Reviews - One for All | The StoryGraph

834 reviews for:

The pacing, the historical backdrop, the sisterhood bonding, the secret espionage—this book has so many things going for it, and Lainoff pulls them off so well. I love Tania as a protagonist, and each of the other girls in the group were so well characterized and different. Even the story arc with Étienne was satisfying to me, and the whole “mystery” was intriguing enough to keep me engaged. Also, the interweaving of Tania’s disability (POTS) and her training/fighting (fencing) was so great to see in a novel geared towards young adults, especially one with a historical setting.

gigireadswithkiki's review

DID NOT FINISH: 25%

Yes, the writing is all over the place. Yes, the pacing reads like a debut. However. None of these are the reasons I'm DNF-ing this which is that it takes a classical literature story set in centuries past (17th century France to be exact), that would be considered problematic in our modern day, then de-fangs the story, removing the historical and political context, leaving a jumbled mess of a premise.

It felt like there was an intrinsic disconnect between the politics of the story and the author's political views; okay, the Musketeers protect the king, but why did you have to add that the death of the king would result in the downfall of lives of the underprivileged because the noble class would instill a worse regime? Is the "well the king is incompetent but the other option is worse," really the story we want to go for in a retelling of The Three Musketeers?

I understand how the original text would have had some problematic views but those tropes and themes are all framed within the context of what France was in the 17th century. And when you remove those and instill modern day political ideals without a firm grasp of the purpose of the original text, you have nothing but jumbled garbage. Did I still enjoy the disability representation? Absolutely, the internalized ableism was portrayed so, so well. But I simply couldn't get past the messiness of the author's attempt at modernizing the politics of 17th century France.

bookishlass's review against another edition

4.0

Content warnings: ableism, violence, grief, murder, death of a parent

pengustorm's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional mysterious

greenwoodspicers's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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: Yes

emily_mh's review

4.0

adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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: No

This book really grew on me! I’m not going to lie, the start was super slow. I was pretty worried because I was like 60 pages in and still not feeling gripped, questioning why we were spending so much time in this beginning phase. But once the plot kicked off I got into it and ended up really enjoying the story!

First and foremost, this book has some fantastic disability rep. MC Tania has POTS, and her character development is centred on unlearning her internalised ableism, and growing her self-worth which has been persistently undermined by societal ableism. I loved being able to relate to Tania’s worries and beliefs as a chronically ill person myself. I also liked the exploration of what it’s like to have a disability that doesn’t even have a name yet; Tania feels so incredibly isolated because of that fact. It really drove home the need for visibility to me, as seeing there are other people with your disability can alleviate some of the isolation that comes with having that disability. Which is another reason why I like this book, because it is providing that visibility. Honestly, disability books like this make me so happy!

Another thing this story has going for it is that it is essentially about historical spies. The historical setting gives a real sense of time and place to the narrative, especially as the plot is woven into real historical events. The spy part provides all the action, as the girls carry out training, codebreaking, sidling up to suspects, mini-heists, fencing and more, all undercover as noble ladies. It was just a lot of fun, but also intriguing enough of a mystery for it to have substance.

I also liked the sisterhood aspect of the Musketeers. Lainoff makes sure to include the small and everyday interactions between the girls as well as stuff that moves the plot forward, and she also takes care that Tania forms a connection with all three other girls, so their bond is totally believable. I loved that they provided such reliable, caring support to Tania and just automatically accommodated her without question. Also, each of the girls were distinct from one another, although I wish we had gotten to know Portia more.

Unfortunately I did have a large criticism of the book, leading me to dock one star, and that was the writing style. I found it to be pretty clumsy, like I knew what it was trying to say but it could have said it in a more eloquent or expressive way. The sentence structure could be super clunky at times, and the dialogue a little confusing. I also wish it had been more concise in areas, and that some scenes had been removed entirely. Ultimately it wasn’t enough to put me off the book, as I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to others, but I can see why this might be a problem for other readers!

Rep: MC with POTS, sapphic SCs, potentially aro SC

Content Warnings