*I got an ARC from Macmillan/Henry Holt in exchange for an honest review*
Not gonna lie, I'm going between 2 stars and 3 stars because it was good, kin*I got an ARC from Macmillan/Henry Holt in exchange for an honest review*
Not gonna lie, I'm going between 2 stars and 3 stars because it was good, kind of. Like, I liked it for the most part (I think), I just did not care for quite a few parts of it. If you want to read more specifically what I mean, you can read the rest of my review but it is entirely spoilers sooooo be warned:
(view spoiler)[ so it played off stereotypes too much and I was not fond of that. The main characters were a Mexican boy who wasn't living legally in the US, a hijabi Muslim girl, a racist & Islamophobic girl and guy (the latter of whom is also a huge conspiracy theorist) who seem to quickly realize they're wrong after talking it out and a boy who doesn't treat his younger sister right but, after a tragedy, realizes he's wrong for doing that. There is also a girl who has cancer but that's not a stereotype. And just all of them together and the big discussions of being defending themselves and explaining why they aren't living legally in the US, constantly discussing how people are so Islamophobic etc, all collectively seemed to be like just dumping diversity in for the sake of informing people about how they're wrong and thinking they're doing it right. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for better informing people but it just seemed so much and like it wasn't done well and all in all just made the book a little ugh. The good part though lied in how the book doesn't read like a fully normal book as the chapters are relatively short because the book is about a shooting and, if you're involved in one, everything feels fast-paced and slow-paced at the same time and I got that intensity through the book (which, tbh, overall the book made me feel a little uncomfortable for reading it because of the many shootings the US has gone through....more on this later though). Another thing I didn't really care for or really understand I guess was why there were two POVs. I mean, in the beginning, you get POVs from all the teens pretty much but then it all just fades out to Parker and Miranda's POVs which confused at first because I expected the other characters' POVs to show up but then it only switched between Miranda and Parker for the most part so that was eh. Lastly, about the uncomfortableness so, when I was going through my ARCs yesterday and figuring out the order I wanted to read things, I was wondering whether or not I wanted to read RHFB. Before, when I was requesting it (or, rather, the box of ARCs it would be in) several months ago, I was interested in reading it because I like mystery books. But, when I went to check it out again yesterday, the book just felt off to me. It felt kind of wrong to read it, mostly because of the shootings going on, and I didn't know how this book would portray the shooting in the book and what would happen. Then I realized that I wouldn't know unless I read it and that, if the book did make me uncomfortable while/after reading it, then at least I could let other people know. The final consensus is, I don't know because my thoughts on the book and how the shooting was portrayed was kind of overshadowed by my thoughts about the diversity/stereotypes issues so I've realized I can't really accurate/honestly separate the two and clearly tell whether I was uncomfortable about how the book portrayed the shooting, or if I was uncomfortable because of other issues etc. Overall, I'd say use your own judgment on the shooting part and know that the diversity part is eh. (hide spoiler)] Anyways, regardless of whether or not you read the spoilers or not, please politely let me know what your thoughts are on my review and about the book! Also, if you are posting spoilerly, please make it really clear that you're discussing spoilers and give people an opportunity to not be spoiled such as doing something like SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!!!!!!!
and then, after like 3 or 4 blank lines, you can say your thoughts/the spoiler!
Thanks, have a great day/night and tata for now!...more
OMG THIS WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT review on my blog (avdreader.wordpress.com) coming closer to release date BUT OMG LOVED THIS also i didn't realize thiOMG THIS WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT review on my blog (avdreader.wordpress.com) coming closer to release date BUT OMG LOVED THIS also i didn't realize this would be part of a series so yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss...more
Loading...
