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kovost's review against another edition
1.0
DNF @ 60%
I say this with the utmost sorrow and regret (and vague heap of guilt), but I… have a lot of problems with this book and no patience to heave my ass through the final leg.
Where I wanted to love this because it’s advertised as perfect for fans of Carry On, I ended up disappointed, extremely uncomfortable at times, and with an overall detachment from the characters to the point of not really caring where the plot took me. With a little nudge, because I’m stubborn to a fault, I came to the conclusion that trying to ride out the last 40% for the sake of saying I finished it wasn’t worth it.
In a TL;DR kind of fashion, I’ll make a bullet list.
• The concept is interesting and appealing by summary, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired in its lackluster dryness layered on top of a lot of problematic things that come packing with a swift punch to the jaw if you have no idea that they’re there.
• The pacing is… strange and scattered, but mostly just too damn fast and disjointed.
• There’s definitely some underdevelopment with the characters both as individuals and together. I had no real attachment or interest in Johnny as a character. Like I had no real feelings about him one way or the other, except for mild peevishness at times. I literally just did not care about him or anyone else.
• There’s an extreme and noticeable lack of chemistry with the love interest, making their interactions that are meant to further their relationship awkward and hollow, and making it very hard for me, as a reader, to buy into it even a fraction. I have a love-hate relationship with insta-love romances as it is, but this one felt so forced and superficial that I couldn’t even look at it objectively and go “well, you moved a little too fast, I would have liked to see a little building, a dash of slow-burn maybe possibly, but I can see the potential”
Separately, these things are tolerable enough so long as there are other qualities keeping my interest. Altogether, delivered to me in the same kind of form as when your necklaces get extremely knotted and you can’t seem to find the end or beginning of them to even start untangling them so you’re frustrated and flustered and slowly losing the ability to care, it’s too much and I just can’t justify spending any more time on it. I’m sure the book has rounds of editing to go still and I’ve seen some glowing reviews so I don’t know if this is a “it’s not you, it’s me” situation but I’m not sure if I would recommend this one. (Also, that necklace thing might just be me and my severe impatience, but.)
Rep: gay and latinx mc, gay li, a trans side character, queer minor characters
Warnings: bullying, a violent hate crime (detailed), transphobia, homophobia, slurs and derogatory terms for both, forced outing, and kidnapping
↠ read for the reading rush
I say this with the utmost sorrow and regret (and vague heap of guilt), but I… have a lot of problems with this book and no patience to heave my ass through the final leg.
Where I wanted to love this because it’s advertised as perfect for fans of Carry On, I ended up disappointed, extremely uncomfortable at times, and with an overall detachment from the characters to the point of not really caring where the plot took me. With a little nudge, because I’m stubborn to a fault, I came to the conclusion that trying to ride out the last 40% for the sake of saying I finished it wasn’t worth it.
In a TL;DR kind of fashion, I’ll make a bullet list.
• The concept is interesting and appealing by summary, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired in its lackluster dryness layered on top of a lot of problematic things that come packing with a swift punch to the jaw if you have no idea that they’re there.
• The pacing is… strange and scattered, but mostly just too damn fast and disjointed.
• There’s definitely some underdevelopment with the characters both as individuals and together. I had no real attachment or interest in Johnny as a character. Like I had no real feelings about him one way or the other, except for mild peevishness at times. I literally just did not care about him or anyone else.
• There’s an extreme and noticeable lack of chemistry with the love interest, making their interactions that are meant to further their relationship awkward and hollow, and making it very hard for me, as a reader, to buy into it even a fraction. I have a love-hate relationship with insta-love romances as it is, but this one felt so forced and superficial that I couldn’t even look at it objectively and go “well, you moved a little too fast, I would have liked to see a little building, a dash of slow-burn maybe possibly, but I can see the potential”
Separately, these things are tolerable enough so long as there are other qualities keeping my interest. Altogether, delivered to me in the same kind of form as when your necklaces get extremely knotted and you can’t seem to find the end or beginning of them to even start untangling them so you’re frustrated and flustered and slowly losing the ability to care, it’s too much and I just can’t justify spending any more time on it. I’m sure the book has rounds of editing to go still and I’ve seen some glowing reviews so I don’t know if this is a “it’s not you, it’s me” situation but I’m not sure if I would recommend this one. (Also, that necklace thing might just be me and my severe impatience, but.)
Rep: gay and latinx mc, gay li, a trans side character, queer minor characters
Warnings: bullying, a violent hate crime (detailed), transphobia, homophobia, slurs and derogatory terms for both, forced outing, and kidnapping
↠ read for the reading rush
managedbybooks's review against another edition
1.0
This was..... bad. The language in this was hugely harmful and I really had to force myself not to DNF immediately for the purposes of this review. Even then, this took me so long to read because I had to keep putting it down because I was so uncomfortable and disgusted. I can't think of a single redeeming point for this book.
stitchsaddiction's review
2.0
I'm a Gay Wizard is the story of two teenagers Johnny and his best friend, Alison.
When I had read the book description of the book, I was intrigued as I haven't come across many books for teenagers that focus on characters who aren't traditionally CISGender and heterosexual. Johnny is gay and incredibly comfortable about his sexuality and Alison is transgender and again, comfortable with who she is. A wonderful and welcome set of characters that many teenagers will relate to.
However, there is absolutely no warning anywhere (the cover is bright and cheerful etc) of just how dark the story gets. There is incidents that are clearly triggering subject matters as Johnny and Alison are targeted by bullies and there is a somewhat graphic telling of hate crimes as the two are assaulted due to transphobia and homophobia. I am an adult and the episode left myself traumatised as I have been a victim of such a hate crime and I can only imagine how someone who is newly 'out of the closet' or working through the emotional turmoil that comes with processing your gender or sexuality would feel reading these horrific events.
After reading about one such moment, I forced myself to continue reading in the hope that retribution would come with also moments of fun and excitement for the two teenagers. 'I'm a Gay Wizard' felt like it needed several rewrites to iron out inconsistencies and perhaps balance the darkness of the story with more moments of light and fun. The story often didn't make sense and I was left with many questions which went unresolved.
I had hoped that from the description, there would be lots of vivid and varied examples of the two performing magic. This wasn't the case, prior to the two disappearing, they only perform two spells - one is a failure and the other so disastrous that they bring about destruction to the area around them. I was wanting more and was disappointed by what magic did occur - it just seemed pretty mediocre and there was no explanation given as to just why the spell the two had performed had gone so awry and drawn the attention of the Institute.
I felt as others have said in reviews that there is a pretty obvious plot-hole when it comes to the Legacy children who attend the institute. I figured out they maybe similar to the purebloods found in a certain series of novels about a wizard; but wondered why they were elite? Were they automatically magically superior to those born to non-magical people or were the children out there who didn't possess magic? Again, it felt like there was a lack of information that other books focused on magical beings ensure is given to the reader about the people and places featured in the tale.
I also wondered how the non-Legacy students succeed in school, or, why are they automatically looked down upon because they don't come from a magical family? I could go on with my questions but there are too many.
This story could have been so good, could have given gay and trans teenagers two characters to relate to in a positive manner and have a fantasy novel to have fun with. Sadly, it lacked so much to make it a series I want to delve back into.
When I had read the book description of the book, I was intrigued as I haven't come across many books for teenagers that focus on characters who aren't traditionally CISGender and heterosexual. Johnny is gay and incredibly comfortable about his sexuality and Alison is transgender and again, comfortable with who she is. A wonderful and welcome set of characters that many teenagers will relate to.
However, there is absolutely no warning anywhere (the cover is bright and cheerful etc) of just how dark the story gets. There is incidents that are clearly triggering subject matters as Johnny and Alison are targeted by bullies and there is a somewhat graphic telling of hate crimes as the two are assaulted due to transphobia and homophobia. I am an adult and the episode left myself traumatised as I have been a victim of such a hate crime and I can only imagine how someone who is newly 'out of the closet' or working through the emotional turmoil that comes with processing your gender or sexuality would feel reading these horrific events.
After reading about one such moment, I forced myself to continue reading in the hope that retribution would come with also moments of fun and excitement for the two teenagers. 'I'm a Gay Wizard' felt like it needed several rewrites to iron out inconsistencies and perhaps balance the darkness of the story with more moments of light and fun. The story often didn't make sense and I was left with many questions which went unresolved.
I had hoped that from the description, there would be lots of vivid and varied examples of the two performing magic. This wasn't the case, prior to the two disappearing, they only perform two spells - one is a failure and the other so disastrous that they bring about destruction to the area around them. I was wanting more and was disappointed by what magic did occur - it just seemed pretty mediocre and there was no explanation given as to just why the spell the two had performed had gone so awry and drawn the attention of the Institute.
I felt as others have said in reviews that there is a pretty obvious plot-hole when it comes to the Legacy children who attend the institute. I figured out they maybe similar to the purebloods found in a certain series of novels about a wizard; but wondered why they were elite? Were they automatically magically superior to those born to non-magical people or were the children out there who didn't possess magic? Again, it felt like there was a lack of information that other books focused on magical beings ensure is given to the reader about the people and places featured in the tale.
I also wondered how the non-Legacy students succeed in school, or, why are they automatically looked down upon because they don't come from a magical family? I could go on with my questions but there are too many.
This story could have been so good, could have given gay and trans teenagers two characters to relate to in a positive manner and have a fantasy novel to have fun with. Sadly, it lacked so much to make it a series I want to delve back into.
barbrokatrin's review against another edition
2.0
Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own
The idea of the book is interesting, the execution nit so much. There’s a lot of homophobic slurs in the beginning, bullying and fat shaming just to named a few issues. The writing was not that great and the story felt like a let down.
The idea of the book is interesting, the execution nit so much. There’s a lot of homophobic slurs in the beginning, bullying and fat shaming just to named a few issues. The writing was not that great and the story felt like a let down.
quirkybibliophile's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to love this book because it was LGBTQ+ but I just couldn't. There were too many aspects that I just wasn't a fan of. I didn't really like how sudden Hunter and Johnny's relationship shifts and suddenly Hunter is a completely different person. I really liked their dynamic in the beginning and was hoping that it would stay that way even after they started dating. It turned into more of a love story than anything else and that threw me off. I also wasn't a big fan of the action scenes since they just kind of speed through those scenes and were filled more with Hunter and Johnny being in love over anything else.
just_fenne's review
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
3.0
fishfish's review against another edition
Kept reminding me of Harry Potter. The wizard school subgenre has been ruined for me fully and entirely. Not that bad of a read. Just activated my pet peev of not wanting to think about that damned nasty old transphobic author too much.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia
Minor: Blood
elysareadsitall's review against another edition
4.0
I like the magic system here because it's both thought-based and mechanical in a way. There's a dream world, which is always trippy fun. I was also all-in when I found out the magic boarding school fantasy was flipped on its head, and the school is sinsiter and scary.
I'm sure this last part won't be a surprise considering the title and cover, but this book is full of humor and bluntness. If this book were a person, it would be my best friend. I hooted with laughter at a few of the one-liners.
I found this book on a random list, and I'm very glad I did. It was the exact funny adventure I needed.
I'm sure this last part won't be a surprise considering the title and cover, but this book is full of humor and bluntness. If this book were a person, it would be my best friend. I hooted with laughter at a few of the one-liners.
I found this book on a random list, and I'm very glad I did. It was the exact funny adventure I needed.
roooley's review
adventurous
medium-paced
4.0
A great representation of LGBTQ+ in that while the characters are queer, there is more to them than that. The story itself was very interesting and a unique take on magic. The end felt a bit rushed and then abrupt, but definitely still has me excited for the sequel!