Reviews with content warning for Racism - Felix Ever After

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

132 reviews

e_reader's review against another edition

4.25

hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

I loved this book! The characters felt so real and believable to me, which is sometimes hard to come by as a high schooler reading books written by people that were in high school 10 years ago. Felix is sometimes clueless, but in an endearing, human way. I think it’s a fine line between that, and making them irritatingly obtuse—but Kacen nailed it here. It’s clear they’re speaking from their own life through Felix, but I never got the sense that they were projecting so much so that Felix couldn’t be separated from them. That is, Kacen drew upon his own experiences but Felix was still distinct as a character. Also, maybe it’s a small thing but the way Instagram is used feels authentic. That’s easy to mess up, but everything there made sense.

Overall, I really enjoyed the window into the life of a Black, trans, and queer art student in NYC at a preppy high school.

Content Warnings

saaraah's review against another edition

5.0

emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Content Warnings

sophhcl's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful 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

Content Warnings

hazychapters's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad 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

I really enjoyed this reading! Felix's story is touching and beautiful, and I even had tears in my eyes at times (and yet, I'm not someone who cries easily because of books). It made me even more aware of everyday micro-attacks, how our societies are not yet our allies, us trans and non-binary people.

During this reading, I wondered a lot about myself and it partly reassured me to see that I was not the only one asking myself these kinds of questions. So thanks to Felix and Kacen ♡

Content Warnings

anaguana's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Content Warnings

smillas_tales's review against another edition

3.5

inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have a lot of feelings about this book, and it’s been one of the most difficult to rate this year! I love so many aspects of it, and it sends so many important messages, but for the most part, I just felt that the execution was lacking.

I love Felix and Ezra! I adore their friendship, and them as individuals, even with all their flaws! However, other than the two of them, I didn’t love the character work. It’s amazing to have a book with an almost exclusively queer cast, but they’re all a little black or white. Every character also has a tragic backstory and bad parental relationships, which perpetuates the idea of queer people not being accepted by family, and that’s not a great message to send to young queer readers.

For the most part, I loved Callender’s writing! It has such a nice flow, so I flew through the book! However, the dialogue is a bit unrealistic at times. A couple of times throughout the book, a group of characters had discussions about sexuality and gender identity, and while I really appreciated the nuance to the discussion, it felt out of place. I almost got the impression that Callender couldn’t decide whether to write an essay on gender or a novel, and decided to just mix them.

One of the things I appreciated most was the discussion about discrimination within the LGBTQ+ community, cause it’s very real, but not often talked about in queer media!

All of this being said, I loved the ending! The book had a unique take on the love triangle, which I liked, and the conclusion to that aspect of the story was so lovely and believable!

Content Warnings

burnthewitch's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny hopeful informative 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

Content Warnings

marie0350_'s review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful informative 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: Complicated

This book is absolutely amazing. I cried so hard.

Marisol made me so mad. How can she say she’s an ally when she tells Felix that he’s a misogynist because he’s a trans man and then have the audacity to act like everything is his fault when she gets called out on it? and don’t get me started on Austin. that PoS deserved worse than getting expelled. And he did that because he wanted Ezra? that’s messed up.

Content Warnings