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turniip's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is a pretty standard book for me - nothing too outstanding but it kept my interest, flowed well, and delivered on everything it promised it would. The fact that it's a debut gives me hopes that I'll like books from this author even more in the future.
YA mysteries that don't center around high school students are surprisingly rare, and I appreciated that the POV characters in this are freshly graduated and on that precipice of going forward into "the real world" but halted by what's happening in Snakebite. It adds to the tension for me, and if all the seriousness of the plot was interrupted by homecoming details I think it would have ruined the book for me.
I liked Logan a lot - she's blunt and a bit crass but she clearly cares about everyone around her and she has a reason for everything she says. Ashley needed time to grow on me - the sympathy I felt for her initially was easily erased by her mindset when Logan's family comes to town and how complicit she was with her shitty friends being awful. I tend to get just as angry at characters who excuse bigotry as I would for the bigots themselves, so I would have liked a bit more growth there, or a scene where she rises against it (other than the obvious scene we have towards the end).
The dads and their show didn't work for me, and I don't really know why. It felt off the whole time, and I don't know if that's because of the intentional direction of the plot or because I just didn't buy the characterization of them, particularly Brandon. I liked Garcia a lot, and I would have taken more time with her over the transcripts from the show.
Mild spoilers below.
Onto the mystery. I figured it out pretty early on, but that's not a demerit against the book - I do think the book tries to be leading with a pronoun usage when "the host" is mentioned, attempting to have the reader think of the likelihood of one outcome more than others, but it might have been more effective to avoid pronouns, since it just had me look for named characters other than the red herring character, and then it was obvious. Credit should be given for how the mystery played out, though, especially for a debut. The added aspects of Logan's past and the real reasons for leaving Snakebite were great additions and well thought out (even if they require further suspension of disbelief than I thought I needed for this book).
All in all, I don't know how memorable this book will be for me, but it was worth my time and I had no real complaints that aren't easily written off by knowing this is Gould's first book. I'm looking forward to reading whatever she comes up with next.
YA mysteries that don't center around high school students are surprisingly rare, and I appreciated that the POV characters in this are freshly graduated and on that precipice of going forward into "the real world" but halted by what's happening in Snakebite. It adds to the tension for me, and if all the seriousness of the plot was interrupted by homecoming details I think it would have ruined the book for me.
I liked Logan a lot - she's blunt and a bit crass but she clearly cares about everyone around her and she has a reason for everything she says. Ashley needed time to grow on me - the sympathy I felt for her initially was easily erased by her mindset when Logan's family comes to town and how complicit she was with her shitty friends being awful. I tend to get just as angry at characters who excuse bigotry as I would for the bigots themselves, so I would have liked a bit more growth there, or a scene where she rises against it (other than the obvious scene we have towards the end).
The dads and their show didn't work for me, and I don't really know why. It felt off the whole time, and I don't know if that's because of the intentional direction of the plot or because I just didn't buy the characterization of them, particularly Brandon. I liked Garcia a lot, and I would have taken more time with her over the transcripts from the show.
Mild spoilers below.
Onto the mystery. I figured it out pretty early on, but that's not a demerit against the book - I do think the book tries to be leading with a pronoun usage when "the host" is mentioned, attempting to have the reader think of the likelihood of one outcome more than others, but it might have been more effective to avoid pronouns, since it just had me look for named characters other than the red herring character, and then it was obvious. Credit should be given for how the mystery played out, though, especially for a debut. The added aspects of Logan's past and the real reasons for leaving Snakebite were great additions and well thought out (even if they require further suspension of disbelief than I thought I needed for this book).
All in all, I don't know how memorable this book will be for me, but it was worth my time and I had no real complaints that aren't easily written off by knowing this is Gould's first book. I'm looking forward to reading whatever she comes up with next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Child death, and Confinement
danaleelin's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Violence, Torture, Stalking, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Grief, Gore, Death, and Confinement
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse
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