Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Wildseed Witch by Marti Dumas

1 review

chippyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
 
The Good: Black girl magic, magical girl finishing school, flower/plant magic, no romance/love interest, coming of age. The narrator was amazing. 

The Bad: Pacing was off, too much emphasis on bullies, bad teaching styles, finishing schools are ick and mysioginistic, MC is a bit of a brat. 

Hasani is obsessed with YouTube and has Summer goals of getting to 100 subs. She makes beauty/makeup videos and aims to post everyday. On her way to stay at her fathers house he tells her about his girlfriend and Hasani’s magic suddenly manifests and disrupts traffic. Thus being sent off the magical girl finishing school on a full scholarship. 

I loved the idea that all the girls have a flower affinity and it becomes their identity. The school sounds super cute and at first seems cozy. 

This book had so much potential, but so much of it was off. 

The narrator did an amazing job. I’ve read a book narrated by Channie Waites before and she came through for this bratty confused teen. 

Hasani is bullied because she's a ‘wild seed’, which translates to magic without magical immediate family members. Her classes don’t make any sense and her teachers don’t actually explain anything to her. The school KNOWS she is a late bloomer (get it? Because of the flowers??? sorry…) but they don’t take her aside and explain how things are done. She spends the first 24 hours not knowing where the bathroom is because no one tells her, she doesn’t look for one and she DOESN’T EVEN ASK. Where is the magical school induction? A teacher goes out of her way to tutor her in etiquette at the table but no one thinks to help her with magic? The adults in this book are horrid. Handing out detention after detention makes her skip down time, basically cutting her off from any social interactions with the outside world. Abuse anyone??? 

The introduction of kittens was adorable but Hasani refuses to refer to her roommates kitten by its given name, she’d much rather she refer to it by the same SHE gave it. Rude. Entitled. Spoiled. 

Not a fan of Hasani, comparing her school to Hogwarts, twice. Anyone still referencing HP in their writing clearly hasn’t read the room. Also her school is a FINISHING school. So she learns manners/etiquette and how to sit at a table. Can we not??? Ew. Schools like that exist to keep women in tiny tidy boxes so we’ll marry well and be a good housewife. Outdated and grotty concepts of how women should act. 

The pacing was a bit off. We spend the first 60% of the book at school then the last 40% solely on YouTube at home with friends. The whole friends/bullies thing was off. The pacing of some of the friends to enemies and enemies to friends were way too late. Hasani clearly has a lot of growing up to do, which happens way too late in the book. 

 The story was good, the lessons were great (Hasani needs to learn more lessons), the relationship she has with her new bestie is cute, I loved the lack of romance, and I enjoyed the black girl magic. This book just didn’t quite hit its mark. I’d probably read another if this is a series because Hasani has potential, fingers crossed she rebels and destroys the whole system.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 
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