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hiddenfallacies's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The best parts of Runaway Max are the original segments detailing her life in California before moving to Hawkins. The content makes sense for the established characters and does a good job furthering the parts of her backstory learned in the show.
Runaway Max suffers the most in the moments where it retells scenes from the show with minimal additions or changes. It also heavily depends on readers having previously watched the second season for context, keeping descriptions bland and forgetting to link together plot points. The novel also tends to repeat the same terms and thoughts over and over rather than coming up with different ways to portray Max's shifting mindset.
Overall, this is worth the read if you love the character and simply want more content of her. Just be prepared that the depth and quality of it is not the same as the show's.
Runaway Max suffers the most in the moments where it retells scenes from the show with minimal additions or changes. It also heavily depends on readers having previously watched the second season for context, keeping descriptions bland and forgetting to link together plot points. The novel also tends to repeat the same terms and thoughts over and over rather than coming up with different ways to portray Max's shifting mindset.
Overall, this is worth the read if you love the character and simply want more content of her. Just be prepared that the depth and quality of it is not the same as the show's.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Alcohol, Bullying, Racism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use, Cursing, Blood, Abandonment, and Classism
vjacques825's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
5.0
readlikelasagna's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
saydez's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition
2.0
2.5/5
I don't know if you guys know this, but I am I fan of stranger things and when I saw there was books, I had to get my hands on them. Sadly, my library only has Runaway Max, so I'll need to find other ways to read the other books in the series. The book itself was alright, I was excited to learn some new things about Max, seeing how big of a role she has in Season 4 but even though I got to learn new things about her the book also started to be a repeat of some of the scenes from the show which kind of annoyed me.
I don't know if you guys know this, but I am I fan of stranger things and when I saw there was books, I had to get my hands on them. Sadly, my library only has Runaway Max, so I'll need to find other ways to read the other books in the series. The book itself was alright, I was excited to learn some new things about Max, seeing how big of a role she has in Season 4 but even though I got to learn new things about her the book also started to be a repeat of some of the scenes from the show which kind of annoyed me.
smolherbivore's review against another edition
2.0
I was excited to get more into Max’s mind because she’s definitely one of my favorite characters from the Stranger Things series, but I was pretty disappointed in this book.
The author did a very poor job of describing scenes. I assume she was banking on the reader’s own knowledge of the tv series.
She uses a lot of the same words to describe things.. for example, she used “warm” consistently to describe how Max felt when she was touching or next to Lucas.
I felt like I was reading a draft of a book, rather than a final product.
The author did a very poor job of describing scenes. I assume she was banking on the reader’s own knowledge of the tv series.
She uses a lot of the same words to describe things.. for example, she used “warm” consistently to describe how Max felt when she was touching or next to Lucas.
I felt like I was reading a draft of a book, rather than a final product.
e_r_elmwood's review against another edition
3.0
To be honest, I'm not completely sure how I feel about this book. I mostly picked it up hoping it would delve more into the complex relationship Billy and Max obviously have, and I certainly got what I wanted. What I'm on the fence about is if it makes sense for them, though. The book was released on the same day season three was, so I have a hard time believing that the author had no knowledge of the contents. Which is why it was confusing to see direct contradictions and confusing timelines. The timeline was confusing to me, at least, I don't know if anyone else struggled. The writing also felt very middle school, but that makes sense, it is from a thirteen-year-old's perspective. I will definitely give credit where credit is due for the two lines that made me say "damn" out loud, but I can't find them lol.
The explanation for why Billy and Max had to move to Indiana makes sense. I've been wanting to have an explanation for that for ages, though I wasn't expecting the book to put Billy in such a psychotic light. Not that it's undeserved - I probably should've seen that portrayal coming - but it didn't make sense for Max to feel such grief over her step-brother in seasons three and four when he broke her childhood best friend's arm. I don't know. All I can say is that I have mixed feelings.
If I have one main praise, it's the portrayal of Susan. She was a woman who married a man she must've known to some degree was abusive and watched him hurt his son again and again while she did nothing. The exploration of her character from her daughter's point of view was fascinating, and it gives season four a new layer of depth for me.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't seriously interested in Max or Billy, but it wasn't bad all the same.
The explanation for why Billy and Max had to move to Indiana makes sense. I've been wanting to have an explanation for that for ages, though I wasn't expecting the book to put Billy in such a psychotic light. Not that it's undeserved - I probably should've seen that portrayal coming - but it didn't make sense for Max to feel such grief over her step-brother in seasons three and four when he broke her childhood best friend's arm. I don't know. All I can say is that I have mixed feelings.
If I have one main praise, it's the portrayal of Susan. She was a woman who married a man she must've known to some degree was abusive and watched him hurt his son again and again while she did nothing. The exploration of her character from her daughter's point of view was fascinating, and it gives season four a new layer of depth for me.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't seriously interested in Max or Billy, but it wasn't bad all the same.
evie_0108's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
madelynhope's review against another edition
4.0
[ 3.5 ??? ]
i love max, so this was a fun read, and i loved reading about her life before hawkins and seeing things from her perspective. however, some parts of the book dragged especially when it was just a summarization of what happened in the show.
i love max, so this was a fun read, and i loved reading about her life before hawkins and seeing things from her perspective. however, some parts of the book dragged especially when it was just a summarization of what happened in the show.