Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Bad Ones

This is such a strong 4 stars book, I will give it a 4.25 instead. The writing is amazing, Melissa Albert is clearly crazy talented, this book makes me want to check out her other works.
The characters are so well written half of the time I was conflicted if

Becca is a good person or an antagonist because of her toxic and manipulative behaviour presented a few times in the story.

The ending was good enough for a small town mystery novel, I just didn’t like how

little we got of what happened after. Nora’s other friends didn’t even show up at the end, not even mentioned which I though was unfortunate.

But all in all I really enjoyed this book and I devoured it as fast as I could.

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sare1125's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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styxx's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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arrr's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book does such a good job of accessing that transitional period between magical thinking and growing up. Explores topics of trust, honesty, consequences, vengeance, justice, and friendship. Empowered young women and supportive peer groups. A few queer characters. Good example of kind masculinity. Good examples of how young people can process and cope with the actions of the "bad ones" while being true to themselves and maintaining their power.

Best friends play the bad kid version of the goddess game and unlock an old mystery.

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paulineerika's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

I love that Melissa Albert is not afraid to be dark. Her characters and her stories are not necessarily light and happy and even if the ending isn't bad, it doesn't mean it's a happily ever after.

The Bad Ones is billed as a story about semi-toxic friendships and the thin line between reality and make-believe in children's games. It mostly lives up to that billing. This book was hard for me to put down, even in the slower parts. And while the ending is happy-ish, you still get the sense there's unfinished business or trauma that's not being dealt with. It's all still very much in the air.

Nora and Becca are best friends, but the friendship doesn't seem particularly equal or even healthy at first. But as the story goes on, we learn more about what Becca has experienced and given her (implicit) already-somewhat fragile mental state, her susceptibility

to the goddess games and the "goddess" herself

is not surprising.

What is surprising?

The fact that it wasn't Becca at all.

Or maybe I'm just slow.

I wasn't entirely clear on what happened to Becca's body while the goddess was possessing Nora or how Becca came back with such scarred lungs, etc.

I would have liked to read more about her and what she went through in her own POV, versus Nora's.

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

When 3 students and a teacher go missing one night, one of their best friends, Nora, and the mysterious boy James, get pulled into an old town myth, the Goddess Game.
Well, I found the book partly predictable. I figured out what was up with the connection to the old game, or who was now in the story was connected to it pretty easily.
There were some good parts, like the interesting twist as to why these particular people disappeared, and what exactly was going on with Becca being a bit harder to guess.
I didn't like the "evil Goddess" thing. It's an anti-Pagan trope that rubs me the wrong way, even though I do not identify as Pagan.
Overall, the book wasn't terrible, it was just a bit too anti-Pagan and predictable for me. Though at least it wasn't preachy it was more overall anti-religion.

Narrator Rating: 4 stars
The narrator was excellent but not spectacular. Her voice can also be a bit annoying at certain points; it just depends on her tone.

Elemental Levels: Heartfelt-3/5 Mystery-3/5 Predictability-3.5/5 Suspense-1/5 Tear- 2.5/5 Thrill-1/5

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rowanhill's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Features:

Slow burn supernatural thriller
Strong (if somewhat flawed) female friendship
Small town setting and urban legends
Chilling vibes and

“Goddess, Goddess, count to one, who will you pick when the day is done?” With a story centered around local urban legends and a double dutch rhyme, this book really delivers on the creepy vibes. Despite being a bit of a slow burn, I found I just couldn’t put it down. An uncanny feeling pervades every page from beginning to end as the mystery surrounding 4 disappearances unravels. Though I wasn’t a big fan of Nora or her missing BFF Becca as people, I think they were pretty well developed and provided an interesting lens through which the story is told. There are definitely some odd wording choices and some of the story elements don’t quite hit home. However, these didn’t prevent me from eating through the pages!

Summary

Nora and Becca have always been inseparable. At least…they used to be. Nora is trying to pick up the pieces after their big fight and figure out who she is without Becca while still hanging on to the hope that they will eventually be able to patch together what has been broken. Then, after 6 months of almost no communication between them, Nora gets a text from Becca in the middle of the night. The next morning, Nora wakes to discover that four people, including Becca, have gone missing under mysterious circumstances. Though the other victims left no trace, Becca has left a series of clues for Nora tied to an urban legend and a childhood game that they used to play. But where will these clues lead?

Creepy and tense, but not nightmare inducing

This book is very atmospheric and definitely delivers on the uncanny vibes of a supernatural thriller. It is both a story about a complicated friendship shaped by loss and a mystery with an urban legend turned playground rhyme at its center. Though not the most unique, the use of the rhyme and how all of the pieces start to connect is brilliantly executed. That being said, it is definitely more of a slow burn.

I found that there was just enough tension to keep me reading, but there weren’t many moments that made me want to eat through the pages to find out what happens or make me pause to lower my heart rate a little. There are plenty of impactful moments that have stayed with me even after putting the book down. However, none were due to being scary or disturbing. Though I personally appreciate the lack of real nightmare fuel, it might be disappointing to more avid horror/thriller readers.

Solid characters, odd choices

Though we spend a lot of time getting to know Nora and her BFF Becca, there is a fairly large cast of characters that we are introduced to over the course of the book. Even though we don’t get to spend a lot of time getting to know all of them well, Albert does a pretty good job making them feel unique and authentic on the page. Even though I didn’t like Nora or Becca as people, their personalities were well illustrated and I was able to get invested in their story. This development made it all the more obvious when it gets undermined by some odd writing choices. Whether it’s an odd dialogue exchange or awkward descriptions, there are many small moments that either made me pause or just didn’t fit quite right.

In addition to a few odd details, the ‘romance’ element didn’t really work for me. I didn’t mind it being there, but it also didn’t really add anything to the story. I think if there was a slightly different approach to the relationship and how it develops, it might have fit a little better.

Overall

This was a solid read that kept me turning the pages. It is just creepy enough to give you the chills, but there is nothing extremely horrible or terrifying in this book. I love that it commits to being a supernatural thriller, but this also means there are some things left unexplained/unresolved. I personally loved being left with a little brain food when a book is done, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. If you are looking for thriller vibes without going too deep, this is a perfect book to pick up and enjoy. However, if you like things a little spookier, spicier, and/or neatly tied up in the end, this book may not tick all of your boxes.

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herelieshenry's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

In the interest of full disclosure, this review is specifically regarding an ALC copy of the audiobook from Net Galley, so while I imagine this audiobook was pretty close to finalized, some details may have been changed between my copy and the official release.

I think I would recommend this book to people who have experience in being an outcast kid experiencing intense childhood friendships, especially if you’re someone who frequently reads Young Adult books. I think the strongest element here is the raw portrayal of messy teenage friendships and the way it ties in to the symbolism at play throughout the story. The weakest is how abrupt the ending was. I think I would have preferred this book in eBook format instead of as an audiobook. I’m not sure I’d pick up another book by the author unless the premise was particularly compelling to me.

Overall, I think the plot was very well-crafted and the way it was put together was relatively coherent. It was a little difficult to ease into, but once I was able to get invested, I was able to buy in and suspend my disbelief. Conflict felt authentic and realistic to teenage drama feeling much bigger when you’re experiencing it. The narrative structure was interesting, and I think it was a good choice on the author’s part. There’s a relatively even layout of dialogue versus prose. Dialogue is a little dramatized, but it’s believable enough overall.

The shift in perspective modes was relatively effective. Due to the chapters out of Nora’s point of view being in third person perspective (as opposed to Nora’s being first person), the point of view shifts are relatively clear. The depth of perspective is consistently strong, zoomed in on the anchor character’s interior world in their specific chapters. This prevents head-hopping and adds an earnestness to the style. The writing style is consistent but effectively malleable to point of view, showing character voice between Nora, Becca, and Ruth. It all has the cadence of teenage youth, overall serious but understandably dramatic for teenagers going through it.

Pacing was mostly straightforward, but a little bit stumbly. Word choice is very direct and precise, and phrasing is easy to understand. There’s a lot of use of description, but it’s rather lean, not overweighing the narrative. Visual and sensory details are very rich with metaphor while still realistic to the point of view characters. It’s not long-winded or overstuffed, but occasionally, it’s very poetic.

A lot of the character dynamics rang true for me. The relationship between Nora and her mother in particular hit home for me—while I can relate to Nora and Becca’s relationship too, I found it very authentic to the experience of growing up with a chronically ill mother. A lot of the side characters kind of meld together in my memory, but they were easy enough to distinguish in the story itself while reading. However, I really appreciated the diversity of the cast here and how casually it’s referenced to. The portrayal of different identities throughout this book felt realistic and natural, but more importantly, I found it to be respectful and authentic.

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