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Fearless #6
Payback
Prey on the old and you're a coward. Prey on the young and you're pathetic. Prey on the weak and you're even weaker. Prey on my friends...and you're history.
216 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2000
9 people are currently reading
658 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,139 books1,843 followersFrancine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 10, 2017
I forget how old Ella is, but she's definitely too old to be acting like such a whiny brat. She's one of the weakest, most one-dimensional characters in this series, and that's saying something with Tom and Loki still hanging around.
The rape storyline was a little weird to me.
The rape storyline was a little weird to me.
March 4, 2023
First off, whoever is trying to update this for the reprint needs to give up. In one paragraph "going to see LMFAO in concert" will be mentioned next to an ipod and then on the next page Heather will spend an entire night at home waiting for someone's call even though the last book established iphones exist through this reprint. The "updated" pop culture references somehow make the book feel MORE dated than leaving the original references in. Mentioning Justin Bieber and then using just email to communicate is jarring.
Secondly, this is easily the worst book out of the series so far. Heather says she's raped but by the end of the book, it's like weirdly vague that Charlie actually isn't a rapist. There's also a groan inducing paragraph of Gaia saying it only counts as rape only if someone verbally says no which just isn't true.
Speaking of Gaia, she remains unlikeable as hell especially in this book. Refusing to believe Ed and siding with a dude she's known for a few hours is ridiculous. In Gaia's pov she oftentimes says she's not a good person but the reader is supposed to believe she's a hero...but no she's just honestly unlikeable.
The finale is asinine and makes no sense. I suppose after this book what Heather and Mary went through is just never mentioned again cuz rape and attempted rape works like that obviously.
I'm not even gonna go into what a boring sap Sam is or how stupid Ella is or this would be even longer and it's already too long.
Secondly, this is easily the worst book out of the series so far. Heather says she's raped but by the end of the book, it's like weirdly vague that Charlie actually isn't a rapist. There's also a groan inducing paragraph of Gaia saying it only counts as rape only if someone verbally says no which just isn't true.
Speaking of Gaia, she remains unlikeable as hell especially in this book. Refusing to believe Ed and siding with a dude she's known for a few hours is ridiculous. In Gaia's pov she oftentimes says she's not a good person but the reader is supposed to believe she's a hero...but no she's just honestly unlikeable.
The finale is asinine and makes no sense. I suppose after this book what Heather and Mary went through is just never mentioned again cuz rape and attempted rape works like that obviously.
I'm not even gonna go into what a boring sap Sam is or how stupid Ella is or this would be even longer and it's already too long.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2019
Again, not as good as when I read it as a kid but I still love this series!
December 11, 2019
Basic Plot: After initially disbelieving Ed, Gaia stops a group of classmate rapists, Heather deals with being raped, and other stuff happens.
Despite Payback being just as laughably terrible, it actually does have some good heartwarming moments. Other than that, I’m still rating this book one star because Fearless has yet to impress me. Also, Gaia is still unlikeable.
1) Gaia attempts to be feminist at the beginning in her flashback at stopping her babysitter from getting raped at a young age by saying she hates it when men think they can push women around, but it’s undermined by the sexist statements about men in other Fearless books.
2) I’ve barely seen Tom doing his job since the story introduced him. Shouldn’t he be super busy instead of wangsting about his shitty life and Katia in almost every damn chapter that’s centered on him?
3) “And the right thing for Gaia was for me to leave her. I still believe her.” Instead of being such a pansy, Tom, you could have stood by your daughter even if your wife was killed. Why is the concept of parenting so hard for you? In fact I'm so irritated by Tom that I honestly think none of these events would have happened if he was actually there for Gaia.
4 Why didn’t Sam tell his professors he’d been kidnapped and suffered without insulin until he was rescued? He would have been compensated for and given proper support. Why is life threatening situations deemed as a "secret" to him? If classes were taking place the whole day he was kidnapped, wouldn't at least ONE person be prompted to wonder why Sam didn't happen to be there that day?
5) “No one ever responded to one quick scream.” I doubt you can prove that in the real world.
6) “If there was ever a time to cave in to modern technology and use a Walkman, this was it.” Never have I seen such irony and outdated tech in one sentence. I am aware these books were written back when such was a luxury but it simply doesn’t age well now. This sentence should have been omitted.
7) “Other than Ed and Mary, no one had asked her to do anything at all since she’d arrived in New York. Except die, of course.” Are we supposed to forget book #3, aka the book where Loki needs Gaia to do his shit tests, didn’t happen?
8) Why is Gaia going to yet another party of a guy she just met? Even if Ed convinced her that Tim isn’t bad, in these books it’s obvious something bad will happen. Also, Gaia should have avoided going since the last time she went to a party Heather arrived and it wasn’t a smooth sailing.
9) Speaking of Tim (And also Charlie), is Gaia going to ignore the last time she trusted a charming guy she just met? David was a charming guy who ended up being the local serial killer and tried to murder Gaia. Did she lose multiple brain cells since that encounter?
10) I consider it impossible for someone to go a whole school day without smiling at least once or twice. Gaia may be a bad attempt at an edgy emo, but I have a hard time believing she doesn't smile at all through 8-9 hours of school.
11) I like how Gaia and Sam's emails had the name Alloy in it, which is a site that had it's own Fearless section where you could go on and get backgrounds, E-Cards, read character bios, see poetry and journal entries Gaia wrote, Download a quicktime video you can't watch anymore and other nifty things. Too bad the only way you can view the site again is through the Wayback Machine.
12) Payback is only the sixth in the series, yet it already forgot CJ existed.
13) Why did it take Gaia long enough to finally conclude that Ella isn't telling the truth? She knows how vile Ella is, yet didn't stop to think otherwise until 2 books after Thanksgiving.
14) Why can't Gaia tell George about how abusive Ella is being towards her? I'm aware that Ella is likely to lie out of it but at least some communication would be nice.
15) At one point Gaia thinks Ella is a pathetic female just for having an interest in makeup. I'm not into makeup myself either but why would she dig on just that characteristic of her?
16) Those chapters about various characters like Ed trying on clothes for the party were NOT NEEDED! Books do not need chapters devoted to what characters did clothing wise unless it actually benefited the plot. Here, they're completely pointless and Payback could have just time skipped to the party itself. Who cares if Heather tried on one choker before heading out for the night?
17) Gaia's supposed to be so brave that not five minutes into the party, she plans on leaving just because two girls who happen to dislike her diss her.
18) Loki complains about Ella not watching Gaia all the time when he's the one who apparently knows more before she does anyway so what's the point if Ella will just tell him things he'll already know?
19) I'm not sure if Ella and Loki meet the next day or in the evening, but if it's the latter I don't think daily newspapers get printed THAT quick minutes after something spectacular happened.
20) A girl named Lucy is called innocent for, along other things, still carrying around a Hello Kitty pencil tin. Having a piece of merchandise of a character that appeals to a wide demographic including both children and adults is a weak point. Couldn't you say Lucy was innocent because of her being brought up as sheltered or something instead?
21) Why doesn't Ed tell the principal or any proper authorities right away after noticing rapists are present at school?
22) "And Mary and I both know that with what she has right now, she can't prove anything."
But Mary witnessed the group of rapists talking amongst themselves and even confronted them. Not only is she an eyewitness, but Mary has a story she can tell to jail Charlie and his gang.
23) The part where Heather and Ed bonded over bowling was heartwarming.
24) The part where past rape victims come into the auditorium to roast the Stud Club (yes really) was kind of awesome, except despite the girls getting raped, none show any signs of PTSD in the slightest.
25) If the Stud Club was literally a club of guys banging classmates, why didn't anyone stop this group from forming? How did they form this club in the first place?
26) Like in problem 24, Heather should have gotten PTSD after getting traumatically raped by Charlie. Instead Heather experiences getting raped like it's just a one-time bad thing that happened and easy to forget soon after it occurs. That's not realistic writing. According to VeryWellMind,:
"Studies have found that 31 percent to 57 percent of women who have experienced sexual assault or rape also experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point after the assault."
I bet by the next book Heather will have little memory it even happened :/
So far this seems to be the "best" of the series I've read but maybe I'll just have to wait and see what Rebel brings to the table...
Despite Payback being just as laughably terrible, it actually does have some good heartwarming moments. Other than that, I’m still rating this book one star because Fearless has yet to impress me. Also, Gaia is still unlikeable.
1) Gaia attempts to be feminist at the beginning in her flashback at stopping her babysitter from getting raped at a young age by saying she hates it when men think they can push women around, but it’s undermined by the sexist statements about men in other Fearless books.
2) I’ve barely seen Tom doing his job since the story introduced him. Shouldn’t he be super busy instead of wangsting about his shitty life and Katia in almost every damn chapter that’s centered on him?
3) “And the right thing for Gaia was for me to leave her. I still believe her.” Instead of being such a pansy, Tom, you could have stood by your daughter even if your wife was killed. Why is the concept of parenting so hard for you? In fact I'm so irritated by Tom that I honestly think none of these events would have happened if he was actually there for Gaia.
4 Why didn’t Sam tell his professors he’d been kidnapped and suffered without insulin until he was rescued? He would have been compensated for and given proper support. Why is life threatening situations deemed as a "secret" to him? If classes were taking place the whole day he was kidnapped, wouldn't at least ONE person be prompted to wonder why Sam didn't happen to be there that day?
5) “No one ever responded to one quick scream.” I doubt you can prove that in the real world.
6) “If there was ever a time to cave in to modern technology and use a Walkman, this was it.” Never have I seen such irony and outdated tech in one sentence. I am aware these books were written back when such was a luxury but it simply doesn’t age well now. This sentence should have been omitted.
7) “Other than Ed and Mary, no one had asked her to do anything at all since she’d arrived in New York. Except die, of course.” Are we supposed to forget book #3, aka the book where Loki needs Gaia to do his shit tests, didn’t happen?
8) Why is Gaia going to yet another party of a guy she just met? Even if Ed convinced her that Tim isn’t bad, in these books it’s obvious something bad will happen. Also, Gaia should have avoided going since the last time she went to a party Heather arrived and it wasn’t a smooth sailing.
9) Speaking of Tim (And also Charlie), is Gaia going to ignore the last time she trusted a charming guy she just met? David was a charming guy who ended up being the local serial killer and tried to murder Gaia. Did she lose multiple brain cells since that encounter?
10) I consider it impossible for someone to go a whole school day without smiling at least once or twice. Gaia may be a bad attempt at an edgy emo, but I have a hard time believing she doesn't smile at all through 8-9 hours of school.
11) I like how Gaia and Sam's emails had the name Alloy in it, which is a site that had it's own Fearless section where you could go on and get backgrounds, E-Cards, read character bios, see poetry and journal entries Gaia wrote, Download a quicktime video you can't watch anymore and other nifty things. Too bad the only way you can view the site again is through the Wayback Machine.
12) Payback is only the sixth in the series, yet it already forgot CJ existed.
13) Why did it take Gaia long enough to finally conclude that Ella isn't telling the truth? She knows how vile Ella is, yet didn't stop to think otherwise until 2 books after Thanksgiving.
14) Why can't Gaia tell George about how abusive Ella is being towards her? I'm aware that Ella is likely to lie out of it but at least some communication would be nice.
15) At one point Gaia thinks Ella is a pathetic female just for having an interest in makeup. I'm not into makeup myself either but why would she dig on just that characteristic of her?
16) Those chapters about various characters like Ed trying on clothes for the party were NOT NEEDED! Books do not need chapters devoted to what characters did clothing wise unless it actually benefited the plot. Here, they're completely pointless and Payback could have just time skipped to the party itself. Who cares if Heather tried on one choker before heading out for the night?
17) Gaia's supposed to be so brave that not five minutes into the party, she plans on leaving just because two girls who happen to dislike her diss her.
18) Loki complains about Ella not watching Gaia all the time when he's the one who apparently knows more before she does anyway so what's the point if Ella will just tell him things he'll already know?
19) I'm not sure if Ella and Loki meet the next day or in the evening, but if it's the latter I don't think daily newspapers get printed THAT quick minutes after something spectacular happened.
20) A girl named Lucy is called innocent for, along other things, still carrying around a Hello Kitty pencil tin. Having a piece of merchandise of a character that appeals to a wide demographic including both children and adults is a weak point. Couldn't you say Lucy was innocent because of her being brought up as sheltered or something instead?
21) Why doesn't Ed tell the principal or any proper authorities right away after noticing rapists are present at school?
22) "And Mary and I both know that with what she has right now, she can't prove anything."
But Mary witnessed the group of rapists talking amongst themselves and even confronted them. Not only is she an eyewitness, but Mary has a story she can tell to jail Charlie and his gang.
23) The part where Heather and Ed bonded over bowling was heartwarming.
24) The part where past rape victims come into the auditorium to roast the Stud Club (yes really) was kind of awesome, except despite the girls getting raped, none show any signs of PTSD in the slightest.
25) If the Stud Club was literally a club of guys banging classmates, why didn't anyone stop this group from forming? How did they form this club in the first place?
26) Like in problem 24, Heather should have gotten PTSD after getting traumatically raped by Charlie. Instead Heather experiences getting raped like it's just a one-time bad thing that happened and easy to forget soon after it occurs. That's not realistic writing. According to VeryWellMind,:
"Studies have found that 31 percent to 57 percent of women who have experienced sexual assault or rape also experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point after the assault."
I bet by the next book Heather will have little memory it even happened :/
So far this seems to be the "best" of the series I've read but maybe I'll just have to wait and see what Rebel brings to the table...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2012
Just because I want to do something different I'm going to write the reviews in a Friends episode format. Enjoy!
The One With The Rapists
When a group of jocks are found to have been using girls for a disgusting competition - awarding themselves points for their latest sexual escapades - Gaia decides to get to the bottom of what's going on. Meanwhile, Heather Gannis is worried about being raped by one of them. Did she said no? How drunk was she? Either way, this might be the end of her relationship with Sam Moon . . .
This book deals with issues that high school deal with all the time. Another one where the action is lacking a bit. But it was still awesome!!
The One With The Rapists
When a group of jocks are found to have been using girls for a disgusting competition - awarding themselves points for their latest sexual escapades - Gaia decides to get to the bottom of what's going on. Meanwhile, Heather Gannis is worried about being raped by one of them. Did she said no? How drunk was she? Either way, this might be the end of her relationship with Sam Moon . . .
This book deals with issues that high school deal with all the time. Another one where the action is lacking a bit. But it was still awesome!!
May 20, 2012
This series is amazing! im not even half way through and im already falling in love with the books! Ella is getting on my nerve, but all books have to have an antagonist.
February 20, 2013
just no. nothing ever gets resolved. i am not gonna read the remaining books anymore. the plot is poorly developed.
July 27, 2025
2.5 rating
This book started annoying me and then Gaia not believing Ed pissed me off. The one guy might not have been guilty of one thing he was accused of but he was doing something else. You don't just shut your best friend down when they come to you for help.
There is a guy only going by Romeo in the parts so you don't know who the culprit is for most the book but by end Gaia does take them down. It's after her friend Mary is attacked by two guys trigger warning for violence and attempt at rape more once.
I am beyond ovet Ella she needs to be taken out by Loki already and what she did to Gaia and Sam was messed up. I'm also getting tired of the will they won't they thing and Ella is doing it for spite now because she was told by Loki that if Gaia happy he's happy not to interfere.
I didn't like Gaia's attitude and thankfully she turned things around when it counted by being bait but a could been done sooner. I did actually feel sorry for Heather this book and found that she does have a heart buried in ice. Just getting tired the Sam and her story line too.
This book started annoying me and then Gaia not believing Ed pissed me off. The one guy might not have been guilty of one thing he was accused of but he was doing something else. You don't just shut your best friend down when they come to you for help.
There is a guy only going by Romeo in the parts so you don't know who the culprit is for most the book but by end Gaia does take them down. It's after her friend Mary is attacked by two guys trigger warning for violence and attempt at rape more once.
I am beyond ovet Ella she needs to be taken out by Loki already and what she did to Gaia and Sam was messed up. I'm also getting tired of the will they won't they thing and Ella is doing it for spite now because she was told by Loki that if Gaia happy he's happy not to interfere.
I didn't like Gaia's attitude and thankfully she turned things around when it counted by being bait but a could been done sooner. I did actually feel sorry for Heather this book and found that she does have a heart buried in ice. Just getting tired the Sam and her story line too.
June 5, 2019
This episode in Gaia land was not as eventful as the last, but it held my attention and Gaia still kicked butt in the end. In #6, Pascal brings up some heavy subjects for Gaia and her friends to maneuver through. Ella continues to be a hater, and Sam is MIA due to exams. Where will the drama take us next time? :)
September 16, 2019
typically pathetic attempt at feminism fails with weak American female characters: subject matter deserves better (& more responsible) treatment
October 1, 2023
I felt really bad for Mary she didn't deserve any of this
September 3, 2010
I've read this series over ten years ago. But I remember it being very good. For the first 18 books. After that the more it lasted the worst it got. I stopped at book 32. These days I wouldn't give it more than 20.
Back to the good stuff. I found that Gaia was a good strong, pretty but still flawed character. She was special without being annoying. It's just that once the author stopped looking over the shoulder of the ghost writer. Things went down the drain pretty fast.
Last note. The series may be in boxes but I won't be giving them away any time soon. She's a good example of an interesting main character in an interesting premise.
Back to the good stuff. I found that Gaia was a good strong, pretty but still flawed character. She was special without being annoying. It's just that once the author stopped looking over the shoulder of the ghost writer. Things went down the drain pretty fast.
Last note. The series may be in boxes but I won't be giving them away any time soon. She's a good example of an interesting main character in an interesting premise.
May 26, 2013
Wasn't much action, there was a real twist but really didnt make sense if u think about it.
3 days later after thinking about it,
KILL ME NOW. Who am I fooling? The ending was exhausting. All that effort from the 2 books from the past all gone to waste. I'm not one that sticks around a book which drags a problem through 36 books but this series is one I cannot put down, I hope #7 have more character development.
3 days later after thinking about it,
KILL ME NOW. Who am I fooling? The ending was exhausting. All that effort from the 2 books from the past all gone to waste. I'm not one that sticks around a book which drags a problem through 36 books but this series is one I cannot put down, I hope #7 have more character development.
September 22, 2012
About 30 more books in the series to go... The only reason I'm still reading this series is to find out what happens in the end. I can't leave a series unfinished. But the book wasn't that bad at all. I gave it a 3 because the same kind of events happen in all 6 books I've read so far. It needs to change a bit.
July 2, 2022
This was the first book I read of the series and I was done within a day. But what a ride! I loved it. It felt more like some mails and online blocks edited together than a real book, while the reader learns stuff from various POVs.
June 6, 2008
This was my favorite of 1-6 because I felt like a lot more progress was made with the character relationships.
December 8, 2008
i read the whole series 36 books!
January 14, 2016
08-12-2009
02-05-2013
02-05-2013
June 19, 2009
I'm addicted to these. They're so unreal, there fantabulous.
September 10, 2011
Keeps gettin' better! Go Gaia Go!
April 15, 2012
They really should start combining these books...
June 4, 2013
Deals with a lot of issues in this book. Also, I'm loving Mary as a character.
November 24, 2013
if you like to think at anytime in your life you have no fear than you will go along with this book i highly recommended
October 29, 2014
AMAZING!!!!!!!
July 5, 2008
Another great book in this series.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews