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1.88 AVERAGE
1.88 AVERAGE
Lol. Um...this was interesting? FYI...the boy is actually pterodactyl throughout the novel...he does not shapeshift. It's weird.
I feel like by the end of this strange novel the author was making a point about our society's disillusionment of college education and the worth of a college degree in what feels like a constant recession.
Maybe this novel is too cerebral for me and I'm missing something...
I feel like by the end of this strange novel the author was making a point about our society's disillusionment of college education and the worth of a college degree in what feels like a constant recession.
Maybe this novel is too cerebral for me and I'm missing something...
What on earth did I just attempt to read? I thought maybe this would be satire with a few good laughs. Hells to the nope! This was a freakishly weird and slightly pornographic tale that takes itself way too seriously. Not my cup of fur in the slightest.
Rarely do I speed skim a book after attempting a few chapters. However, even a few chapters was more than enough to make my brain want to bleed out of my ears. I cannot recommend this one because honestly I gave up after the first 5 chapters.
Rarely do I speed skim a book after attempting a few chapters. However, even a few chapters was more than enough to make my brain want to bleed out of my ears. I cannot recommend this one because honestly I gave up after the first 5 chapters.
i have so many questions for the publishing team that created this monstrosity
Shiels is a complete and utter perfectionist and if something isn’t perfect, she makes it that way. In order to be student body chair of Vista View High you need to be all of this and more. Shiels is always prepared for whatever challenges the day might bring, yet when the first interspecies transfer literally lands at Vista View, Shiels is not prepared at all. You think that the principal would say ‘Oh by the way, we have a TEENAGE PTERODACTYL coming to school here.’ Nope. Nothing. No warning whatsoever. Little does she know however that as soon as Pyke, the teenage pterodactyl, lands at her high school he will change her life forever. Very different from any other book I have ever read, I did find Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend hard to read, however the idea was quite brilliant. I enjoyed the almost futuristic, yet realistic idea of a Pterodactyl boy coming to a high school and flourishing. I did at times find Shiels kind of annoying, but then Sheldon seemed to balance her out and make her a bit better every time she freaked out. Overall even though I did not care for the book, I enjoyed the ideas it presented.
*Reviewed for San Francisco Book Review
*Reviewed for San Francisco Book Review
There are so many things wrong with this book, I'm not sure where to start. There are immediate questions, like why is there a pterodactyl here? Why is an old guy writing YA fiction from the POV of a teenage girl? There are no answers in this book. The writing is stilted, I can't believe any teen or person could relate to it. If inter species love is the new thing, bring it on, but bring it with a decent writer.
I read this book so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
Sometimes, a book you think is going to be a train wreck is actually pretty awesome. (See my review of [b:Rampage at Waterloo|22718728|Rampage at Waterloo (Battlesaurus, #1)|Brian Falkner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1423522693s/22718728.jpg|42247019]!) And other times, a book you think is going to be a train wreck is a *glorious* train wreck. It’s so bad it’s awesome. You giggle. You guffaw. You give it a good rating because, even though it was terrible, it was fun to read.
And then, every so often…
You get Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend.
Guys.
It was bad.
It was SO. BAD.
It wasn’t even a fun kind of bad, where the author had an idea that maybe he was writing a piece of crap and you could giggle along with him while you waited to see where it ended up. It wasn’t, as I thought from reading the cover blurb, a goofy send-up of teen shapeshifter romances, tongue firmly in cheek.
Nope.
First thing’s first – the pterodactyl in question is not a shapeshifter. He’s just a pterodactyl. A prehistoric beastie that shows up at a Canadian high school one day and registers for classes. And somehow, everybody falls in love with him. The student body has bizarre dreams about Pyke the Pterodactyl. His band plays at the big Autumn dance and is the biggest hit ever, even though all he does is scream along to the music. Because he’s A PTERODACTYL.
Our protagonist is also pretty unlikeable. Shiels is a control freak, and she sort of knows it, but she doesn’t really care. She’s determined to get into the social anthropology program of a really elite university and study with this elite professor, and she will step on toes, stab backs, and talk down to the school principal if it helps her reach her goal. (Shiels also has this weird habit of pushing her boyfriend, Sheldon, into a janitor’s closet for…..something. I thought maybe it was sex? But they establish later in the book that they’ve never had sex. So maybe just heavy petting. Either way, Sheldon just sort of goes along with it, but we’re left with the impression it’s not his favourite thing.)
So anyway, we have a girl who falls in love with a pterodactyl. And because she “wrangle danced” with him at the Autumn dance, her nose turns purple and his crest turns red and pulses when they’re close to each other. Meanwhile, Pyke has another, “actual” girlfriend at school – a girl called Jocelyne, whose nose has also turned purple from her hot pterodactyl boyfriend. We the readers are treated to a lot of angsting and longing after this pterodactyl and his amazing pecs and his soft, purple fur.
I just… I can’t even with this book. It’s all written in a vaguely stream-of-consciousness fashion, as Shiels tries to process her reaction to Pyke while trying to maintain control of the situation of having a pterodactyl enroll in the freshman class. (She’s the student-body chair, and takes her duties very seriously, to the point of spontaneously drafting Protocols and Proclamations on her cell phone before handing them to the principal and demanding they be implemented.) We never find out why people have such a visceral reaction to Pyke – whether he’s releasing some pheromone, or tapping into humans’ genetic memory, or whatever. Nope, he just makes girls lust after him and turn their noses purple.
The end of the book is so bizarre I don’t even want to think about it. And you’re not even quite sure what’s going to happen after the last page, so it’s not even a really satisfying ending. Honestly, the most satisfying part of this book was getting to the end of the last page.
Things to Know: SHE FALLS IN LOVE WITH A PTERODACTYL. SHE FANTASIZES ABOUT A PTERODACTYL. Sex – with humans and pterodactyls – is discussed very frankly. The Autumn dance scene, and the morning after, gets kind of weird as people aren’t sure whether or not they were under the influence of anything other than Pyke’s Magical Awesomeness. Honestly, if you’ve read this much of the review and you’re still wondering whether there are any weird topics to know about, just go for it. Bless you.
Sometimes, a book you think is going to be a train wreck is actually pretty awesome. (See my review of [b:Rampage at Waterloo|22718728|Rampage at Waterloo (Battlesaurus, #1)|Brian Falkner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1423522693s/22718728.jpg|42247019]!) And other times, a book you think is going to be a train wreck is a *glorious* train wreck. It’s so bad it’s awesome. You giggle. You guffaw. You give it a good rating because, even though it was terrible, it was fun to read.
And then, every so often…
You get Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend.
Guys.
It was bad.
It was SO. BAD.
It wasn’t even a fun kind of bad, where the author had an idea that maybe he was writing a piece of crap and you could giggle along with him while you waited to see where it ended up. It wasn’t, as I thought from reading the cover blurb, a goofy send-up of teen shapeshifter romances, tongue firmly in cheek.
Nope.
First thing’s first – the pterodactyl in question is not a shapeshifter. He’s just a pterodactyl. A prehistoric beastie that shows up at a Canadian high school one day and registers for classes. And somehow, everybody falls in love with him. The student body has bizarre dreams about Pyke the Pterodactyl. His band plays at the big Autumn dance and is the biggest hit ever, even though all he does is scream along to the music. Because he’s A PTERODACTYL.
Our protagonist is also pretty unlikeable. Shiels is a control freak, and she sort of knows it, but she doesn’t really care. She’s determined to get into the social anthropology program of a really elite university and study with this elite professor, and she will step on toes, stab backs, and talk down to the school principal if it helps her reach her goal. (Shiels also has this weird habit of pushing her boyfriend, Sheldon, into a janitor’s closet for…..something. I thought maybe it was sex? But they establish later in the book that they’ve never had sex. So maybe just heavy petting. Either way, Sheldon just sort of goes along with it, but we’re left with the impression it’s not his favourite thing.)
So anyway, we have a girl who falls in love with a pterodactyl. And because she “wrangle danced” with him at the Autumn dance, her nose turns purple and his crest turns red and pulses when they’re close to each other. Meanwhile, Pyke has another, “actual” girlfriend at school – a girl called Jocelyne, whose nose has also turned purple from her hot pterodactyl boyfriend. We the readers are treated to a lot of angsting and longing after this pterodactyl and his amazing pecs and his soft, purple fur.
I just… I can’t even with this book. It’s all written in a vaguely stream-of-consciousness fashion, as Shiels tries to process her reaction to Pyke while trying to maintain control of the situation of having a pterodactyl enroll in the freshman class. (She’s the student-body chair, and takes her duties very seriously, to the point of spontaneously drafting Protocols and Proclamations on her cell phone before handing them to the principal and demanding they be implemented.) We never find out why people have such a visceral reaction to Pyke – whether he’s releasing some pheromone, or tapping into humans’ genetic memory, or whatever. Nope, he just makes girls lust after him and turn their noses purple.
The end of the book is so bizarre I don’t even want to think about it. And you’re not even quite sure what’s going to happen after the last page, so it’s not even a really satisfying ending. Honestly, the most satisfying part of this book was getting to the end of the last page.
Things to Know: SHE FALLS IN LOVE WITH A PTERODACTYL. SHE FANTASIZES ABOUT A PTERODACTYL. Sex – with humans and pterodactyls – is discussed very frankly. The Autumn dance scene, and the morning after, gets kind of weird as people aren’t sure whether or not they were under the influence of anything other than Pyke’s Magical Awesomeness. Honestly, if you’ve read this much of the review and you’re still wondering whether there are any weird topics to know about, just go for it. Bless you.
It could have been so good. I'm not entirely sure what I just read.
hard dnf. i cant follow the writing style. lots of dialogue was arbitrary and pointless. it wasn't fun. it also somehow felt like they were comparing disability or race (i cant tell) to being a dinosaur. just no