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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
I was excited to have a protagonist with POTS. I’m all for disability representation. However, that was the only thing I actually liked about this book. The constant angst, self loathing, repetitive phrases like sick girl, and repeating the heroine’s name constantly got old very fast. I’m okay with slow burns but this crawled and for all the talk of love, loyalty, and sisterhood, the relationships felt extremely flat. By the end, I was just happy it was over.
As other reviews have stated, this isn’t a retelling so much as three musketeers adjacent.
As other reviews have stated, this isn’t a retelling so much as three musketeers adjacent.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed this, but I was not in the mood for another snarky, “I don’t need anybody,” masculine fmc. I think that complex characters are being sacrificed in the name of girl power. It’s to the detriment of women. It implies that a girl has to be strong and hard and rude to be worthy. On the other side of the coin, I hate how every man in this book was either villainized or killed off, despite it not being beneficial to the plot. The only decent guy by the end is such a wimp and a flat character!
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF at 50%
I applaud this book for it's awesome representation and think we need, in general more disability rep.
On the whole though, I did not like this book. The author writes a realistic teenage character in Tania. She in some ways reminded me of myself at fourteen. Unluckily, I hated myself at fourteen and I cringe to remember the person I was. At the beginning she seems to be full of pluck and attitude, accepting of her POTS if not a little annoyed at the inconvenience it causes her and greatly dislikes how people perceive her because of it. Yet, as the book progresses it seems that she puts more of an emphasis on how she can't be like the other musketeers because of her POTS and that was just a real shame that I didn't really see a smidgen of confidence or growth from her in the first half of the book. She also has a severe case of being Not Like Other Girls. She dislikes 'feminine" things on principle (god, I'm so tired of corset slander) and when first introduced to any other female character, she immediately assumes them to be shallow and vapid.
Too bad her father also got the Fire Emblem Dad treatment (being a good father is a near guaranteed death sentence!
I applaud this book for it's awesome representation and think we need, in general more disability rep.
On the whole though, I did not like this book. The author writes a realistic teenage character in Tania. She in some ways reminded me of myself at fourteen. Unluckily, I hated myself at fourteen and I cringe to remember the person I was. At the beginning she seems to be full of pluck and attitude, accepting of her POTS if not a little annoyed at the inconvenience it causes her and greatly dislikes how people perceive her because of it. Yet, as the book progresses it seems that she puts more of an emphasis on how she can't be like the other musketeers because of her POTS and that was just a real shame that I didn't really see a smidgen of confidence or growth from her in the first half of the book. She also has a severe case of being Not Like Other Girls. She dislikes 'feminine" things on principle (god, I'm so tired of corset slander) and when first introduced to any other female character, she immediately assumes them to be shallow and vapid.
Too bad her father also got the Fire Emblem Dad treatment (being a good father is a near guaranteed death sentence!
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Libro más aburrido, lento, exasperante que he leído, Tania te odio con todo el corazón
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was so educated to read this, but the story kept on dragging and dragging and dragging. I also thought the FMC was really annoying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness
This Musketeers reimagining showcases a team of four badass young girls with swords, found family, and chronic illness representation (POTS). The characters felt like actual teenagers, which was refreshing as so many YA books are a bit of a stretch there - their general mannerisms and personalities seemed age appropriate and authentic. The adventure/action and bit of mystery was well fleshed and entertaining. Overall, a solid and clean historical YA fiction.