and expressing to others who they actually are. This book gave me emotions. It made me mad, sad, happy, scared and compassionate, which is what a book should do for me to be fabulous.
I sincerely hope that this review might get some readers to pick up this book even though they might have written it off in the past because of other reviews they've seen.
June 6, 2022
I like it.
I will like to start with say that the cover is very studying I love how it has the characters of the book on the cover so it gives us a little bit of an idea of what they would look like. This book was more than what I was expecting initially. The one thing I really loved was the characters, they had a strong voice throughout the book. And the characters were queer I feel like this has been happening more in books but this is the first fantasy book I read with queer characters. There was a lot of race related issues in the book. I will read the next book when it is released. I also like how the title of the book We All Fall down really goes with the book, Reading the book few times so parts that really brought out why the title is we all fall down and I like how it really it goes with the book. I really like the stanza that Jesse was finishing to read but he was struggling "Merged, you and I, my love, seal the silence while the sea destroys it's continual forms, collapses it's turrets of wildness and whiteness, because in the weft of those unseen garments of headlong water, and perpetual sand, we bear the sole, relentless tenderness --"
I will like to start with say that the cover is very studying I love how it has the characters of the book on the cover so it gives us a little bit of an idea of what they would look like. This book was more than what I was expecting initially. The one thing I really loved was the characters, they had a strong voice throughout the book. And the characters were queer I feel like this has been happening more in books but this is the first fantasy book I read with queer characters. There was a lot of race related issues in the book. I will read the next book when it is released. I also like how the title of the book We All Fall down really goes with the book, Reading the book few times so parts that really brought out why the title is we all fall down and I like how it really it goes with the book. I really like the stanza that Jesse was finishing to read but he was struggling "Merged, you and I, my love, seal the silence while the sea destroys it's continual forms, collapses it's turrets of wildness and whiteness, because in the weft of those unseen garments of headlong water, and perpetual sand, we bear the sole, relentless tenderness --"
May 24, 2022
This was a really uncomfortable book to read. I actually DNF’d this book which I normally do not do. I found the writing to be rather confusing in that things weren’t really explained well. We as readers are kind of dumped into a whole world and it just keeps going. I don’t like information dumps per say but do like some details. I will preface with that I am Asian but I felt some of the examples of racial discrimination and blatant racism were very uncomfortable. It hit really close to home with what is currently happening in real life and the lack of repercussions were triggering. I didn’t quite understand the inclusion of it. I think this could have been a great book it had an interesting premise and I applaud it for trying to be inclusive but it really just fell flat.
dnf
November 10, 2022DNF 25%
Потому что появился первый труп, а мне все еще пофига еще я никого не шипперю.
Пробежалась по однозвездочным рецензиям и сравнила с куском, который я прочитала:
☆ пенсонаж неконтролируемо меняет свой пол по десять раз за день из-за магии. "Неправильная репрезентация трансгендерности".
☆ персонаж-маугли биологически страшенький мальчик, а хочет быть красивой девочкойя тоже, бро, я тоже. При встрече с людьми персонажа принимают за мальчика, и персонаж не настаивает на женских местоимениях. "Слабак! Неправильная репрезентация!"
☆ черного персонажа обыскивает полиция. Потому что он черный, большой и с рюкзаком. Сцена тошнотворна. После обыска персонаж дрожащими руками собирает вещи и идет на работу.
"Неправильная репрезентация, после такой травмы черный бы не пошел на работу! Автор оправдывает полицию, потому что в предыдущей главе эти же менты подвезли старушку и не сьели ее!".
КОРОЧЕ, ВЫВОД.
Авторы, которых я хейтила за повесточку. Да, те самые, у которых неграмотная средневековая девочка шпарит агитками через каждый абзац.
Я извиняюсь. Я тут внезапно поняла, что иначе вас обмажут перьями и торжественно сожгут во имя добра и справедливости.
Но читать все равно не будутут не извиняюсь.
Оценку We All Fall Down не ставлю, потому что лежачих не бьют.
_____________________
Отложено на 20%
Лонг стори шорт, в to-read я закидываю либо релизы любимых авторов, либо то, что я надкусила, заценила, но решила отложить на потомну нет у меня сейчас денег, нет!
Книга однозначно не заслуживает потоки говна, потому что:
☆ самобытный, шизофренический и классный микс городского фентези с атмосферой, где под сверкающими стальными небоскребами тихарятся фейри, а полиция, конечно же, знает всех ведьм в округе (и вежливо с ними здоровается).
☆ вменяемый язык с сочными описаниями.
☆ интересная идея, чем-то схожая с Dark Rise от Пакат.
Каждое поколение в Городе рождаются четверо: Герой, Дева, Монстр и Ведьма, обреченные разыгрывать один и тот же сценарий. И автор грамотно дает информацию по кусочкам, интригуя по самые жабры.
Вот только двое из четверых любимчики, третий на вторых ролях, а четвертого автор явно не очень жалует. И если автор хочет провернуть тот же финт, что и Пакат, то шифроваться надо лучше.
☆ до спойлера, от которого бомбануло woke, я не дошла, но жизненный опыт подсказывает мне, что во всем виноваты синие занавески. И попытка автора показать расизм нюансами, а не читать википедию вслух.
А теперь почему я не хочу эту книгу покупать:
☆ отстраненная подача, где текст не собирается делать экшн или куда-то спешить. И, судя по спойлерам, финала как такового нет. Ждите вторую книгу, которая под вопросом, потому что первую зашеймили.
☆ никто из героев меня не зацепил. Может, дальше текст разгонится, но пока мне пофиг, и это очень печально, потому что на личностях четверки и должна держаться книга, раз сюжета пока не завезли.
Короче, я думаю.
Потому что появился первый труп, а мне все еще пофиг
Пробежалась по однозвездочным рецензиям и сравнила с куском, который я прочитала:
☆ пенсонаж неконтролируемо меняет свой пол по десять раз за день из-за магии. "Неправильная репрезентация трансгендерности".
☆ персонаж-маугли биологически страшенький мальчик, а хочет быть красивой девочкой
☆ черного персонажа обыскивает полиция. Потому что он черный, большой и с рюкзаком. Сцена тошнотворна. После обыска персонаж дрожащими руками собирает вещи и идет на работу.
"Неправильная репрезентация, после такой травмы черный бы не пошел на работу! Автор оправдывает полицию, потому что в предыдущей главе эти же менты подвезли старушку и не сьели ее!".
КОРОЧЕ, ВЫВОД.
Авторы, которых я хейтила за повесточку. Да, те самые, у которых неграмотная средневековая девочка шпарит агитками через каждый абзац.
Я извиняюсь. Я тут внезапно поняла, что иначе вас обмажут перьями и торжественно сожгут во имя добра и справедливости.
Но читать все равно не буду
Оценку We All Fall Down не ставлю, потому что лежачих не бьют.
_____________________
Отложено на 20%
Лонг стори шорт, в to-read я закидываю либо релизы любимых авторов, либо то, что я надкусила, заценила, но решила отложить на потом
Книга однозначно не заслуживает потоки говна, потому что:
☆ самобытный, шизофренический и классный микс городского фентези с атмосферой, где под сверкающими стальными небоскребами тихарятся фейри, а полиция, конечно же, знает всех ведьм в округе (и вежливо с ними здоровается).
☆ вменяемый язык с сочными описаниями.
☆ интересная идея, чем-то схожая с Dark Rise от Пакат.
Каждое поколение в Городе рождаются четверо: Герой, Дева, Монстр и Ведьма, обреченные разыгрывать один и тот же сценарий. И автор грамотно дает информацию по кусочкам, интригуя по самые жабры.
Вот только двое из четверых любимчики, третий на вторых ролях, а четвертого автор явно не очень жалует. И если автор хочет провернуть тот же финт, что и Пакат, то шифроваться надо лучше.
☆ до спойлера, от которого бомбануло woke, я не дошла, но жизненный опыт подсказывает мне, что во всем виноваты синие занавески. И попытка автора показать расизм нюансами, а не читать википедию вслух.
А теперь почему я не хочу эту книгу покупать:
☆ отстраненная подача, где текст не собирается делать экшн или куда-то спешить. И, судя по спойлерам, финала как такового нет. Ждите вторую книгу, которая под вопросом, потому что первую зашеймили.
☆ никто из героев меня не зацепил. Может, дальше текст разгонится, но пока мне пофиг, и это очень печально, потому что на личностях четверки и должна держаться книга, раз сюжета пока не завезли.
Короче, я думаю.
March 29, 2022
I can honestly say that We All Fall Down was one the releases currently on my arc list that I was the most excited for. The blurb sounds absolutely amazing and while I haven't read Szabo's previous work, I heard only great things about What Big Teeth, which is on my tbr, too. I'm not sure it'll stay on that list though, because this new novel turns out to be one of my biggest disappointment this year, so far. I just. I don't know what happened.
Good things first, though: The world Szabo creates is an intriguing one. I very rarely like urban fantasy type stories, but the world in this one is fascinating and has so much potential. I loved whenever the "monsters" were described, I loved the ideas on magic and just the general diversity of the lore and the characters. In the beginning I was also really excited about the way gender is explored.
Sadly, that is about all the good I take away from my reading experience. Maybe this is an issue of an author's writing style just not fitting the reader, because I had a really hard time actually just understanding what was going on and how this world works. The writing, the world building, the plot - everything is incredibly convoluted, making it hard to just delve in and enjoy the ride. I sometimes feel like a lot of the book is still entirely unedited, because there are, for example, sooooo many way too long dialogue scenes that lead to absolutely nothing, do absolutely nothing for the story or the characters, and are simply there to TELL us instead of SHOWING us parts of the world, story, character development. I skimmed entire pages and didn't feel like I missed anything at all.
The characters are, in theory, really interesting and there is definitely potential, but they are also surprisingly flat and underdeveloped. I didn't feel anything for either of them and I don't care what happens to them. Certain developments - David and Jesse's relationship and later twists, for example - really really need the reader's emotional investment to work for the story (and the sequel) but because neither of these characters have any actual personality that goes beyond superficial elements I simply didn't care. There was no depth and some of the choices made didn't make sense to me, at all. Turing is definitely my favorite of them all and the only one I actually rooted for and cared about. She baby.
The romances are not so much focused on, which I actually like, but what is there is just kind of... there. I don't like either of the two teased romances, but that is mostly because I don't like any of the characters that much (not talking about you, Turing, we love you in this house).
The way Szabo explores gender also made me a little... uncomfortable at times? Take this with a major grain of salt though because I'm a cis woman, but I'd be interested to hear how trans and nonbinary people view the way Jesse and Turing are written. I felt like there was a lot of emphasis on body = gender with Jesse and they were written as incredibly naive and almost child-like at times. Turing constantly being misgendered even though, based on the cover art and the character descriptions and monster lore given, I don't actually see any reason for a certain character assigning fixed pronouns to her (and I say her because that is how Turing refers to herself) felt like an odd choice. But again, this is just a personal feeling and the author's nonbinary themselves so obviously knows better.
The plot itself is all over the place and honestly suffers from the multiple povs, and that's coming from someone who loves reading multiple povs. There are pacing issues that lead to a lot of the story just draaaaaagging on and on until finally, it picks up speed closer to the ending. It's just boring and confusing, which is a shame because the potential to be amazing is THERE and the ideas are great. It's just the execution that is sorely lacking at this point.
I still think this will have its fans. It's diverse, it has cool ideas. I would absolutely not categorize this as young adult, though, which it is marketed as - this is definitely more new adult.
I feel really bad about giving this such a low rating, but I simply didn't enjoy my reading experience at all. 1,5 stars, but for me personally, and very subjectively, this is unfortunately leaning more towards a 1. I'm sure I will be in the minority though.
Many thanks to Macmillan and Netgalley for the arc! I'm sorry I didn't love this more.
Good things first, though: The world Szabo creates is an intriguing one. I very rarely like urban fantasy type stories, but the world in this one is fascinating and has so much potential. I loved whenever the "monsters" were described, I loved the ideas on magic and just the general diversity of the lore and the characters. In the beginning I was also really excited about the way gender is explored.
Sadly, that is about all the good I take away from my reading experience. Maybe this is an issue of an author's writing style just not fitting the reader, because I had a really hard time actually just understanding what was going on and how this world works. The writing, the world building, the plot - everything is incredibly convoluted, making it hard to just delve in and enjoy the ride. I sometimes feel like a lot of the book is still entirely unedited, because there are, for example, sooooo many way too long dialogue scenes that lead to absolutely nothing, do absolutely nothing for the story or the characters, and are simply there to TELL us instead of SHOWING us parts of the world, story, character development. I skimmed entire pages and didn't feel like I missed anything at all.
The characters are, in theory, really interesting and there is definitely potential, but they are also surprisingly flat and underdeveloped. I didn't feel anything for either of them and I don't care what happens to them. Certain developments - David and Jesse's relationship and later twists, for example - really really need the reader's emotional investment to work for the story (and the sequel) but because neither of these characters have any actual personality that goes beyond superficial elements I simply didn't care. There was no depth and some of the choices made didn't make sense to me, at all. Turing is definitely my favorite of them all and the only one I actually rooted for and cared about. She baby.
The romances are not so much focused on, which I actually like, but what is there is just kind of... there. I don't like either of the two teased romances, but that is mostly because I don't like any of the characters that much (not talking about you, Turing, we love you in this house).
The way Szabo explores gender also made me a little... uncomfortable at times? Take this with a major grain of salt though because I'm a cis woman, but I'd be interested to hear how trans and nonbinary people view the way Jesse and Turing are written. I felt like there was a lot of emphasis on body = gender with Jesse and they were written as incredibly naive and almost child-like at times. Turing constantly being misgendered even though, based on the cover art and the character descriptions and monster lore given, I don't actually see any reason for a certain character assigning fixed pronouns to her (and I say her because that is how Turing refers to herself) felt like an odd choice. But again, this is just a personal feeling and the author's nonbinary themselves so obviously knows better.
The plot itself is all over the place and honestly suffers from the multiple povs, and that's coming from someone who loves reading multiple povs. There are pacing issues that lead to a lot of the story just draaaaaagging on and on until finally, it picks up speed closer to the ending. It's just boring and confusing, which is a shame because the potential to be amazing is THERE and the ideas are great. It's just the execution that is sorely lacking at this point.
I still think this will have its fans. It's diverse, it has cool ideas. I would absolutely not categorize this as young adult, though, which it is marketed as - this is definitely more new adult.
I feel really bad about giving this such a low rating, but I simply didn't enjoy my reading experience at all. 1,5 stars, but for me personally, and very subjectively, this is unfortunately leaning more towards a 1. I'm sure I will be in the minority though.
Many thanks to Macmillan and Netgalley for the arc! I'm sorry I didn't love this more.
June 7, 2022
This book was not what I expected after reading the summary. I thought the story was going to be action and plot driven but the characters were surprisingly interesting and complex. I was absolutely invested until about halfway through when the story slightly lost its footing as the details of the different characters became confusing and muddled. The conclusion was also confusing. The writing was great and I was extremely impressed with how engaging and beautifulit was; it was the best aspect of the story. The unique world building and magic system was woven with flavors that reminded me of Maggie Steifvater. I'm not a fan of multiple point-of-views but they were executed pretty well here, seamlessly blending into the next chapter. Pacing was also quite consistent. The cover is just OK and I wish it fit the feel of the book better. Overall, a solid 4 stars and an author I will keep my eye on. Thank you to Bookish First for offering this book in their catalogue.
My Bookish First referral code: c2c277e5792a7a0ab
**Looking for a book club? Check out LiterALLy BOOKiSh on Facebook to read reviews, make friends, play games, swap and win giveaways.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/12086...
My Bookish First referral code: c2c277e5792a7a0ab
**Looking for a book club? Check out LiterALLy BOOKiSh on Facebook to read reviews, make friends, play games, swap and win giveaways.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/12086...
Want to read
December 30, 2021So based on the blurb, would you say there's-
Would you say there's trouble?
Right here in River City?
The crowd boos and groans and I am forcibly pulled off the stage with one of those giant hooked canes
Would you say there's trouble?
Right here in River City?
The crowd boos and groans and I am forcibly pulled off the stage with one of those giant hooked canes
July 8, 2022
I typically only review arcs but considering I got this so early I thought I’d write a review.
I agree with every review I’ve seen that says this should’ve been adult. It’s a disservice to the book to market it in YA when I know the tolerance for confusing narratives is a little higher in adult fantasy. I didn’t necessarily find it particularly confusing but it is a story with a lot of moving parts and a crapton of worldbuilding. It reminded me a lot of the Tv series Arcane and I liked that a lot.
Spoilers here:
I’ve also seen a lot of reviews saying the fact that Jack, a white woman, getting a Black guy arrested for something she knows he didn’t do is a shit show and god yeah that subplot is Uncomfortable, especially in today’s climate. I’m not sure if this is a full on second world fantasy, or if the second world aspects are just contained to this one city but the point is there’s magic you don’t need real world racism and it comes off just…not great. He gets his name cleared relatively quickly and at the end Jack seems to have some kind of epiphany that she Fucked Up, but that’s where the book ends. So I hope, I hope, that’s setting up for some follow through as this is supposed to be the first in a duology. I may revise this review when the second book comes out depending on how it’s handled. Jack would have to work damn hard to do anything close to redeeming herself in the second book, as it stands I Do Not Like Her and because that second book is a long way away I’m not gonna be recommending the enthusiastic way I do the author’s debut.
I liked so much of it, i think the concept is a neat one and I have a soft spot for anything that calls to mine Arcane, so I’ll round up, but because of that frankly unnecessary undercurrent, it’s a round up and subject to revisiting
Alright edit because I was talking about this with a friend and apparently I have more to say:
The more I think about it the more frustrated I am with That Subplot because it brought a book I as a nonbinary queer reader was otherwise enjoying to a bit of a screeching halt. It’s very much implied that Jack doesn’t do this with any racist motivations (her defense is something along the lines of “he’s a college kid, they’re all rich, he’ll get bailed out in no time” and yes I know she’s a fictional character and not a person making her own active decisions but I’m gonna deep dive this on a narrative level) and that’s just kind of bullshit because what? Now you’ve created a character who’s effectively tried to be colorblind that she doesn’t think for a second that no matter what her motivations supposedly are, the optics of what she’s doing is still a big YIKES? Especially when the narrative glosses over it pretty quickly and for better or worse it’s treated like a throwaway scene: David is in fact bailed out relatively quickly, Jack gets yelled at for what she did and later goes “oh I fucked up” (still not acknowledging her own bias she’s like “oh he’s someone important and I got him arrested” not “OH HES BLACK I COULDVE GOTTEN HIM KILLED”) and the book moves on, just highlighting how unnecessary that scene was: because it would’ve been easy enough to rework that chapter so a character we’re supposed to be rooting for doesn’t do something incredibly racist, and the book as a whole wouldn’t change much, considering how little time is given to the repercussions of that. Hell, I don’t think the book would change much if David was white and that further highlights how clumsy this feels.
So yeah, that’s a whole mess and I was incredibly disappointed, as this one plot line throws a sudden wrench into everything and leaves a bad taste in my mouth :/ but I read it so you don’t have to
I agree with every review I’ve seen that says this should’ve been adult. It’s a disservice to the book to market it in YA when I know the tolerance for confusing narratives is a little higher in adult fantasy. I didn’t necessarily find it particularly confusing but it is a story with a lot of moving parts and a crapton of worldbuilding. It reminded me a lot of the Tv series Arcane and I liked that a lot.
Spoilers here:
I’ve also seen a lot of reviews saying the fact that Jack, a white woman, getting a Black guy arrested for something she knows he didn’t do is a shit show and god yeah that subplot is Uncomfortable, especially in today’s climate. I’m not sure if this is a full on second world fantasy, or if the second world aspects are just contained to this one city but the point is there’s magic you don’t need real world racism and it comes off just…not great. He gets his name cleared relatively quickly and at the end Jack seems to have some kind of epiphany that she Fucked Up, but that’s where the book ends. So I hope, I hope, that’s setting up for some follow through as this is supposed to be the first in a duology. I may revise this review when the second book comes out depending on how it’s handled. Jack would have to work damn hard to do anything close to redeeming herself in the second book, as it stands I Do Not Like Her and because that second book is a long way away I’m not gonna be recommending the enthusiastic way I do the author’s debut.
I liked so much of it, i think the concept is a neat one and I have a soft spot for anything that calls to mine Arcane, so I’ll round up, but because of that frankly unnecessary undercurrent, it’s a round up and subject to revisiting
Alright edit because I was talking about this with a friend and apparently I have more to say:
The more I think about it the more frustrated I am with That Subplot because it brought a book I as a nonbinary queer reader was otherwise enjoying to a bit of a screeching halt. It’s very much implied that Jack doesn’t do this with any racist motivations (her defense is something along the lines of “he’s a college kid, they’re all rich, he’ll get bailed out in no time” and yes I know she’s a fictional character and not a person making her own active decisions but I’m gonna deep dive this on a narrative level) and that’s just kind of bullshit because what? Now you’ve created a character who’s effectively tried to be colorblind that she doesn’t think for a second that no matter what her motivations supposedly are, the optics of what she’s doing is still a big YIKES? Especially when the narrative glosses over it pretty quickly and for better or worse it’s treated like a throwaway scene: David is in fact bailed out relatively quickly, Jack gets yelled at for what she did and later goes “oh I fucked up” (still not acknowledging her own bias she’s like “oh he’s someone important and I got him arrested” not “OH HES BLACK I COULDVE GOTTEN HIM KILLED”) and the book moves on, just highlighting how unnecessary that scene was: because it would’ve been easy enough to rework that chapter so a character we’re supposed to be rooting for doesn’t do something incredibly racist, and the book as a whole wouldn’t change much, considering how little time is given to the repercussions of that. Hell, I don’t think the book would change much if David was white and that further highlights how clumsy this feels.
So yeah, that’s a whole mess and I was incredibly disappointed, as this one plot line throws a sudden wrench into everything and leaves a bad taste in my mouth :/ but I read it so you don’t have to
June 23, 2022
I wanted to like this, but it was just a lot.
A modern fantasy novel, We All Fall Down follows a set of characters as their paths cross following the disappearance and murders of two police officers. Most of the characters are morally gray, which I normally appreciate in novels, but in this one, it started to fall short towards the middle and left me feeling uncomfortable.
CW:
The world building succeeds in some areas, and fails in other. I loved the idea of a city beyond our boundaries, formally run by magic. But the downfall and everything around it was not fully explained, so I don't know why the magic disappeared. Maybe I missed it, or it will be expanded on in the sequel, which I honestly don't know if I will pick up. Jack's actions were beyond awful, and Szabo tried so hard to still make her sympathetic, making me think they want her as the principle protagonist. I'm not about that.
The premise is interesting, and I'm sad to see the execution did not do it justice.
Thank you Netgalley for access to the ARC.
A modern fantasy novel, We All Fall Down follows a set of characters as their paths cross following the disappearance and murders of two police officers. Most of the characters are morally gray, which I normally appreciate in novels, but in this one, it started to fall short towards the middle and left me feeling uncomfortable.
CW:
The world building succeeds in some areas, and fails in other. I loved the idea of a city beyond our boundaries, formally run by magic. But the downfall and everything around it was not fully explained, so I don't know why the magic disappeared. Maybe I missed it, or it will be expanded on in the sequel, which I honestly don't know if I will pick up. Jack's actions were beyond awful, and Szabo tried so hard to still make her sympathetic, making me think they want her as the principle protagonist. I'm not about that.
The premise is interesting, and I'm sad to see the execution did not do it justice.
Thank you Netgalley for access to the ARC.
August 18, 2022
Okay, so I was scared to read this book after hearing it was racist, but I got it in a book box and decided to read it anyway and I am so glad that I did. Because a book has racism in it, does not make the book racist. (I'm black by the way)
I Loved this book, I loved the writing, I loved the diverse characters, I loved the queer rep (although some things felt a little weird). I appreciate that in a book about being discriminated against for being different the author didn't shy away from racial discrimination while making it clear (in my opinion) that most of the characters along with the author don't condone it. I also appreciated that since the author is white that they did NOT make the book about race and racism even though they included that element. Thats not what the book is about. Their are so many other things that the book is about, race is just one element that one of the characters faces (and part of it is also because he is a giant, not just because he is black)
Now I will admit that a LOT is going on in the book, and some things are a little convoluted and not clear. I didn't have an issue with it. I will say that my current 5 star rating might be a little contingent on how the second book turns out.
Spoiler thoughts:
I Loved this book, I loved the writing, I loved the diverse characters, I loved the queer rep (although some things felt a little weird). I appreciate that in a book about being discriminated against for being different the author didn't shy away from racial discrimination while making it clear (in my opinion) that most of the characters along with the author don't condone it. I also appreciated that since the author is white that they did NOT make the book about race and racism even though they included that element. Thats not what the book is about. Their are so many other things that the book is about, race is just one element that one of the characters faces (and part of it is also because he is a giant, not just because he is black)
Now I will admit that a LOT is going on in the book, and some things are a little convoluted and not clear. I didn't have an issue with it. I will say that my current 5 star rating might be a little contingent on how the second book turns out.
Spoiler thoughts:
November 22, 2022
⭐⭐.25
Ok... so for starters I would like to thank @direadsomebooks for enduring this read as long as she did😅✌🏼. I know it was painful for you, so I apreciate the energy that you spent with this one.
So... this had a great start for me. I have to admit that I do apreciate an irreliable narrator from time to time, and it had 4 of them. You can't really tell what in the world is going on half the time until the right comes along and suddenly every single piece falls into it's rightful place. I like tales that keep me on my toes and were my imagination runs wild trying to get to the bottom of things.
We're set in a "look-a-like" London, were past and future are set in stone and pretty much each in their own place, like they are never meant to mingle. I would have like to see so much more of the city, one that even tough was once so full of magic, magic that somehow has disapeared but you never really get the reason for it. I would have liked to see a bit more about it's history, and a full understanding of why things are so crazy. And for a London (i'm calling it London don't care) were magic was not a thing a but load of weird things happened too often🤔.
What i didn't apreciate was the underwelming care that was given to the characters. I think that the representation was misleading and denegrating to a point. We have both a non binary character that identifies as such that is trusted upon what is essentialy a feminine role, even tough it's not were their heart trully lies. They just wanted to find their first crush from childhood, and almost everyone tries to use them because of that role, that they didnt really asked for. The fact that they are used is not really adressed in any way, shape or form, and it's even trown under the rug.
I don't like the fact that the only transgender character is literaly represent as a monster, it is assalted multiple times because society sees her as a monster, and no amount of redemption may excuse that. There were only two people that ever shown her some kind of love, and you only see that by the end of the book (20 pages from the end, I kid you not), and I'm not really sure how were gonna get out from this dark point in the story.
Now that im reading this, im not even able to say if I really liked much about this. Lets remain with the fact if a book could live of vibes alone, this would be fine. But even vibes can take you so long.
Ok... so for starters I would like to thank @direadsomebooks for enduring this read as long as she did😅✌🏼. I know it was painful for you, so I apreciate the energy that you spent with this one.
So... this had a great start for me. I have to admit that I do apreciate an irreliable narrator from time to time, and it had 4 of them. You can't really tell what in the world is going on half the time until the right comes along and suddenly every single piece falls into it's rightful place. I like tales that keep me on my toes and were my imagination runs wild trying to get to the bottom of things.
We're set in a "look-a-like" London, were past and future are set in stone and pretty much each in their own place, like they are never meant to mingle. I would have like to see so much more of the city, one that even tough was once so full of magic, magic that somehow has disapeared but you never really get the reason for it. I would have liked to see a bit more about it's history, and a full understanding of why things are so crazy. And for a London (i'm calling it London don't care) were magic was not a thing a but load of weird things happened too often🤔.
What i didn't apreciate was the underwelming care that was given to the characters. I think that the representation was misleading and denegrating to a point. We have both a non binary character that identifies as such that is trusted upon what is essentialy a feminine role, even tough it's not were their heart trully lies. They just wanted to find their first crush from childhood, and almost everyone tries to use them because of that role, that they didnt really asked for. The fact that they are used is not really adressed in any way, shape or form, and it's even trown under the rug.
I don't like the fact that the only transgender character is literaly represent as a monster, it is assalted multiple times because society sees her as a monster, and no amount of redemption may excuse that. There were only two people that ever shown her some kind of love, and you only see that by the end of the book (20 pages from the end, I kid you not), and I'm not really sure how were gonna get out from this dark point in the story.
Now that im reading this, im not even able to say if I really liked much about this. Lets remain with the fact if a book could live of vibes alone, this would be fine. But even vibes can take you so long.
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