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caidyn's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
At first, I wasn't sure about this book just purely because it felt like one where there were tons of pop culture just for "the kids". But I finally got into the story and warmed up to it quite a bit. A great YA retelling of a Shakespearean play that doesn't get enough of a spotlight.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual assault
eniahreads's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
|| Thank you to BookSirens and Bold Strokes Books for providing me this arc in exchange for an honest review ! ||
Honestly if it wouldn't have been an ARC, I would have DNF'd at around 40%, but I wanted to finish it to give a better honest review.
I liked how the story is told: through a project from an external person, all of it made into different Acts where main characters would tell their own story through different media (interview online/irl, voice records, diaries). However, even if each chapters started very well like Bronwyn/Cass/etc was telling their story to someone, the remaining part of the chapters felt more like a regular 1st person POV but more condensed.
I have to say I'm all into school dramas with back stabbing to get to the main goal, and I got a lot here. But it was indeed maybe too much and too harsh? You must beware of TW because all the dramas are around that: biphobia, sexual assault, revenge sextape, hypomanic episodes (bipolar II). And I honestly couldn't get attached to any of the characters because of that, because of what and how they did all of that.
There's also a lot of representation (lesbian, gay, trans, demigirl, non-binary, bi, asexual), and I'm usually 100% for that but maybe here it was too much? I never thought I'd once say there's too much representation in a book but sadly it is in a way it feels hard to believe: somehow almost the whole school is queer or questioning, otherwise there's only white straight cis boys (surprisingly we don't talk about straight cis girls, as there's a huge hate on white -only- straight cis boys, we don't talk about the girls). There's also a lot of mentions about the 2017 US elections (that got me out of the book everytime it was mentionned) and so obviously a lot of hate over Trump (well deserved to be honest but still), and suddenly there's this whole hate and fear of the white stray cis men since he was elected? Honestly it doesn't feel realistic that so much stuff from this book is put ON these elections.
And I also must say that it was very long, the 1st Act is basically an introduction to the story but it's almost half of the book, all of that to give us a deeper view of the synopsis but nothing new. The remaining 60% are that "after synopsis" and I still don't feel good about what we got because we "only" got "that". Honestly I was expecting way more stuff happening after the synopsis, more dramas, than what we got here.
That's my biggest review so far but I had to say what was good and what wasn't, because it was a hard read for me.
TRIGGER WARNING:biphobia, bullying, bipolar II with hypomanic episodes, drug, rape (graphic), self-harm (graphic), and Trump can be a TW too.
Honestly if it wouldn't have been an ARC, I would have DNF'd at around 40%, but I wanted to finish it to give a better honest review.
I liked how the story is told: through a project from an external person, all of it made into different Acts where main characters would tell their own story through different media (interview online/irl, voice records, diaries). However, even if each chapters started very well like Bronwyn/Cass/etc was telling their story to someone, the remaining part of the chapters felt more like a regular 1st person POV but more condensed.
I have to say I'm all into school dramas with back stabbing to get to the main goal, and I got a lot here. But it was indeed maybe too much and too harsh? You must beware of TW because all the dramas are around that: biphobia, sexual assault, revenge sextape, hypomanic episodes (bipolar II). And I honestly couldn't get attached to any of the characters because of that, because of what and how they did all of that.
There's also a lot of representation (lesbian, gay, trans, demigirl, non-binary, bi, asexual), and I'm usually 100% for that but maybe here it was too much? I never thought I'd once say there's too much representation in a book but sadly it is in a way it feels hard to believe: somehow almost the whole school is queer or questioning, otherwise there's only white straight cis boys (surprisingly we don't talk about straight cis girls, as there's a huge hate on white -only- straight cis boys, we don't talk about the girls). There's also a lot of mentions about the 2017 US elections (that got me out of the book everytime it was mentionned) and so obviously a lot of hate over Trump (well deserved to be honest but still), and suddenly there's this whole hate and fear of the white stray cis men since he was elected? Honestly it doesn't feel realistic that so much stuff from this book is put ON these elections.
And I also must say that it was very long, the 1st Act is basically an introduction to the story but it's almost half of the book, all of that to give us a deeper view of the synopsis but nothing new. The remaining 60% are that "after synopsis" and I still don't feel good about what we got because we "only" got "that". Honestly I was expecting way more stuff happening after the synopsis, more dramas, than what we got here.
That's my biggest review so far but I had to say what was good and what wasn't, because it was a hard read for me.
TRIGGER WARNING:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Biphobia, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Bullying and Mental illness
Minor: Drug use
beforeviolets's review against another edition
DNF at 42%
Thank you to Bold Stokes Books and NetGalley for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Before I get into my review, the reason why I DNF'd: an entire chapter was essentially dedicated to referencing Harry Potter. It didn't even add anything relevant to the story. Instant pass.
This book was one of my most anticipated of the year. A sapphic Julius Caesar retelling? I mean, sign me up! Especially since I really enjoyed the author's previous Shakespeare retelling, Two Winters (A Winter's Tale).
But this book was just a complete and utter failure. The story was set during the Trump election era, yet was set at a school reminiscent of the school in Faking It - where it is shameful to not be gay, trans, etc. - which confused the atmosphere. It leaned so heavily on both the Trump era and this school culture to reason out every single plot point, but their competing qualities just completely cancelled out the stakes. Like we're supposed to believe that you were scared to go to school after the Trump election when your school is mostly queer and non-men? As a queer and Jewish person who went to school in the Christian South that day, I could just not get behind this. Yet despite this school's so-called "progressive" culture, it was wildly biphobic, lesbophobic, and generally toxic. The setting felt specially designed to be as oppressive to bisexual characters, which is appalling considering the dedication is to the bisexual readers.
The JC character is a lesbian who bullies the Brutus character for "cheating on her identity" when she dates a boy. Yet the JC character isn't even a lesbian herself, apparently having had crushes on boys, and so the Brutus character decides to try to out her as bisexual by catfishing her as a boy. This book also contains a lot of rhetoric that seems to imply that young people nowadays don't use the word "lesbian," which felt a little too close to some TERF rhetoric I've seen on the internet for comfort.
The writing seemed to be INCREDIBLY hesitant and insecure. Plot points and backstories were reiterated time and time again, almost as if in fear that the audience had already forgotten everything that had happened. It caused the story to drag, the already non-existent stakes to drop, and the characters to feel exhaustive.
I can't emphasize how disappointed I was by this read, especially because it was something I had genuinely been looking forward to for quite some time. Julius Caesar deserves better. Queer people deserve better.
CWs so far: mental health, anxiety, biphobia, bullying, sexual content (implied), f-slur (used to refer to oneself), alcoholism (mention), drug use (mention), underage drinking (brief), parental abandonment, potential outing, takes place during Trump era and discussed often.
Thank you to Bold Stokes Books and NetGalley for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Before I get into my review, the reason why I DNF'd: an entire chapter was essentially dedicated to referencing Harry Potter. It didn't even add anything relevant to the story. Instant pass.
This book was one of my most anticipated of the year. A sapphic Julius Caesar retelling? I mean, sign me up! Especially since I really enjoyed the author's previous Shakespeare retelling, Two Winters (A Winter's Tale).
But this book was just a complete and utter failure. The story was set during the Trump election era, yet was set at a school reminiscent of the school in Faking It - where it is shameful to not be gay, trans, etc. - which confused the atmosphere. It leaned so heavily on both the Trump era and this school culture to reason out every single plot point, but their competing qualities just completely cancelled out the stakes. Like we're supposed to believe that you were scared to go to school after the Trump election when your school is mostly queer and non-men? As a queer and Jewish person who went to school in the Christian South that day, I could just not get behind this. Yet despite this school's so-called "progressive" culture, it was wildly biphobic, lesbophobic, and generally toxic. The setting felt specially designed to be as oppressive to bisexual characters, which is appalling considering the dedication is to the bisexual readers.
The JC character is a lesbian who bullies the Brutus character for "cheating on her identity" when she dates a boy. Yet the JC character isn't even a lesbian herself, apparently having had crushes on boys, and so the Brutus character decides to try to out her as bisexual by catfishing her as a boy. This book also contains a lot of rhetoric that seems to imply that young people nowadays don't use the word "lesbian," which felt a little too close to some TERF rhetoric I've seen on the internet for comfort.
The writing seemed to be INCREDIBLY hesitant and insecure. Plot points and backstories were reiterated time and time again, almost as if in fear that the audience had already forgotten everything that had happened. It caused the story to drag, the already non-existent stakes to drop, and the characters to feel exhaustive.
I can't emphasize how disappointed I was by this read, especially because it was something I had genuinely been looking forward to for quite some time. Julius Caesar deserves better. Queer people deserve better.
CWs so far: mental health, anxiety, biphobia, bullying, sexual content (implied), f-slur (used to refer to oneself), alcoholism (mention), drug use (mention), underage drinking (brief), parental abandonment, potential outing, takes place during Trump era and discussed often.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, and Bullying
Moderate: Outing, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Sexual content
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