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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
I enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of Freaky Friday except for the the body switch being in one person, not two.
I think the idea of re-inventing yourself is a good one and that over time, Drew is going to grow and realise this.
I am looking forward to reading the next book and seeing how Drew develops and changes with each new person she becomes.
I think the idea of re-inventing yourself is a good one and that over time, Drew is going to grow and realise this.
I am looking forward to reading the next book and seeing how Drew develops and changes with each new person she becomes.
2.5 stars
Great premise: there are certain people (an ancient race) who, prior to each year of high school, wake as an entirely different person. At the conclusion of the four years, they must choose which of their high school versions they will spend the rest of their lives.
I especially enjoyed the exploration of how someone who spent thirteen years as a boy spends a year in the body of a "hot chick." And I appreciated the multiple layers of relationship between Drew and Audrey, and that the author included some details that hinted at skin tone without coming right out and saying it.
Where it fell flat for me was the ham-fisted world building. The concept of Changers is really cool - spending each of four years in a different body, not just navigating high school but humanity - but the execution felt very preachy, a bit juvenile, and incomplete. Everything about Changer society read, to me, like it was created by a teenager. Or Stephenie Meyer.
Still, the Freaky-Friday-with-a-twist was handled very well - reading about a former thirteen year old boy learning to navigate the world as a girl was very believable. It's a shame that the rest of the story didn't soar as high.
Great premise: there are certain people (an ancient race) who, prior to each year of high school, wake as an entirely different person. At the conclusion of the four years, they must choose which of their high school versions they will spend the rest of their lives.
I especially enjoyed the exploration of how someone who spent thirteen years as a boy spends a year in the body of a "hot chick." And I appreciated the multiple layers of relationship between Drew and Audrey, and that the author included some details that hinted at skin tone without coming right out and saying it.
Where it fell flat for me was the ham-fisted world building. The concept of Changers is really cool - spending each of four years in a different body, not just navigating high school but humanity - but the execution felt very preachy, a bit juvenile, and incomplete. Everything about Changer society read, to me, like it was created by a teenager. Or Stephenie Meyer.
Still, the Freaky-Friday-with-a-twist was handled very well - reading about a former thirteen year old boy learning to navigate the world as a girl was very believable. It's a shame that the rest of the story didn't soar as high.
I have mixed feelings about this book; some parts I really enjoyed and thought were intriguing and insightful, others were a bit cheesy, but overall it was an enjoyable read.
I received this book as an ARC! It came in the mail yesterday and I wasn't able to put it down! I devoured every word, as it is such a page-turner. All of the characters were wonderfully developed and very realistic! My favorite character was undeniably Audrey. I hope that she returns throughout the series :) Every page was different, some heartwarming, some heartbreaking, some heart-numbing, and some where everything in between and more. I am very anxiously anticipating the second book! I can't wait to read more about Ethan! And I would definitely recommend this book. Do read!
This book was an easy, enjoyable read. The characters were fun and the high school was actually, for the most part, realistic (except for some dialogue, but that’s to be expected). I only really have two criticisms, and one of them doesn’t matter depending on what you want from this book.
This is the serious criticism. I really didn’t like the usage of the sexual assault scene. I thought it would lead to some huge revelation for Drew, maybe convince her to take the case to the police and eventually to court as a part of causing the widespread good change that Changers are supposed to be a part of. Instead, it’s just used as a plot point to reveal and then break up her almost-relationship with Chris. Sexual assault is much too serious a thing to be anything other than a huge, life-changing event, and to be fair, the authors understand that in some capacity. It’s shown through Chris’ trauma from when he was groped as a girl. I didn’t like it in this case, though, especially since from how they described it, Drew was legitimately raped, but then the incident was later referred to as attempted rape. It made for a heart wrenching and then very quickly confusing read. It didn’t need to be described in such graphic detail if it wasn’t going to be hugely pivotal for the main character - and I would argue that even then, sexual assault never has to be described in detail.
Now, onto the more light-hearted criticism: the plot holes. If you are reading this book just to relax and have a good time, then they won’t matter. If plot holes piss you off whatsoever, forget you ever found this book. I’ll just list the major ones here, even though there are about a million plot holes, all centered around the Changer race/organization.
- If there is a group dedicated to “outing” Changers, then why have they gained literally no traction? They’re radical enough that you’d think at least a couple news stories would be floating around talking about these crazy people who claim to be Changers. But they’ve literally done nothing!
- What have Changers actually done for humanity? I figured that since they’re dedicated to positive change, they’d throw something in like, “Oh, Abe Lincoln was a Changer!” or “We’re to thank for the legalization of gay marriage!” or SOMETHING like that. But they literally never state their accomplishments, and it seems like much more of an individual growth thing. Like, “I’m a better person because I’m a Changer. But world hunger is still a thing!”
- Is the Changer magic completely uncontrollable? I don’t think it is, since they said that identities can be “recycled.” But then how are Changers chosen? How is the magic influenced? Did they just mean that names and backstories are recycled? EXPLAIN THE MAGIC SYSTEM.
- “The first day of high school” is the worst benchmark ever. Schools start on different days, some kids are homeschooled or online schooled (although if their parents are Changers they might not allow this), high school wasn’t a thing for thousands of years...should I keep going?
From these criticisms, it might seem like I hated the book. I really didn’t. It was, like I said, easy and enjoyable, hence the high rating. I just wanted to throw those critiques out there because they were my only two valid criticisms of the book. I actually plan on finding the rest of the series!
This is the serious criticism. I really didn’t like the usage of the sexual assault scene. I thought it would lead to some huge revelation for Drew, maybe convince her to take the case to the police and eventually to court as a part of causing the widespread good change that Changers are supposed to be a part of. Instead, it’s just used as a plot point to reveal and then break up her almost-relationship with Chris. Sexual assault is much too serious a thing to be anything other than a huge, life-changing event, and to be fair, the authors understand that in some capacity. It’s shown through Chris’ trauma from when he was groped as a girl. I didn’t like it in this case, though, especially since from how they described it, Drew was legitimately raped, but then the incident was later referred to as attempted rape. It made for a heart wrenching and then very quickly confusing read. It didn’t need to be described in such graphic detail if it wasn’t going to be hugely pivotal for the main character - and I would argue that even then, sexual assault never has to be described in detail.
Now, onto the more light-hearted criticism: the plot holes. If you are reading this book just to relax and have a good time, then they won’t matter. If plot holes piss you off whatsoever, forget you ever found this book. I’ll just list the major ones here, even though there are about a million plot holes, all centered around the Changer race/organization.
- If there is a group dedicated to “outing” Changers, then why have they gained literally no traction? They’re radical enough that you’d think at least a couple news stories would be floating around talking about these crazy people who claim to be Changers. But they’ve literally done nothing!
- What have Changers actually done for humanity? I figured that since they’re dedicated to positive change, they’d throw something in like, “Oh, Abe Lincoln was a Changer!” or “We’re to thank for the legalization of gay marriage!” or SOMETHING like that. But they literally never state their accomplishments, and it seems like much more of an individual growth thing. Like, “I’m a better person because I’m a Changer. But world hunger is still a thing!”
- Is the Changer magic completely uncontrollable? I don’t think it is, since they said that identities can be “recycled.” But then how are Changers chosen? How is the magic influenced? Did they just mean that names and backstories are recycled? EXPLAIN THE MAGIC SYSTEM.
- “The first day of high school” is the worst benchmark ever. Schools start on different days, some kids are homeschooled or online schooled (although if their parents are Changers they might not allow this), high school wasn’t a thing for thousands of years...should I keep going?
From these criticisms, it might seem like I hated the book. I really didn’t. It was, like I said, easy and enjoyable, hence the high rating. I just wanted to throw those critiques out there because they were my only two valid criticisms of the book. I actually plan on finding the rest of the series!
Many thanks to Hachette for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my views.
I went into Changers with some presumptions about the book; I thought I knew what to expect, what to anticipate. However, the way the unique concept of this book was presented worked pretty well to battle these preconceptions – though some still remained. Generally speaking, it’s safe to say that I enjoyed this, but my only problem was that some things didn’t quite work out with this story. The concept behind the plot was an attention-grabber, for sure, and the characters were interesting enough to read about, but the way the world was set up seemed jumbled up and vague to me. The book left me very curious and I do hope some of my questions will be answered in the second book.
One thing that’s undeniable about this book is that it’s very captivating; it’ll keep you turning pages until the very end. What makes it such a page-turner is the humor. At the beginning, I thought it was too forced and did not find it funny at all, but as the story progressed andEthan’s Drew’s character developed and grew, the wit did too. The writing style of the book also helped with this, it was conversational and served to portray the protagonist’s personality really well.
There are many notions that the book tried to tackle, namely gender fluidity and accepting who you are. I’m no expert, but the former wasn’t exactly portrayed accurately. The book tried – which is the keyword here – to push the boundaries between genders but all it ended up doing was showing us a 2D model of the characters. It was unrealistic how fast Drew forgot what it was like to be a boy and jumped into the role of being a girl. I mean, what happened to these 14 years of being a boy? How did he start to view the world in terms of being a girl in just a few months? To say the least, it was unrealistic and very disconcerting. It also didn’t help that the protagonist wasn’t very relatable, so I wasn’t able to sympathize very much. Everything just sort of fell flat. Despite all that, there is something I really liked – the fluid sexuality. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be a love triangle or what, but Drew falls in love with a Changer boy who used to be a girl AND there also seem to be feelings between Drew and her girl best friend. I totally loved the dynamic of that and am disappointed to see the characters go. Maybe they’ll reappear in the second installment? It’s definitely enough to keep me reading.
I mentioned previously that I wasn’t a fan of the way the world was set up. Nothing was explained properly and when an effort was made to explain things, it was just a confusing jumble of information dumping and vague statements. For example, what’s the role of Changers? “The Changer race is the last hope for the human race on the whole to reverse the moral devolution that has overcome it. Changers believe more Changers equals more empathy on planet Earth. And that only through empathy will the human race survive.” Say what? The whole story is riddled with vague, elusive statements like that. The world was never fleshed out properly, either, leading to a ton of questions about it that haven’t been answered.
If you’re looking for an interesting read with no depth to it, then this is your book. It had potential, but failed to fulfill it. This had more plot holes than the ozone layer and a world that wasn’t fleshed out properly. Despite all that, the book featured moral qualms such as accepting yourself and fluid sexuality, handling them pretty well, while failing to appropriately address the part about gender. It was a page-turner, alright, with a humorous protagonist and a chatty, conversational writing style. Many questions were left unanswered, but I still do have hope for the second installment.
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I went into Changers with some presumptions about the book; I thought I knew what to expect, what to anticipate. However, the way the unique concept of this book was presented worked pretty well to battle these preconceptions – though some still remained. Generally speaking, it’s safe to say that I enjoyed this, but my only problem was that some things didn’t quite work out with this story. The concept behind the plot was an attention-grabber, for sure, and the characters were interesting enough to read about, but the way the world was set up seemed jumbled up and vague to me. The book left me very curious and I do hope some of my questions will be answered in the second book.
One thing that’s undeniable about this book is that it’s very captivating; it’ll keep you turning pages until the very end. What makes it such a page-turner is the humor. At the beginning, I thought it was too forced and did not find it funny at all, but as the story progressed and
There are many notions that the book tried to tackle, namely gender fluidity and accepting who you are. I’m no expert, but the former wasn’t exactly portrayed accurately. The book tried – which is the keyword here – to push the boundaries between genders but all it ended up doing was showing us a 2D model of the characters. It was unrealistic how fast Drew forgot what it was like to be a boy and jumped into the role of being a girl. I mean, what happened to these 14 years of being a boy? How did he start to view the world in terms of being a girl in just a few months? To say the least, it was unrealistic and very disconcerting. It also didn’t help that the protagonist wasn’t very relatable, so I wasn’t able to sympathize very much. Everything just sort of fell flat. Despite all that, there is something I really liked – the fluid sexuality. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be a love triangle or what, but Drew falls in love with a Changer boy who used to be a girl AND there also seem to be feelings between Drew and her girl best friend. I totally loved the dynamic of that and am disappointed to see the characters go. Maybe they’ll reappear in the second installment? It’s definitely enough to keep me reading.
I mentioned previously that I wasn’t a fan of the way the world was set up. Nothing was explained properly and when an effort was made to explain things, it was just a confusing jumble of information dumping and vague statements. For example, what’s the role of Changers? “The Changer race is the last hope for the human race on the whole to reverse the moral devolution that has overcome it. Changers believe more Changers equals more empathy on planet Earth. And that only through empathy will the human race survive.” Say what? The whole story is riddled with vague, elusive statements like that. The world was never fleshed out properly, either, leading to a ton of questions about it that haven’t been answered.
If you’re looking for an interesting read with no depth to it, then this is your book. It had potential, but failed to fulfill it. This had more plot holes than the ozone layer and a world that wasn’t fleshed out properly. Despite all that, the book featured moral qualms such as accepting yourself and fluid sexuality, handling them pretty well, while failing to appropriately address the part about gender. It was a page-turner, alright, with a humorous protagonist and a chatty, conversational writing style. Many questions were left unanswered, but I still do have hope for the second installment.
Follow me on my blog, Book Whizz | Bloglovin' | Twitter
Det var en njutbar läsning, med många finurliga meningar och roligheter. Fnissade för mig själv flera gånger. Ethan vaknar upp en morgon och är inte längre sig själv, utan en flicka. Han får reda på att han är en Changer - en mänsklig ras som finns till för att göra världen till en bättre plats genom att sprida öppenhet och förståelse till sina medmänniskor. Varje år under sin High School-period kommer Ethan (eller Drew, som han numera heter) vakna upp i en ny kropp och med en ny personlighet tills han slutligen ska välja en av sina fyra V:n (personas) som sin slutgiltiga.
Ethan får självklart panik till en början, men ganska snart börjar han finna sig i att vara Drew istället. Det är spännande hur han bryter ny mark som kvinna, och inser djuplodat att det kanske inte är så lätt som det många gånger verkar. Han återkommer till för honom nyupptäckta orättvisor och till alla krav som ställs på tjejer och det är, om inte ny fakta, så iallafall viktigt att det tas upp och fokuseras på. I grund och botten har han inte problem med att varken få ny kropp eller att omvandlas till tjej eller att gilla tjejer - det han oroar sig för blir de vänskaper han kommer att vara tvungen att lämna bakom sig i och med sin transformation inför nästa år. Han oroar sig som vilken tonåring som helst för att de personer som han gillar kanske inte gillar honom tillbaka. Det är inga stora svängningar eller allvarliga problem som sker i boken, och det är också det som gör den fin. Det behöver inte vara så speciellt att byta kropp, i grund och botten är de flesta människor ganska lika funtade. Det är inte kroppen som är det bökiga. Det är liksom tonårstiden i sig som ställer till det.
Jag är lite ledsen för att jag inte läst den här boken tidigare. Jag tror att jag hade uppskattat den mer, och gett den ett bättre betyg, vid en annan tid i mitt liv. Lite i samband med att jag första gången upptäckte John Green. För det är så mycket av mina favoritingredienser här, och det finns inget som jag direkt ogillade med boken, jag njöt rakt igenom och läste klart den snabbt. Men samtidigt känner jag heller inte "Wow". Så det får bli en stark trea, helt enkelt.
Ethan får självklart panik till en början, men ganska snart börjar han finna sig i att vara Drew istället. Det är spännande hur han bryter ny mark som kvinna, och inser djuplodat att det kanske inte är så lätt som det många gånger verkar. Han återkommer till för honom nyupptäckta orättvisor och till alla krav som ställs på tjejer och det är, om inte ny fakta, så iallafall viktigt att det tas upp och fokuseras på. I grund och botten har han inte problem med att varken få ny kropp eller att omvandlas till tjej eller att gilla tjejer - det han oroar sig för blir de vänskaper han kommer att vara tvungen att lämna bakom sig i och med sin transformation inför nästa år. Han oroar sig som vilken tonåring som helst för att de personer som han gillar kanske inte gillar honom tillbaka. Det är inga stora svängningar eller allvarliga problem som sker i boken, och det är också det som gör den fin. Det behöver inte vara så speciellt att byta kropp, i grund och botten är de flesta människor ganska lika funtade. Det är inte kroppen som är det bökiga. Det är liksom tonårstiden i sig som ställer till det.
Jag är lite ledsen för att jag inte läst den här boken tidigare. Jag tror att jag hade uppskattat den mer, och gett den ett bättre betyg, vid en annan tid i mitt liv. Lite i samband med att jag första gången upptäckte John Green. För det är så mycket av mina favoritingredienser här, och det finns inget som jag direkt ogillade med boken, jag njöt rakt igenom och läste klart den snabbt. Men samtidigt känner jag heller inte "Wow". Så det får bli en stark trea, helt enkelt.
Great read. Mixture of teenage passages mixed with deep truths and fantasy.
I'm not even rating this one because it was right away a DNF. I know it's a story where the character 'changes', but gosh, the gender confusion in the start alone... I couldn't get past that, knew it would be a huge headache for me to get through and around that, so it's a DNF for me.
I really liked the idea of a book where a 14 year old boy wakes up as a 14 year old girl, and has to deal with bullies, and creepy men, and periods. But there was so much cult-y drama with the Changers Council and all of the dogma bogged down the book. A lot of great ideas were presented and then went unexplored.