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megpancoast's review
emotional
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
3.75
eliseblackburn's review against another edition
3.0
By all accounts, this book should have been great. It followed writing rules for plot progression and creating intriguing characters; the book had aliens and comic books, geared for middle grade readers. But something felt off. The book struggled to make readers excited for the story to unfold. For those unfamiliar with Felix Yz, the novel is a compilation of blog posts written by Felix, our protagonist, in the month before a potentially fatal operation to remove an alien from his body. Although the author made us feel Felix's grief and fear about this operation, the ending did not justify the story.
But let's talk about representation in the novel. The alien that coexists within Felix leaves his physically disabled, which leads to bullying and other struggles for him. The author did a great job in portraying these specific struggles, but not anything else he is going through. Within the first few pages of the book, Felix reveals his feelings for a boy in his class, Hector. However, every interaction between them is lame. Felix does not spend much time talking about his feelings for Hector, so when he does fawn over the boy, it feels forced. The romance felt pushed and not necessary. If the author wanted Felix to be gay, she should have spent more time developing him as a character. There is one moment that sticks out as being exceptional for showing the intersectionality of Felix's identities: someone calls him a f*g, which Felix almost laughs at. He knows they bully him for his appearance and quirks, not his sexuality because no one knows he is gay. That throwaway line is actually demonstrates Felix's intuition about his situation and how he does not exist as a series of separate identities but is one human, such an important concept to introduce to middle grade readers. Other elements of representation in the book was Felix's mother, as the work hints at her becoming involved with a woman. This minor plot point also felt forced and not like real representation, just thrown in to have a "diverse" cast. However, the author really excelled at creating the character of Grandy, Felix's gender-fluid grandparent. Grandy's trans identity is discussed and helps young readers understand how some people are outside the gender binary and use pronouns reflecting that. At the end of the book, Felix hears his grandparent's assigned at birth gender and name. Grandy actually talks about how recognizing one's trans identity and the life lived before is part of transgender people's journeys. The author artfully mastered the discussion of this difficult issue, and that representation is probably the best, and most important, part of the book.
But let's talk about representation in the novel. The alien that coexists within Felix leaves his physically disabled, which leads to bullying and other struggles for him. The author did a great job in portraying these specific struggles, but not anything else he is going through. Within the first few pages of the book, Felix reveals his feelings for a boy in his class, Hector. However, every interaction between them is lame. Felix does not spend much time talking about his feelings for Hector, so when he does fawn over the boy, it feels forced. The romance felt pushed and not necessary. If the author wanted Felix to be gay, she should have spent more time developing him as a character. There is one moment that sticks out as being exceptional for showing the intersectionality of Felix's identities: someone calls him a f*g, which Felix almost laughs at. He knows they bully him for his appearance and quirks, not his sexuality because no one knows he is gay. That throwaway line is actually demonstrates Felix's intuition about his situation and how he does not exist as a series of separate identities but is one human, such an important concept to introduce to middle grade readers. Other elements of representation in the book was Felix's mother, as the work hints at her becoming involved with a woman. This minor plot point also felt forced and not like real representation, just thrown in to have a "diverse" cast. However, the author really excelled at creating the character of Grandy, Felix's gender-fluid grandparent. Grandy's trans identity is discussed and helps young readers understand how some people are outside the gender binary and use pronouns reflecting that. At the end of the book, Felix hears his grandparent's assigned at birth gender and name. Grandy actually talks about how recognizing one's trans identity and the life lived before is part of transgender people's journeys. The author artfully mastered the discussion of this difficult issue, and that representation is probably the best, and most important, part of the book.
margardenlady's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Felix was in a lab accident with his father and is merged with an entity from another dimension. This proves complicated for living a normal childhood. As we find him and !Zyx, his 4th dimensional partner, they are counting down to an experimental procedure to separate them. Felix is blogging about the situation and his feelings throughout the story. endearing examination of an emotional situation added to the roller coaster of childhood angst.
librarydreams's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
4.5
I loved this book! It's rare to find such a philosophical work of juvenile fiction that is still readable and approachable for the target age group. Felix is so thoughtful about his experiences about his approaching possible death and his relationship with his 4th-dimensional body-mate. His revelations about life and connectedness are groundbreaking. The treatment of gender diversity is also refreshingly normalized.
shadylane_00's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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? Yes
4.0
ari767's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
4.5
mbrandmaier's review
4.0
Felix has an alien living inside him. No, really, there was an accident when he was three years old that fused his body with a 4th dimensional being called Zyx (short for *Zyxilef).
While preparing for a potentially fatal Procedure to detach him from Zyx, Felix must deal with his feelings for another boy in his class, being bullied, and wondering what Grandy's original name/gender is (though as Felix says, not that it really matters.)
While preparing for a potentially fatal Procedure to detach him from Zyx, Felix must deal with his feelings for another boy in his class, being bullied, and wondering what Grandy's original name/gender is (though as Felix says, not that it really matters.)
calypsogilstrap's review
1.0
I finished it but I am very confused. I mean ultimately I understand what happened but there were way to many twists and character and random events that don't connect.
amandaneptune's review against another edition
3.0
Strange book. Mostly enjoyable. My 10 year old and I read it together. The story was pretty good. My main issue was the sort-of forced look at gender fluidity. I'm all for that being well-represented in YA literature. But I felt like I was being beat over the head with it. I did enjoy that our main character is a young gay kid experiencing his first crush. But then we also have a grandparent who isn't genderless, rather two genders split evenly through the week. A bisexual mother. And another character who is trans. I am in no way opposed to all these different people as characters in this book; rather I was glad to get to read about them to my 10 year old. But rather than gender and sexuality coming across as another version of normal, I felt like it was an exposé on the topic with the author working overtime to fit as many non-hetero characters in as possible.
sasha_in_a_box's review against another edition
3.0
.....this book is strange.
But good? Kind of.
But it's weird.
So this boy, Felix, is fused with a fourth-dimensional alien being. He has a crush on his classmate, Hector, but he thinks he doesn't have a chance because he is bullied all the time. His sister is a piano genius. His father is dead as a result of a lab accident that caused the alien fusion. His mother is dating a guy named Rick, who likes chess a lot. And finally, he lives with Grandy: his grandparent who is Vera for three days a week, Vern for another three, and a sequestered being on Wednesdays. Felix has a month until the Procedure, which will attempt to separate him from the alien. The alien, Zyx, isn't so bad. Yes, sometimes vo (gender-neutral pronoun made up by Grandy) takes over Felix's typing hands to express veir ideas. Sometimes vo gets really excited about jazz. And other times vo takes Felix on trans-dimensional field trips. Felix has gotten used to vem, but he has a month to come to terms with the separation. If it doesn't succeed, there will be no more Felix.
The good stuff:
- An easing into the idea of non-binary gender and sexuality: AWESOME
- Transgender author
- Easy to read, kinda fun sometimes
- Cool ideas
The not so good stuff:
- It's just weird, ok? I think there was way too much going on and not enough space to explore it all. I guess the author poured everything she had into this one work. It would have been better to pace it across different stories.
- Felix runs away at some point and I feel like the lesson learned is a bit of a dangerous one.
- Because there's so much going on, not enough ideas and characters had a chance to be developed.
I admire the work and would absolutely read more. But this one broke my brain a bit.
But good? Kind of.
But it's weird.
So this boy, Felix, is fused with a fourth-dimensional alien being. He has a crush on his classmate, Hector, but he thinks he doesn't have a chance because he is bullied all the time. His sister is a piano genius. His father is dead as a result of a lab accident that caused the alien fusion. His mother is dating a guy named Rick, who likes chess a lot. And finally, he lives with Grandy: his grandparent who is Vera for three days a week, Vern for another three, and a sequestered being on Wednesdays. Felix has a month until the Procedure, which will attempt to separate him from the alien. The alien, Zyx, isn't so bad. Yes, sometimes vo (gender-neutral pronoun made up by Grandy) takes over Felix's typing hands to express veir ideas. Sometimes vo gets really excited about jazz. And other times vo takes Felix on trans-dimensional field trips. Felix has gotten used to vem, but he has a month to come to terms with the separation. If it doesn't succeed, there will be no more Felix.
The good stuff:
- An easing into the idea of non-binary gender and sexuality: AWESOME
- Transgender author
- Easy to read, kinda fun sometimes
- Cool ideas
The not so good stuff:
- It's just weird, ok? I think there was way too much going on and not enough space to explore it all. I guess the author poured everything she had into this one work. It would have been better to pace it across different stories.
- Felix runs away at some point and I feel like the lesson learned is a bit of a dangerous one.
- Because there's so much going on, not enough ideas and characters had a chance to be developed.
I admire the work and would absolutely read more. But this one broke my brain a bit.