Scan barcode
katyanaish's review
4.0
****3.5 stars****
This is a tough one to really evaluate. As a comics-geek girl myself, I've read more than a few "What If" books, and so I didn't struggle over the necessary suspension of disbelief. Not just that it could happen, but how quickly everyone accepted that it did happen, rather than lock both Kittys up in an asylum. And it was fun to get to spend time, in the alt-world, with characters that we haven't gotten to do a lot with. Particularly Alfred and Cox.
And so much of that alt-world was heartbreaking. I'm glad that Kitty put together a family over there, because man, they need each other. So many of them were heart-breakingly alone.
I also think it was an interesting way to reveal our Mastermind. Because it will be fun to find out how much of what was happening in alt-world is really correct in our world.
But I had a couple problems.
1. People were douches in our world.
In several ways. Firstly, the way they were instantly like "whelp, alt-Kitty, fuck whatever is going on with you, we need you to handle this political situation, and we'll get to your crap when we have time." Honestly, I was agog - mouth hanging open - at the callous way that everyone was like here's the situation, get with it, and stop thinking about your kids. What made it worse is that literally none of our characters - none - expressed concern for our Kitty. Everyone just shrugged and reassured alt-Kitty that Kitty would handle it, and then went on with their lives. We had, throughout the book, maybe two beats where Jeff had a worried expression for a split second. That just doesn't cut it. Especially when our world wasn't dealing with life-and-death crises. Yes, a political crisis, but not like ... assassination attempts and etc. I get why we didn't have a lot of freaking out in alt-world, with alt-Chuckie and such - they just didn't have time, because they were literally running for their lives the whole time. Not so with our world. They simply couldn't be bothered to care. And that REALLY hurts.
Throughout this series, I've had a problem with the way her team seems to always either dismiss Kitty, treat her like a moron, or take her for granted. The brief opening of this book, with her Secret Service gals, made it clear that they'd all be beating her down to make her into some bland political creature, which nicely established that that treatment has just increased since the election. Basically, they consider her to be an embarrassment, rather than an asset. This despite all she has done. And this book turned that knob up to eleven - I honestly got the impression that no one in our world cared that much if they ever got Kitty back. And that's awful.
2. The danger of unlimited powers.
This is a concern I've had about Jamie for a bit now. There's no clear understanding of what she can and can't do, and frankly, after this book, she seems to have god powers. That's a problem. Whenever you are going to have a powered entity in your story, you need to have clearly defined rules in order for the story to stay compelling. For example, Algar and ACE. They are our two most powerful entities (at least so far), and they have very clear rules and lines about what they can/will and can't/won't do. And puzzling out their hints is one of the great funs of this series. But Jamie has no such restrictions, and it makes her a deus ex machina (and/or Mary Sue) that can be problematic. Further, given what went on with Naomi, I am not understanding why some of these supreme being types haven't scooped Jamie up out of the world yet, as we've been told that god-powers are not allowed.
3. This book desperately needed a wrap up.
I think we could have alleviated a whole lot of that feeling of her team / friends / family not giving a fuck about her if we could have had a chapter of them all reconnecting. Right now, it feels like the same dismissive crap from point 1. They're reaction was "oh, she's gone. *shrug*" and now "oh, she's back. *shrug*"
I'm just disappointed. Because Kitty is a really great character. Not without flaws, no. But frankly, an unflawed character is bullcrap, so I love her flaws and all. And she doesn't deserve to be stuck surrounded by people who roll their eyes and treat her like a boat anchor strapped around their necks. But that's how they honestly all seem. I've felt that before this book, but now, I feel it VERY much, and it makes me incredibly sad.
This is a tough one to really evaluate. As a comics-geek girl myself, I've read more than a few "What If" books, and so I didn't struggle over the necessary suspension of disbelief. Not just that it could happen, but how quickly everyone accepted that it did happen, rather than lock both Kittys up in an asylum. And it was fun to get to spend time, in the alt-world, with characters that we haven't gotten to do a lot with. Particularly Alfred and Cox.
And so much of that alt-world was heartbreaking. I'm glad that Kitty put together a family over there, because man, they need each other. So many of them were heart-breakingly alone.
I also think it was an interesting way to reveal our Mastermind. Because it will be fun to find out how much of what was happening in alt-world is really correct in our world.
But I had a couple problems.
1. People were douches in our world.
In several ways. Firstly, the way they were instantly like "whelp, alt-Kitty, fuck whatever is going on with you, we need you to handle this political situation, and we'll get to your crap when we have time." Honestly, I was agog - mouth hanging open - at the callous way that everyone was like here's the situation, get with it, and stop thinking about your kids. What made it worse is that literally none of our characters - none - expressed concern for our Kitty.
Spoiler
Dude, she had her head broken open. Badly enough that Jeff thought she could die before they could get her to the hospital. And alt-Kitty made it clear that she had been in a car accident, with people trying to run her off the road and kill her while she was in a car with her kids. So Kitty with a potentially lethal head injury got dropped into a situation that was almost guaranteed certain death. And NO ONE GAVE A FUCK.Throughout this series, I've had a problem with the way her team seems to always either dismiss Kitty, treat her like a moron, or take her for granted. The brief opening of this book, with her Secret Service gals, made it clear that they'd all be beating her down to make her into some bland political creature, which nicely established that that treatment has just increased since the election. Basically, they consider her to be an embarrassment, rather than an asset. This despite all she has done. And this book turned that knob up to eleven - I honestly got the impression that no one in our world cared that much if they ever got Kitty back. And that's awful.
2. The danger of unlimited powers.
This is a concern I've had about Jamie for a bit now. There's no clear understanding of what she can and can't do, and frankly, after this book, she seems to have god powers. That's a problem. Whenever you are going to have a powered entity in your story, you need to have clearly defined rules in order for the story to stay compelling. For example, Algar and ACE. They are our two most powerful entities (at least so far), and they have very clear rules and lines about what they can/will and can't/won't do. And puzzling out their hints is one of the great funs of this series. But Jamie has no such restrictions, and it makes her a deus ex machina (and/or Mary Sue) that can be problematic. Further, given what went on with Naomi, I am not understanding why some of these supreme being types haven't scooped Jamie up out of the world yet, as we've been told that god-powers are not allowed.
3. This book desperately needed a wrap up.
I think we could have alleviated a whole lot of that feeling of her team / friends / family not giving a fuck about her if we could have had a chapter of them all reconnecting. Right now, it feels like the same dismissive crap from point 1. They're reaction was "oh, she's gone. *shrug*" and now "oh, she's back. *shrug*"
I'm just disappointed. Because Kitty is a really great character. Not without flaws, no. But frankly, an unflawed character is bullcrap, so I love her flaws and all. And she doesn't deserve to be stuck surrounded by people who roll their eyes and treat her like a boat anchor strapped around their necks. But that's how they honestly all seem. I've felt that before this book, but now, I feel it VERY much, and it makes me incredibly sad.
blodeuedd's review against another edition
4.0
In this book you do not have 1 Kitty, you have 2!! The more the merrier.
We have 2 parallel worlds (there are more, multiverse and all). But 2 Kittys change place and you can only imagine what will go down.
I do prefer the real Kitty world. The other one was sad, and omg NO MARTINI. That is beyond sad. Instead she is married to Chuck. But Other Kitty shakes things up cos things are never perfect when Kitty is around. Someone is after them in that world. It was fun to see Kitty alone for once, but it was also sad.
Right and in our normal Kitty world Other Kitty comes in and is all wtf? But she adapts cos she is Kitty. And she is helpful with a scandal other Kitty caused.
Omg, are you confused yet? Lol. 2 Kittys, 2 worlds. 1 Martini. 2 Chuckies.
A fun ride, it worked eventhough it jumped from Kitty to Kitty. And I do prefer our Kitty, she is kick-ass.
The hunt for the Mastermind is still on too, and we get some answers. I look forward to the next book. The title has me a bit concerned .
FUN!
We have 2 parallel worlds (there are more, multiverse and all). But 2 Kittys change place and you can only imagine what will go down.
I do prefer the real Kitty world. The other one was sad, and omg NO MARTINI. That is beyond sad. Instead she is married to Chuck. But Other Kitty shakes things up cos things are never perfect when Kitty is around. Someone is after them in that world. It was fun to see Kitty alone for once, but it was also sad.
Right and in our normal Kitty world Other Kitty comes in and is all wtf? But she adapts cos she is Kitty. And she is helpful with a scandal other Kitty caused.
Omg, are you confused yet? Lol. 2 Kittys, 2 worlds. 1 Martini. 2 Chuckies.
A fun ride, it worked eventhough it jumped from Kitty to Kitty. And I do prefer our Kitty, she is kick-ass.
The hunt for the Mastermind is still on too, and we get some answers. I look forward to the next book. The title has me a bit concerned .
FUN!
lessa_riel's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
bewoelkt_aber_heiter's review against another edition
4.0
3,5 Sterne: Von der Prämisse dieses Bandes war ich zunächst nicht allzu begeistert, aber wie immer macht Gini Koch daraus eine unheimlich spannende und unterhaltsame Sache, die sich schnell wegliest. Durch den Universums-Wechsel erlangen beide Kittys eine neue Sicht auf ihr eigenes Leben und gerade das Anfangsstadium, in welchem beide erst herausfinden müssen, dass es sie in ein alternatives Universum verschlagen hat, war zum Lachen komisch. Insgesamt fehlten mir aber etwas tiefgründigere emotionale Regungen, die darüber hinausgehen, dass beide Kittys der Familie der anderen helfen wollen. Die alternative Kitty war zudem etwas zu sehr auf Tuchfühlung mit Jeff und hat insgesamt auf mich erst auf den letzten Seiten so gewirkt, als würde ihr wirklich etwas an ihrer eigenen Wirklichkeit liegen. Daher bin ich froh, es im nächsten Band wieder einzig und allein mit "unserer" Kitty zu tun zu haben.
cj13's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
jbrooxd's review against another edition
5.0
Great addition to this series. I was worried that I wouldn't like the alternate universe twist but it works. The stories from each universe are terrific and the twist made this feel really fresh.
lpcoolgirl's review against another edition
5.0
Loved reading this book again, of Bizzaro World, such a great book that was the start to the end of the biggest longest running plot line in the series that I know of. So great!
*First read January 1st, 2017*
Another great book in this series, and different, too! Loved reading it, and awesome that it's my first book of 2017! Can't wait to read more of this amazing series!
*First read January 1st, 2017*
Another great book in this series, and different, too! Loved reading it, and awesome that it's my first book of 2017! Can't wait to read more of this amazing series!
kbairbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I really really enjoyed this! Such a cool and different approach to her other books and it was like a breath of fresh air! Loved the double Kitty/multiverse/action and I’m glad we finally know who the mastermind is!
auntkatkat's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
More...