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gingerbread_void's review
4.0
“the apocalypse began at Starbucks,” that was all it took to sell me on this book. I loved Hutchinson pervious work “We are the Ants” and I was eager for this book. He always does a good job of creating a world like ours but somehow so much more magical, so very mysteries. This book was no exception to that.
The character of Elena is both unique yet somehow so very familiar. She is unique in the way all of Hutchinson’s characters are but she also holds a sense of selfish familiarity that anyone can relate to. She is angry and selfish and in denial of both these facts. She is kind and giving as well. She is layered in a way all humans are. She is not a perfect hero, she may not even be a hero at all but she is a fantastic character all things consider.
Just as his main character is both unique and familiar so is the world he creates. He crafts a world that feels so much like our own yet has a sense of uniqueness and magic. The worlds he crafts feels like it could or even is happening and unfolding around the reading without them even realizing it.
Hutchinson’s true gift though does not lie in his ability to make unique characters and worlds but his ability to make you doubt everything you reading. He give you just enough proof to make you want to believe the things the narrator says are true but he also provides plenty of reasons to doubt them as well. See the story though the eyes of his character’s can either make you feel like you are seeing the world as miracles and the fantastical unfold all around you or it can make you feel like you are seeing the would though the eyes of someone who can not handle the world and is creating this fanatics world around them cope. Either way you read the book weather you believe the narrator is telling the truth, or things they are, or even if they are just plain lying you are in for a wild ride.
Though I can not point out all of Hutchinson’s good qualities without stating the one major thing that bothered me about this book. The ending felt like it was a just a clever rewrite of the ending to his previous work. The book had the same structure as the previous work only with a different character and he replaced his aliens with “magical” voices or gods as they called it. Yes he did add a few things here and there and to change the story o to flesh it out but it was the sam basics and the ending was nearly identical like he couldn’t be bothered to create a new so he just recycled it. Despite the similarities or maybe become of them I still loved this book.
The character of Elena is both unique yet somehow so very familiar. She is unique in the way all of Hutchinson’s characters are but she also holds a sense of selfish familiarity that anyone can relate to. She is angry and selfish and in denial of both these facts. She is kind and giving as well. She is layered in a way all humans are. She is not a perfect hero, she may not even be a hero at all but she is a fantastic character all things consider.
Just as his main character is both unique and familiar so is the world he creates. He crafts a world that feels so much like our own yet has a sense of uniqueness and magic. The worlds he crafts feels like it could or even is happening and unfolding around the reading without them even realizing it.
Hutchinson’s true gift though does not lie in his ability to make unique characters and worlds but his ability to make you doubt everything you reading. He give you just enough proof to make you want to believe the things the narrator says are true but he also provides plenty of reasons to doubt them as well. See the story though the eyes of his character’s can either make you feel like you are seeing the world as miracles and the fantastical unfold all around you or it can make you feel like you are seeing the would though the eyes of someone who can not handle the world and is creating this fanatics world around them cope. Either way you read the book weather you believe the narrator is telling the truth, or things they are, or even if they are just plain lying you are in for a wild ride.
Though I can not point out all of Hutchinson’s good qualities without stating the one major thing that bothered me about this book. The ending felt like it was a just a clever rewrite of the ending to his previous work. The book had the same structure as the previous work only with a different character and he replaced his aliens with “magical” voices or gods as they called it. Yes he did add a few things here and there and to change the story o to flesh it out but it was the sam basics and the ending was nearly identical like he couldn’t be bothered to create a new so he just recycled it. Despite the similarities or maybe become of them I still loved this book.
el_mackattack's review
3.0
I'm really conflicted about how I felt about this book overall. Because for some reason, I couldn't seem to put it down, but any time I thought about the book when I wasn't reading it, I couldn't help but feel more negative emotions about it than positive.
On a weird note, for those of you who have played Life Is Strange, ever notice that Chloe Price sounds just a teensy weensy bit like Freddie? Both in dialogue and appearance? Think about it, Freddie's literal description in one passage is wearing ripped jeans, an over-sized tank top, and she's got blue hair. Chloe's description: a beanie, ripped jeans, a tank top, and blue hair. Coincidence? I dunno, but either way, it gave me some weird deja vu.
ANYWAYS...
Here's Why I Liked It:
Representation: The main character, Elena, is both Cuban and bisexual, and there isn't really a huge "internal conflict" over that, which I really appreciate. Fadil, Elena's best friend, is Muslim, and we find out later that he may fall on the asexual spectrum. Freddie is also bisexual (or possibly a lesbian, because I don't recall her ever talking about having a crush on a guy) and she struggles with depression.
Narration Style: I actually quite liked Elena as a character, because she almost seemed to have a Fleabag-esque style of narration (meaning she almost seemed to break the 4th wall a couple of times), which I think was what got me so into the book. Also, Elena's sense of sarcasm and her one-liners are hilarious.
Philosophy and Moral Debates: The book embraces existential debates and questions about things like free will, our influence over other people, how we view our crushes from afar vs. up close, how we treat our friends, and whether or not a person deserves redemption. Leaves you with some food for thought!
Here's Why I Didn't Like It:
The middle is SLOW/Didn't seem to advance the plot: The beginning is quick, the end is quick, but a good portion of the middle of the book seemed to serve no purpose besides slowing down the main plot and giving the book length. I do think this book could've been cut down by at least 30 pages (I don't really think the book needed to be more than 400 pages). There are a lot of interactions in the middle of the book that I don't really remember, and by extent, I don't really see a purpose for them.
Character Interactions: This is a subjective opinion, but it really ended up being a big reason why I was so frustrated with the book. I felt like a majority of the character interactions between Elena and pretty much ANYONE who wasn't trying to investigate her in some capacity, was either to argue with her about what she's doing wrong (either as a person or as miracle worker), or give her advice. She even got advice from her dead beat alcoholic step-dad! It felt a lot like the characters were more just platforms for more opinions to be pushed at Elena than they were characters. That got really repetitive and really frustrating real quick. Especially because more than half the time, the conversation wasn't really important to the plot, or it would be repeated somehow in a later conversation, almost like deja vu (this is particularly visible with Elena and Freddie's arguments).
Elena and Freddie's Chemistry: Now, I'm all for the enemies-to-lovers trope, I don't have a problem with it and I think it's a fun way to approach a romance. It's just that I felt like Freddie and Elena spent too long in the "enemies" portion of that trope for me to really buy the "lovers" chemistry at the end. I'd been looking forward to the moment when they finally got together, but it felt kind of weird since they had spend a majority of the book arguing.
Loose Ends/Plot Holes There aren't many loose ends, it's just the ones that are there are kind of hard to ignore and are kind of crucial "reader's closure" details when it comes to the end of the book.
Overall, I didn't HATE this book, but I'm not gonna say I liked it either. The book makes you re-examine your own relationships, which I definitely think is a nice quality with a YA novel in particular. It was really nice to see how the "friends-to-lovers" is laughed at so much in the book by Elena and Fadil (because believe it or not, IT IS POSSIBLE for a girl to be friends with a guy without them developing feelings!) and I really thought their friendship, including their fights, was actually really realistic and different from other books because oftentimes, the quality and flaws of friendships are never really put under the microscope.
But in conclusion, it's not a bad book, it's just not for everyone.
On a weird note, for those of you who have played Life Is Strange, ever notice that Chloe Price sounds just a teensy weensy bit like Freddie? Both in dialogue and appearance? Think about it, Freddie's literal description in one passage is wearing ripped jeans, an over-sized tank top, and she's got blue hair. Chloe's description: a beanie, ripped jeans, a tank top, and blue hair. Coincidence? I dunno, but either way, it gave me some weird deja vu.
ANYWAYS...
Here's Why I Liked It:
Representation: The main character, Elena, is both Cuban and bisexual, and there isn't really a huge "internal conflict" over that, which I really appreciate. Fadil, Elena's best friend, is Muslim, and we find out later that he may fall on the asexual spectrum. Freddie is also bisexual (or possibly a lesbian, because I don't recall her ever talking about having a crush on a guy) and she struggles with depression.
Narration Style: I actually quite liked Elena as a character, because she almost seemed to have a Fleabag-esque style of narration (meaning she almost seemed to break the 4th wall a couple of times), which I think was what got me so into the book. Also, Elena's sense of sarcasm and her one-liners are hilarious.
Philosophy and Moral Debates: The book embraces existential debates and questions about things like free will, our influence over other people, how we view our crushes from afar vs. up close, how we treat our friends, and whether or not a person deserves redemption. Leaves you with some food for thought!
Here's Why I Didn't Like It:
The middle is SLOW/Didn't seem to advance the plot: The beginning is quick, the end is quick, but a good portion of the middle of the book seemed to serve no purpose besides slowing down the main plot and giving the book length. I do think this book could've been cut down by at least 30 pages (I don't really think the book needed to be more than 400 pages). There are a lot of interactions in the middle of the book that I don't really remember, and by extent, I don't really see a purpose for them.
Character Interactions: This is a subjective opinion, but it really ended up being a big reason why I was so frustrated with the book. I felt like a majority of the character interactions between Elena and pretty much ANYONE who wasn't trying to investigate her in some capacity, was either to argue with her about what she's doing wrong (either as a person or as miracle worker), or give her advice. She even got advice from her dead beat alcoholic step-dad! It felt a lot like the characters were more just platforms for more opinions to be pushed at Elena than they were characters. That got really repetitive and really frustrating real quick. Especially because more than half the time, the conversation wasn't really important to the plot, or it would be repeated somehow in a later conversation, almost like deja vu (this is particularly visible with Elena and Freddie's arguments).
Elena and Freddie's Chemistry: Now, I'm all for the enemies-to-lovers trope, I don't have a problem with it and I think it's a fun way to approach a romance. It's just that I felt like Freddie and Elena spent too long in the "enemies" portion of that trope for me to really buy the "lovers" chemistry at the end. I'd been looking forward to the moment when they finally got together, but it felt kind of weird since they had spend a majority of the book arguing.
Loose Ends/Plot Holes There aren't many loose ends, it's just the ones that are there are kind of hard to ignore and are kind of crucial "reader's closure" details when it comes to the end of the book.
Spoiler
For example, we never really find out who the voices are, or why Elena was given powers. Which is more than a little frustrating since they kind of end up being the main antagonist. Also, who were the homeland security agents? Because they never showed up again so I'm confused why they were important...?Overall, I didn't HATE this book, but I'm not gonna say I liked it either. The book makes you re-examine your own relationships, which I definitely think is a nice quality with a YA novel in particular. It was really nice to see how the "friends-to-lovers" is laughed at so much in the book by Elena and Fadil (because believe it or not, IT IS POSSIBLE for a girl to be friends with a guy without them developing feelings!) and I really thought their friendship, including their fights, was actually really realistic and different from other books because oftentimes, the quality and flaws of friendships are never really put under the microscope.
But in conclusion, it's not a bad book, it's just not for everyone.
dabbledev's review
2.0
Preachy and pretentious. It can't make up its mind about the moral. Incredibly interesting premise completely ruining by nonsense.
jujuleigh's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The set up was somewhat interesting, but the idea of the second immaculate birth working at a starbucks just doesn’t feel right. too many heavy subjects are not given the weight they would in the real world. i would’ve much preferred a sci-fi look at the exploitation of WOCs bodies and i think it would’ve made a better story. i did find the concept unique and the mother daughter relationship did work really well at least in the first half. the romance was half baked but a unique idea again. i wish the book had taken these unique ideas and really refined them rather than wasting them half thought out.
mamaejamae's review
4.0
This book was good. I enjoyed the characters and how real they felt (especially Elena's indecision I really felt that) but I also did not like the characters saying the same things over and over again. Also I felt like the book left some parts unfinished in a weird way, like how the best friend, Fadil, obviously has a problem with Elena being disrespectful towards his religion but he only ever says two things about it and it did not feel like it got resolved (Maybe it did though idk). Plus I felt like Freddie was too mean to Elena throughout the whole book and so while I wanted to like her character I was not really able to. Overall though I really did enjoy the book and like most of Shaun David Hutchinson's books I enjoyed the mainly internal plot and like We Are the Ants I enjoyed the whole "do I save the world or not" kind of debate. This book also added to that by Elena not knowing if she was actually saving people or not. That's some good stuff.
rockinrodriguez's review
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
3.5
This was a fun book and I would recommend it to my sciffi friends who don’t need closure
ian_hasumi's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
christajls's review
3.0
Originally reviewed on Bookmarked
Sixteen years ago, Elena Mendoza’s mother gave birth. This wouldn’t usually be a remarkable event since women all over the world give birth every day. But Elena Mendoza’s mom was a virgin and Elena is the product of parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction. It’s unique and scientifically noteworthy, but other than that Elena has managed to live a fairly normal life. That is until one day, while working at Starbucks, she witnesses a shooting and not only heals the victim (Freddie, the girl she has had a crush on forever) but makes the shooter disappear into thin air. From that moment on Elena’s life will never be normal again.
If I had only one word to describe The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, it would be unique. If I had two words it would be extremely unique. And I mean that in the best way. As you may have guessed the plot is bizarre, which might be a little off-putting for some readers, but ultimately this is a very character-driven novel. Thinking about what I remembered the best from Elena Mendoza it wasn’t the miracles or the talking My Little Pony toy, but Elena’s relationships with those around her – especially Freddie. After she heals Freddie they begin to spend more time together and Elena has to reconcile the real person in front of her with the idealized person she crushed on from afar. It was also refreshing to see such strong bisexual representation throughout the course of the novel. Elena is out and proud of her identity. She uses the words “bisexual” and “bi” regularly and there is an open dialogue between her friends and family. That alone makes me want to shove a copy into everyone’s hands. So even if Elena Mendoza sounds a little out of your wheelhouse I recommend giving it a chance, as it may end up being just what you needed.
Sixteen years ago, Elena Mendoza’s mother gave birth. This wouldn’t usually be a remarkable event since women all over the world give birth every day. But Elena Mendoza’s mom was a virgin and Elena is the product of parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction. It’s unique and scientifically noteworthy, but other than that Elena has managed to live a fairly normal life. That is until one day, while working at Starbucks, she witnesses a shooting and not only heals the victim (Freddie, the girl she has had a crush on forever) but makes the shooter disappear into thin air. From that moment on Elena’s life will never be normal again.
If I had only one word to describe The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, it would be unique. If I had two words it would be extremely unique. And I mean that in the best way. As you may have guessed the plot is bizarre, which might be a little off-putting for some readers, but ultimately this is a very character-driven novel. Thinking about what I remembered the best from Elena Mendoza it wasn’t the miracles or the talking My Little Pony toy, but Elena’s relationships with those around her – especially Freddie. After she heals Freddie they begin to spend more time together and Elena has to reconcile the real person in front of her with the idealized person she crushed on from afar. It was also refreshing to see such strong bisexual representation throughout the course of the novel. Elena is out and proud of her identity. She uses the words “bisexual” and “bi” regularly and there is an open dialogue between her friends and family. That alone makes me want to shove a copy into everyone’s hands. So even if Elena Mendoza sounds a little out of your wheelhouse I recommend giving it a chance, as it may end up being just what you needed.
girlinthepages's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not sure what I expected when I started this book, to tell you the truth, but it certainly wasn't what I read. The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza took me by surprise, as I suppose any end of the world YA story that starts in a Starbucks would.
Our protagonist, Elena, is immediately established to be ~unique~ as she was the product of a virgin birth, explained by the happening of parthenogenesis, which was cool in theory but I have no idea if it could ever happen in real life to a human, but I just went along with it, because what do English majors know about such things anyway? I thought perhaps the story might have taken a bit of a religious spin with the virgin birth premise, however it almost had more of a sci-fi feel, with Elena discovering her mysterious power to heal after saving a classmate who is shot at Starbucks one day. As you can probably imagine, things spiral a bit out of control from there, with Elena exploring her healing power and the voices telling her she needs to save as many people as she can before the end of the world.
All in all, though there were a lot of elements about this story that were plain ridiculous, at its core I found it interesting and a bit of a tongue in cheek commentary of the popularity of end of the world plots in books/movies/tv, mixed in with those random news stories about miracles or people finding visions of deities in their toast. I like that despite the craziness of the plot Elena never took things too seriously and that she was a remarkably likeable character who's voice was comfortable to settle into, and despite her virgin birth and ability to perform miracles it never felt like it was being forced on me that she was a special snowflake of a character (which is honestly a pet peeve of mine). I also enjoyed the strong relationships she had with her best friend (in a completely platonic way! Hooray!) and her mom. There was just a lot of positive relationships (and diversity) in this book that never felt forced.
However, where the book did lose my favor was in the fact that it felt like not a whole lot actually HAPPENED. It was mostly just Elena mulling over her strange healing power and its repercussions, and pining after a crush who was honestly not a very nice person to her and so angsty I couldn't stand it (I was so tired of Freddie being allowed to go off on Elena and call her out on all sorts of stuff and just get away with it because she was a self proclaimed terrible person). After a while I really tired of these conversations that I think were supposed to be deep and meaningful about humans and human behavior and free will and who was worth saving, etc. but it honestly felt abusive after a while and I was 100% over Freddie.
~Mild spoilers ahead~
My number one complaint with this book that was worth knocking probably a whole star off was the lack of closure. The book ends super abruptly and I know personally I spent the whole time waiting for some big reveal about how the world was going to end/if Elena was really hearing voices coming out of Legos and My Little Ponies telling her to save people, or if it was hallucinations, etc. When I read a book about the end of the world I expect to find out about HOW THE WORLD ENDS but nope, it honestly just left everything super open ended and really just felt like a YA contemporary with some good diversity elements but threw in the apocalypse/miracles to make it ~different~ but then didn't go all the way with the themes, which sort of ruined the whole reading experience for me.
Overall: I enjoyed the narrator of the audio book and liked Elena as a character, but the lack of closure or really any explanation at all in this novel left me frustrated. If you're looking for another contemporary YA that wants to try to tackles some social issues under a veil of absurdity, this is the right read for you, but I find it to be very anticlimactic. This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
Our protagonist, Elena, is immediately established to be ~unique~ as she was the product of a virgin birth, explained by the happening of parthenogenesis, which was cool in theory but I have no idea if it could ever happen in real life to a human, but I just went along with it, because what do English majors know about such things anyway? I thought perhaps the story might have taken a bit of a religious spin with the virgin birth premise, however it almost had more of a sci-fi feel, with Elena discovering her mysterious power to heal after saving a classmate who is shot at Starbucks one day. As you can probably imagine, things spiral a bit out of control from there, with Elena exploring her healing power and the voices telling her she needs to save as many people as she can before the end of the world.
All in all, though there were a lot of elements about this story that were plain ridiculous, at its core I found it interesting and a bit of a tongue in cheek commentary of the popularity of end of the world plots in books/movies/tv, mixed in with those random news stories about miracles or people finding visions of deities in their toast. I like that despite the craziness of the plot Elena never took things too seriously and that she was a remarkably likeable character who's voice was comfortable to settle into, and despite her virgin birth and ability to perform miracles it never felt like it was being forced on me that she was a special snowflake of a character (which is honestly a pet peeve of mine). I also enjoyed the strong relationships she had with her best friend (in a completely platonic way! Hooray!) and her mom. There was just a lot of positive relationships (and diversity) in this book that never felt forced.
However, where the book did lose my favor was in the fact that it felt like not a whole lot actually HAPPENED. It was mostly just Elena mulling over her strange healing power and its repercussions, and pining after a crush who was honestly not a very nice person to her and so angsty I couldn't stand it (I was so tired of Freddie being allowed to go off on Elena and call her out on all sorts of stuff and just get away with it because she was a self proclaimed terrible person). After a while I really tired of these conversations that I think were supposed to be deep and meaningful about humans and human behavior and free will and who was worth saving, etc. but it honestly felt abusive after a while and I was 100% over Freddie.
~Mild spoilers ahead~
My number one complaint with this book that was worth knocking probably a whole star off was the lack of closure. The book ends super abruptly and I know personally I spent the whole time waiting for some big reveal about how the world was going to end/if Elena was really hearing voices coming out of Legos and My Little Ponies telling her to save people, or if it was hallucinations, etc. When I read a book about the end of the world I expect to find out about HOW THE WORLD ENDS but nope, it honestly just left everything super open ended and really just felt like a YA contemporary with some good diversity elements but threw in the apocalypse/miracles to make it ~different~ but then didn't go all the way with the themes, which sort of ruined the whole reading experience for me.
Overall: I enjoyed the narrator of the audio book and liked Elena as a character, but the lack of closure or really any explanation at all in this novel left me frustrated. If you're looking for another contemporary YA that wants to try to tackles some social issues under a veil of absurdity, this is the right read for you, but I find it to be very anticlimactic. This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages