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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
The truth is, is that I was expecting The Friday Society to be really good. I purchased this book having read no reviews online, and not really checking it out anywhere on the web, and I kind of regret it now.
Anyways, back to the point. When I bought it I was pretty excited: it seemed like everything I'm into. It was historical, steampunk, had three very different female characters as the protagonists, and so it was just a really good idea in my mind. However, how it was pulled off - well, wasn't so good. At first, it wasn't all that bad, although I did notice that the writing was a bit childish and that the editing was, well, frankly really bad. I thought the narrative voice might just be the "immature" kind of thing, but it was rather continuous, even in the more studious and less "bouncy" character's chapters. For instance, there are words like "explosion-y." Which, in actuality, I probably could've dealt with it fine if the plot itself hadn't turned out quite so poorly.
Of course, this is simply all my opinion. Some people really love The Friday Society, and that's great! But it turns out it just wasn't my cup of tea. I suppose the most disappointing part was that it sounded JUST like my cup of tea, but in execution turned out completely different. One of my biggest complaints with the novel is the way our protagonists view "other" girls. They say it just like that: "other. It's not a cool thing, and it's really disappointing, particularly in a novel that is very feminist in theory. Instead of our protagonists accepting all girls in their own ways (whether they liked ball gowns and flowers, guns and explosions, whether they were virgins or not, etc. etc. etc.) they made a point of being, "Oh, I'm not like those girls." That's incredibly frustrating. And it's just super judgmental.
Also, perhaps it's just me, but I felt like Michiko got the short end of the stick most of the time. I think there are more chapters that are Cora's and Nellie's, or at least longer chapters, than Michiko's. I liked all of the girls a lot, which is one reason I gave this book two starts instead of just one. I cared about them a lot, I liked how different they were - their circumstances, backgrounds, lives, cultures, you get the idea. At first it felt like Nellie and Cora were too similar, but as time went on I found it easy to distinguish between their narrative voices and found them quite different. Michiko was quite different in personality than both of them from the very beginning.
I also didn't like the exotification of the characters of color. It was irritating to constantly see Michiko and Raheem being called "exotic" or suchlike every passage. It was pretty gross. Also, I'm not an expert or anything, of course, but I'm pretty sure a lot of the stuff with relation to Michiko's culture and practice (samurai) were dead wrong.
One part I did find pretty interesting, though, was the main villain's identity. I won't spoil it here, but I didn't see it coming and it was a nice surprise. I like the ending also; I was happythat all of the girls got a good ending, as I loved them quite a lot regardless of the book itself's failures .
The plot was also pulled off poorly. So, altogether, it just wasn't for me. Another note: it was a "fun" type read, but because of its massive size and everything, it wasn't much fun dragging through it especially because nothing much ever seemed to happen. I also think it took itself a little too seriously plot-wise in that regard. Also I want to mention that I think a lot of favoritism was shown to Cora. I felt like I could tell the author had chosen "favorites."
Anyways, back to the point. When I bought it I was pretty excited: it seemed like everything I'm into. It was historical, steampunk, had three very different female characters as the protagonists, and so it was just a really good idea in my mind. However, how it was pulled off - well, wasn't so good. At first, it wasn't all that bad, although I did notice that the writing was a bit childish and that the editing was, well, frankly really bad. I thought the narrative voice might just be the "immature" kind of thing, but it was rather continuous, even in the more studious and less "bouncy" character's chapters. For instance, there are words like "explosion-y." Which, in actuality, I probably could've dealt with it fine if the plot itself hadn't turned out quite so poorly.
Of course, this is simply all my opinion. Some people really love The Friday Society, and that's great! But it turns out it just wasn't my cup of tea. I suppose the most disappointing part was that it sounded JUST like my cup of tea, but in execution turned out completely different. One of my biggest complaints with the novel is the way our protagonists view "other" girls. They say it just like that: "other. It's not a cool thing, and it's really disappointing, particularly in a novel that is very feminist in theory. Instead of our protagonists accepting all girls in their own ways (whether they liked ball gowns and flowers, guns and explosions, whether they were virgins or not, etc. etc. etc.) they made a point of being, "Oh, I'm not like those girls." That's incredibly frustrating. And it's just super judgmental.
Also, perhaps it's just me, but I felt like Michiko got the short end of the stick most of the time. I think there are more chapters that are Cora's and Nellie's, or at least longer chapters, than Michiko's. I liked all of the girls a lot, which is one reason I gave this book two starts instead of just one. I cared about them a lot, I liked how different they were - their circumstances, backgrounds, lives, cultures, you get the idea. At first it felt like Nellie and Cora were too similar, but as time went on I found it easy to distinguish between their narrative voices and found them quite different. Michiko was quite different in personality than both of them from the very beginning.
I also didn't like the exotification of the characters of color. It was irritating to constantly see Michiko and Raheem being called "exotic" or suchlike every passage. It was pretty gross. Also, I'm not an expert or anything, of course, but I'm pretty sure a lot of the stuff with relation to Michiko's culture and practice (samurai) were dead wrong.
One part I did find pretty interesting, though, was the main villain's identity. I won't spoil it here, but I didn't see it coming and it was a nice surprise. I like the ending also; I was happy
The plot was also pulled off poorly. So, altogether, it just wasn't for me. Another note: it was a "fun" type read, but because of its massive size and everything, it wasn't much fun dragging through it especially because nothing much ever seemed to happen. I also think it took itself a little too seriously plot-wise in that regard. Also I want to mention that I think a lot of favoritism was shown to Cora. I felt like I could tell the author had chosen "favorites."
It was interesting to read a trio of different girls coming together that was in London. It was a great concept.
Nothing really specular about this. It wasn't really bad but it just kind of sat there for me.
Overall I quite liked this book. A sort of steam punk setting but with characters from multiple backgrounds so they weren't all completely set in the steam punk way of life. I of course loved the female empowerment theme the whole book contained, and absolutely loved that while two of the three main characters had love interests neither of them depended on said love interests a whole lot and their romance was not a huge theme in the book.
However the book did get a little slow in the middle, just a bit redundant at parts really. Luckily the beginning and end were quite good and mostly made up for it.
However the book did get a little slow in the middle, just a bit redundant at parts really. Luckily the beginning and end were quite good and mostly made up for it.
Ahh this book was so stinkin' fun. 4.5 stars. (Minus .5 stars for weirdly modern voice despite the historical setting)
Four and a half stars.
What I really thought was cool about this book (of many things) was the contemporary writing style. This made it really easy to get into and fallow without trudging through any dated vocabulary or references which can come about in historical fiction. It also made the characters more relatable. The story is written so that each girl's life is documented separately but then come together. It's a very fun, quick read (despite it's thickness). The mystery keeps you guessing until a bit before the big reveal when things become a bit obvious and the characters don't seem to realize it. Despite that it's a descent mystery plus good suspense and quite action-y. I loved all the here and there details and world building. I couldn't help but cast the characters in my head: Cora Bell: British counter part of Aubrey Plaza, Nellie: Evanna Lynch , Sir Callum Fielding-Shaw: British counterpart of Woody Harrelson, And the older inventor Cora works for whose name I can't remember: British counter part of Jeff Bridges.
What I really thought was cool about this book (of many things) was the contemporary writing style. This made it really easy to get into and fallow without trudging through any dated vocabulary or references which can come about in historical fiction. It also made the characters more relatable. The story is written so that each girl's life is documented separately but then come together. It's a very fun, quick read (despite it's thickness). The mystery keeps you guessing until a bit before the big reveal when things become a bit obvious and the characters don't seem to realize it. Despite that it's a descent mystery plus good suspense and quite action-y. I loved all the here and there details and world building. I couldn't help but cast the characters in my head: Cora Bell: British counter part of Aubrey Plaza, Nellie: Evanna Lynch , Sir Callum Fielding-Shaw: British counterpart of Woody Harrelson, And the older inventor Cora works for whose name I can't remember: British counter part of Jeff Bridges.
"Steampunk adventure with three plucky heroines," I thought, "sounds like my cup of tea! Lemme put this on hold at the library!"
Sadly, a big disappointment. I have a number of objections, but the main one is simply that for what should be a rip-roaring adventure, it suffers from languid pacing. It really picks up in the last 30 or 40 pages, but it's kind of a slog to get there.
Someone made the terrible choice to have the characters' internal monologues be in modern dialect. So Nellie, for example, thinks about how she looks "totally hot." Since the characters use what appears to be passable Victorian (or Edwardian, or whatever the hell) dialect when speaking aloud, this really made no sense. The fact that it lessens after the first fifty pages or so makes me strongly suspect it's an editorial, not an authorial choice. In either case, terrible idea.
It also suffers from overuse of The Sledgehammer, which the author applies at numerous points, just in case you didn't get from the fact that it's a book about plucky girls kicking ass that WOMEN ARE CAPABLE AND DESERVING OF RESPECT AND ARE MORE THAN JUST MEN'S ACCESSORIES. As someone who has read a book in my life, I actually got that from the action without all the monologues to that effect.
And now, the spoilers! Steer clear!
What the hell was going on with the parrot, who is apparently possessed of human-level intelligence and can perform complex tasks without training? As I read this stuff, I thought, eh, I'll go with it, maybe it'll be explained later. Nope!
I once heard Kim Stanley Robinson speak about The Wild Shore, and he said something to the effect of "art needs to take death seriously." Wow, is Hayao's death trivial in this book. It's jarring how little it effects everyone, except, you know, it helps Michiko to self-actualize. Not sure mistreating male characters in the way that lot of literature mistreats female characters is really a good thing, but I guess some people might dig that.
I really liked the fact that Cora's attraction fizzled out, and the very well-described hunger she felt during the initial kissing scenes turned out to be directed at a guy who wasn't worth it. "Nice touch of emotional realism," I thought. "It's not too often that---SERIAL KILLER!" I think the entire flower girl part could have been disposed with, as it leads to a Scouring of the Shire-style anticlimax.
And finally, something about steampunk in general, though it applies here: I feel like a lot of steampunk sanitizes the horrors of this era. The Victorian era was notable not only for cool hats, but also for vicious cruelty to the most vulnerable members of society. (Ever read Dickens?) The top hats and gears and goggles are fun, but it starts to feel to me like a kind of dangerous lie when it ignores the starving children.
Having said all of that--the magnetic gun thing is cool as hell, and the end sets us up for a sequel that would skip all the tedious get-to-know you stuff and might actually be a lot of fun.
Sadly, a big disappointment. I have a number of objections, but the main one is simply that for what should be a rip-roaring adventure, it suffers from languid pacing. It really picks up in the last 30 or 40 pages, but it's kind of a slog to get there.
Someone made the terrible choice to have the characters' internal monologues be in modern dialect. So Nellie, for example, thinks about how she looks "totally hot." Since the characters use what appears to be passable Victorian (or Edwardian, or whatever the hell) dialect when speaking aloud, this really made no sense. The fact that it lessens after the first fifty pages or so makes me strongly suspect it's an editorial, not an authorial choice. In either case, terrible idea.
It also suffers from overuse of The Sledgehammer, which the author applies at numerous points, just in case you didn't get from the fact that it's a book about plucky girls kicking ass that WOMEN ARE CAPABLE AND DESERVING OF RESPECT AND ARE MORE THAN JUST MEN'S ACCESSORIES. As someone who has read a book in my life, I actually got that from the action without all the monologues to that effect.
And now, the spoilers! Steer clear!
What the hell was going on with the parrot, who is apparently possessed of human-level intelligence and can perform complex tasks without training? As I read this stuff, I thought, eh, I'll go with it, maybe it'll be explained later. Nope!
I once heard Kim Stanley Robinson speak about The Wild Shore, and he said something to the effect of "art needs to take death seriously." Wow, is Hayao's death trivial in this book. It's jarring how little it effects everyone, except, you know, it helps Michiko to self-actualize. Not sure mistreating male characters in the way that lot of literature mistreats female characters is really a good thing, but I guess some people might dig that.
I really liked the fact that Cora's attraction fizzled out, and the very well-described hunger she felt during the initial kissing scenes turned out to be directed at a guy who wasn't worth it. "Nice touch of emotional realism," I thought. "It's not too often that---SERIAL KILLER!" I think the entire flower girl part could have been disposed with, as it leads to a Scouring of the Shire-style anticlimax.
And finally, something about steampunk in general, though it applies here: I feel like a lot of steampunk sanitizes the horrors of this era. The Victorian era was notable not only for cool hats, but also for vicious cruelty to the most vulnerable members of society. (Ever read Dickens?) The top hats and gears and goggles are fun, but it starts to feel to me like a kind of dangerous lie when it ignores the starving children.
Having said all of that--the magnetic gun thing is cool as hell, and the end sets us up for a sequel that would skip all the tedious get-to-know you stuff and might actually be a lot of fun.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
It's a weird blend between Victorianish Steampunk and modern -- characters look "awesome" or "smokin'", do parkour, have modern views of gender, and associate pink with women (something which in reality happened in the 40s, and which was somehow very annoying in a way the other anachronisms weren't -- probably because it didn't feel deliberate when the others did).
There's a gun called the Chekhov that comes up in the beginning. You will not be surprised to see it reappear later.
I'm not sure this is the best book -- the plot didn't really hold together well -- but it was a very promising start to what appears to be a fun steampunk series.
There's a gun called the Chekhov that comes up in the beginning. You will not be surprised to see it reappear later.
I'm not sure this is the best book -- the plot didn't really hold together well -- but it was a very promising start to what appears to be a fun steampunk series.