22.04.25
As I said about the prequel to this book, Klune does good work but it doesn't always pay off. This was all over the place in terms of tone, plot and character, lurching from one thing to another - and it did such a poor job of establishing sympathy that I ended up wondering what made the goodies so sure they were good.
29.12.24
The three Klune books I've read this year (see also The Extraordinaries and Wolfsong) are different in many ways - but all are gently humorous queer fantasies emphasising the power of found families. Which is, of course, a lovely message, but this particular story was rather like being bludgeoned with a rubber kitten - sweet and annoying at the same time.
20.08.24
There's a thin line between brilliant and terrible, and this story walks it, occasionally dropping a foot on both sides. The angst! The yearning! The refreshing reinterpretation of masculinity and male relationships that nevertheless continues to disregard the role of women so that the few female characters were entirely nominal! The evocative and distinctive voice that needed a much stronger editorial intervention to tighten up an often-meandering narrative! Overall, it was a better novel than The Extraordinaries, but then that was for a very different readership.
57%
15.04.24This story, while funny and gloriously queer, featured one of the most irritating protagonists I've ever encountered. Why two hot guys were literally fighting over this self-obsessed, excruciatingly slow-on-the-uptake 16-year-old-who-behaved-like-a-10-year-old*, I had no idea. And the true secret identities were so obvious from almost the start that the 'great revelation' towards the end was more of a 'well, duh!', along with another twist that was basically spelled out which will be properly revealed in Book 2. Still, it was fun. (And I'd already bought Book 2 when it was offer so I might as well read it.)
*This aspect was particularly annoying. I know plenty of 16-year-olds and, yes, they're still children, but they try very hard not to behave like children. I also know people with ADHD and they don't behave like children either. Neither being a teenager nor ADHD are developmental limiters - quite the opposite, really.
