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toritoot's review
3.0
I read the first volume of Fool's Gold sometime in high school, or maybe it was University, and I remember loving it. But I never had the money for volume 2, then Tokyopop shut down and the series never finished. I ended up tracking down volume 2 recently, so I decided to finally read the whole series (what there is of it).
I'm not likely to ever read this again.
Objectively, I can understand Reeder's intention with the story. The way it is written, I assume that the final volume was meant to turn the whole pyrite idea on its head, leaving us with the lesson that just because you aren't like that guy over there doesn't mean you are a better person. You might actually be just as awful and not even know it. But it takes a while for the story to show these intentions, and in the meantime, you come to hate every single character minus one. The best character in the entire story is Blake, and we spend the majority of the story watching him be maligned left and right when he doesn't deserve it. He's so obviously OCD and struggling with it, has a kind heart but doesn't know how to express it, comes across as standoffish against his own best intentions. He's just so dang sympathetic.
But Penny is just...terrible. Again, I can understand Reeder's intentions. We're obviously supposed to like and sympathize with Penny and appreciate her intentions, even if we disagree with her methods. But I didn't like her. I didn't sympathize with her. And in fact, I quickly came to see her as the worst of all the awful characters in both books. She's selfish and arrogant and foolish and so incredibly lacking in wisdom. She starts the pyrite club under the guise of wanting to help girls, but I don't think she really wanted to help anyone. I think she wanted to feel superior.
I assume volume 3 was going to address this, and if a volume 3 were to ever be published (it obviously won't), I would be willing to read it and find out. But there would have to be a very strong turn-about for some of the characters in order to eliminate the distasteful feeling the first two volumes have left me with.
I'm not likely to ever read this again.
Objectively, I can understand Reeder's intention with the story. The way it is written, I assume that the final volume was meant to turn the whole pyrite idea on its head, leaving us with the lesson that just because you aren't like that guy over there doesn't mean you are a better person. You might actually be just as awful and not even know it. But it takes a while for the story to show these intentions, and in the meantime, you come to hate every single character minus one. The best character in the entire story is Blake, and we spend the majority of the story watching him be maligned left and right when he doesn't deserve it. He's so obviously OCD and struggling with it, has a kind heart but doesn't know how to express it, comes across as standoffish against his own best intentions. He's just so dang sympathetic.
But Penny is just...terrible. Again, I can understand Reeder's intentions. We're obviously supposed to like and sympathize with Penny and appreciate her intentions, even if we disagree with her methods. But I didn't like her. I didn't sympathize with her. And in fact, I quickly came to see her as the worst of all the awful characters in both books. She's selfish and arrogant and foolish and so incredibly lacking in wisdom. She starts the pyrite club under the guise of wanting to help girls, but I don't think she really wanted to help anyone. I think she wanted to feel superior.
I assume volume 3 was going to address this, and if a volume 3 were to ever be published (it obviously won't), I would be willing to read it and find out. But there would have to be a very strong turn-about for some of the characters in order to eliminate the distasteful feeling the first two volumes have left me with.
quinnster's review
2.0
Penny's kind of irritating. How can she possibly know everything when she's barely dated anyone? And then she doesn't recognize the pyrite behavior of her own boyfriend. Hmmmm...
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