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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I'm always on the hunt for books featuring main characters with chronic illness/disability, and there are not very many. To have a main character with POTS was an automatic win, but to have it be a retelling of the three musketeers, yes, please. Though, I found this book to be more of a continuation of the 3 musketeers, than a retelling.
Overall, this was a fun read with a strong female character who deals with challenges from her illness and how others perceive it all while building her fencing skills and saving France.
Overall, this was a fun read with a strong female character who deals with challenges from her illness and how others perceive it all while building her fencing skills and saving France.
adventurous
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
One For All is a sequel of sorts to Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers, following Tania a 16-year-old girl with undiagnosed POTS whose life is changed after the murder of her father leads to her stay at a finishing academy with more to meets the eye. There she encounters the crafty Madame de Treville, shy Henri, and fellow students Thea, Portia, and Aria.
I absolutely love the friendship between the main girls! Aria and Thea are my favorites but I also adore Portia. And of course Tania is a delightful protagonist who gets to be equally out of place in her new life and headstrong in defying people's expectations about her due to her disability. I first read this book 2 years ago and it was my first time becoming aware of POTS (postural orthostatic tachychardia syndrome) and the author herself has POTS, making this a more authentic OwnVoices novel.
The action and intrigue is also very well done and kept me hooked both times around.
I absolutely love the friendship between the main girls! Aria and Thea are my favorites but I also adore Portia. And of course Tania is a delightful protagonist who gets to be equally out of place in her new life and headstrong in defying people's expectations about her due to her disability. I first read this book 2 years ago and it was my first time becoming aware of POTS (postural orthostatic tachychardia syndrome) and the author herself has POTS, making this a more authentic OwnVoices novel.
The action and intrigue is also very well done and kept me hooked both times around.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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:
Yes
dnf @ 11% which feels like i barely even made a dent in it but idk i feel like i tried to read this book so many times and i just couldnt progress. so a dnf feels the most right to me. it might be the book or might be a reading slump, i have no idea. there was nothing wrong with what i did read but it wasn't doing anything to keep me hooked.
adventurous
hopeful
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
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, but it ultimately fell quite flat for me :( the POTS representation was fantastic and so, so important, but apart from that, I struggled to really connect with several elements of the narrative.
the story felt like it was dragging on for 85% of the book, and when things started to speed up, everything was moving far too quickly. with respect to the book's initial slow pacing, I'm all for slow-paced stories because I think it can give us the opportunity to delve deeper into the characters and character dynamics, but the book felt lacking even in that department. I enjoyed the relationship between the four girls, but the characters themselves - while loveable and endearing - felt quite shallow and underdeveloped. we get hints of characterisation, but no substantial character work.
and the queer representation in this book... I'm not sure you can even call it representation when the couple in question has a handful of flirtatious moments before eventually getting together. there's no real relationship development whatsoever. the mere existence of queer characters and queer relationships does not mean that a book has substantial queer representation.
I also struggled to care about the plot itself, because (as was the case with the characters) we get hints of plot development but nothing considerable enough to keep me invested. it's not simply because the plot itself was predictable - it was also the fact that I didn't know why I was supposed to care about things like the assassination plot against the king, when we're never given any real reason to care. of course, I'm able to infer some of those reasons because of the historical context, but when you're writing a book, you can't leave gaps in your storytelling expecting your reader to fill them in. I'm not saying to spoon-feed every detail to your audience, but you also need to be giving the reader enough detail for them to form their own opinions and interpretations.
overall, I really wanted to enjoy this, but it ended up being quite shallow and underdeveloped, aside from the POTS representation.
the story felt like it was dragging on for 85% of the book, and when things started to speed up, everything was moving far too quickly. with respect to the book's initial slow pacing, I'm all for slow-paced stories because I think it can give us the opportunity to delve deeper into the characters and character dynamics, but the book felt lacking even in that department. I enjoyed the relationship between the four girls, but the characters themselves - while loveable and endearing - felt quite shallow and underdeveloped. we get hints of characterisation, but no substantial character work.
and the queer representation in this book... I'm not sure you can even call it representation when the couple in question has a handful of flirtatious moments before eventually getting together. there's no real relationship development whatsoever. the mere existence of queer characters and queer relationships does not mean that a book has substantial queer representation.
I also struggled to care about the plot itself, because (as was the case with the characters) we get hints of plot development but nothing considerable enough to keep me invested. it's not simply because the plot itself was predictable - it was also the fact that I didn't know why I was supposed to care about things like the assassination plot against the king, when we're never given any real reason to care. of course, I'm able to infer some of those reasons because of the historical context, but when you're writing a book, you can't leave gaps in your storytelling expecting your reader to fill them in. I'm not saying to spoon-feed every detail to your audience, but you also need to be giving the reader enough detail for them to form their own opinions and interpretations.
overall, I really wanted to enjoy this, but it ended up being quite shallow and underdeveloped, aside from the POTS representation.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I'm sure there's an official name for this genre, but One for All is a tale of a young woman being pressured into feminine pursuits, when she'd rather swordfight and be a spy. Think Arya Stark or Sophronia from [a:Gail Carriger|2891665|Gail Carriger|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1476925456p2/2891665.jpg]'s [b:Etiquette & Espionage|10874177|Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, #1)|Gail Carriger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331952557l/10874177._SX50_.jpg|15789500]. The most interesting twist in this version is Tania is a person with a disability, so not only must face patriarchal assumptions about her gender, but societal expectations about her disability.
One for All is a retelling of the Three Musketeers. Tania's father is a retired Musketeer who teaches her to fence. When tragedy befalls her family, she is sent away to a School for Wives, in the auspices of being trained to join Parisian high society. Luckily for Tania, the real purpose of the school is to train girls to be Musketeers. With the friendship of her new found family, Tania solves the mystery and beats the bad guy, showing the world she is strong enough to survive and thrive as a heroine, even with her disability.
This book was entertaining, but not my favorite. I have not been a huge fan of the Three Musketeers. Since I read the whole Finishing School series before this, I kept wishing I was re-reading those. That's not to say this book isn't good, but I love Carriger's witticism.
One for All gets an A++ for disability rep, but I'd say a C for LGBTQ+ rep, even though I saw it marketed that way. Having two characters with a minor love story not integral to the plot is the minimum I hope for. I did enjoy the way Lainoff integrated French into the story, while also providing subtle translations. I'm interested to read her future work.
One for All is a retelling of the Three Musketeers. Tania's father is a retired Musketeer who teaches her to fence. When tragedy befalls her family, she is sent away to a School for Wives, in the auspices of being trained to join Parisian high society. Luckily for Tania, the real purpose of the school is to train girls to be Musketeers. With the friendship of her new found family, Tania solves the mystery and beats the bad guy, showing the world she is strong enough to survive and thrive as a heroine, even with her disability.
This book was entertaining, but not my favorite. I have not been a huge fan of the Three Musketeers. Since I read the whole Finishing School series before this, I kept wishing I was re-reading those. That's not to say this book isn't good, but I love Carriger's witticism.
One for All gets an A++ for disability rep, but I'd say a C for LGBTQ+ rep, even though I saw it marketed that way. Having two characters with a minor love story not integral to the plot is the minimum I hope for. I did enjoy the way Lainoff integrated French into the story, while also providing subtle translations. I'm interested to read her future work.