Reviews

The Change by Kirsten Miller

lachelvi's review against another edition

2.0

I was disappointed in this book. It had a great premise: middle aged women form a crime fighting team of super heroes whose powers are first most strongly expressed during menopause. As someone who loves stories about superheroes discovering their powers during puberty I was excited for this book that centers older female heroes, but after forcing myself to slog through the first 100+ pages so I could say I gave the book a fair chance, I gave up, jumped to the last chapter to see how the mystery ends and then returned the book to the library. The book could have been improved with some narrowing of focus and trimming of extraneous details. If the book had perhaps focused on one central character and avoided introducing important secondary characters late in the story that would have helped. It might have also been good to limit the geographic scope to a single region. And then the conflict... mercy, this book seemed to take every single form of suffering and sexism and draw it out the most hyperbolic extreme possible. I believe sexism is real and I do both see and experience it in personal and systemic ways regularly, but for a single novel it would be nice to have focused on perhaps just three big problems, or better yet, just one big problem with 2 or 3 minor ones sprinkled in lightly for realism. This book belabors every possible example to such an extent that I kept trying to decide if this was meant to be an over-long allegory of if the author was actually striving to create a work of realistic fiction or some sort of dystopian fantasy novel.

kieraisreading's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I loved this story. It felt like being wrapped in a warm hug. This is a powerful, feminist cozy mystery with a cast of charming characters. I also really liked the perspectives on aging in this book. 

bookishcat23's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

me_alley's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

This book has everything.  Mediocre men who take credit for your ideas.  Big lawns with weeds.  Missing teenage girls.  Peri-menopausal rage. An independent gym owner.  Also they have magical powers.  

Trigger warning- if you are sensitive about criticisms of the patriarchy, skip this.  It’s feminist as hell.  

hannahinpages's review against another edition

5.0

This was . Everything I have ever wanted.
Harriett my wonderful bisexual milf witch I love you.

labibliotecaazul's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

readwithmichele's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

BOOK: The Change
AUTHOR: Kirsten Miller
PUB DATE: 5/3/2022 by William Morrow
PAGES: 480
RATING: 5
GENRE: Mystery/Magical Realism/Thriller 

QUICK & SPOILER-FREE REVIEW: I want to start off by thanking @heather for gifting me this book for my birthday this year! I loved it. I read the book and listened to the audio in tandem. Harriett is one of my favorite FMCs! We should all be as suave as her! This story is full of powerful, unstoppable women who are a force to be reckoned with. Run, don’t walk, and read this if you haven’t already. This was a GMA Book Club pick for May 2022. This is perfect for the fall season! 

meemo444's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

kaseywylie's review against another edition

1.0

DNF. Only made it 75 pages in and I’m not vibing with it. Maybe I’ll try again? Maybe I won’t

mloe97's review against another edition

5.0

4.5 stars rounded up to 5. This book will not be for everyone, but it definitely was for me. I loved the strong female characters, elements of magical realism, and captivating and witty writing. Though the book was maybe a bit too long, I thought a lot of the exposition and backstory were necessary to understanding the characters and their motives.

My main critique is that the ending (no spoilers) did feel a bit anticlimactic after a fairly significant reveal and the build-up throughout the book. There were also a few too many characters and it made it hard to keep track of the story at times.