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wardenred's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Being a teenager sucks. Being a woman isn’t fair. And I’m sorry that together it can be so, so stressful.
So this graphic novel is basically Mean Girls, but with werewolves and murder. Which sounds really cool as a concept, but unfortunately, I found the overall execution sort of lacking. I did like a good number of things about the book, such as how the story was constructed with the gradual build-up of suspense to every reveal, and—most notably—the art. The art was really nice to look at and conveyed all the right emotions. Also, the werewolf mythos here definitely has some cool touches.
The characters were rather hard to connect to, though. I would have appreciated some more focus on all the individual relationships in the titular squad, as well as some focus on what each of the girls were getting out of following Arianna that wasn’t connected directly to the whole werewolf thing. There were some passing mentions of her getting Becca a boyfriend for prom and such, but that was more telling than showing.
The story includes some themes and messages that are really important, but it kind of tries to do too much at the same time. There are all those instances of racism, and while I felt like those were meant to give the reader a bit of a pause every time, the way they get shrugged off every time by the very victims of those microaggressions might send the wrong message to someone who isn’t already very consciously aware of the damage this kind of thing does. I feel like maybe the author was trying to be subtle and overplayed the angle too much. There’s also that entire tangle of peer pressure, wanting to belong, female rage, toxic masculinity, how the more privileged of the oppressed can be complicit in the oppression even when they claim to be fighting it, perhaps even allegories for eating disorders. And each of these threads definitely deserved more attention than it got.
All in all, I feel like this was supposed to be a poignant coming of age story wrapped into a campy werewolf tale, but the fun gory campiness overshadowed all that substance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Misogyny, Blood, and Racism
Moderate: Death, Gore, and Murder
rararara12's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Didn't like the racist micro aggressions, homophobia and fat phobia littered throughout (was never expanded upon and left a bad taste in my mouth)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Fatphobia
lost_reader's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
2.0
Not very fleshed out, felt like a movie. But I did have fun with the feminist werewolf cult thing. I like the ideas brought up a lot more than the execution. It's a "the more you think about it, the more it doesn't make sense" kind of book.
Cuz basically the original werewolf pack is dedicated to only killing the bad guys, but then Arianna makes them eat just any guy basically. And the others are grouped into it and don't really have a choice or else they'll starve. Guess they can't just eat a bunch of deer? Will they die of they don't eat people or can they sort of subsist living off animals, like the vegetarian vampires from Twilight And? I guess not? And at the end of the story when Becca and Marley choose to eat Arianna's heart to not be werewolves anymore, it must have been a hard choice right? Like they've interacted with and have been threatened by so many predatory boys and men... it must have been hard to just give away your "turn into a wolf" card. And also Mandy seems to be the only one of them bothered by killing guys who weren't creepy? Like who were actually innocent? Rest in piece that one guy who actually wanted to talk to Marley and get to know her as a person, he didn't deserve to die 😢. Also I thought Mandy did the right thing honestly. The more I think about this story the more confused I get. Like I love feminist themes but things don't make sense in this book if I think about it too much 😂.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Violence
Minor: Racism and Eating disorder
llams's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Blood
Moderate: Racism
obscurepages's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Okay so this had potential, but I feel like a couple of elements fell flat.
The sisterhood and the found family that I was initially expecting was just not there. Or it was there, but it was a skewed version. The way the MC tried so hard to fit into these girls was just not working (or maybe I'm just too introverted for this 😂) Also the fatphobia and the racist micro aggressions from your supposed "friends"?? No thanks 😭
The feminist theme was good at first too (werewolves preying on boys who manipulate and take advantage of girls). But then it got weird. I know they got desperate and they were starving and all, but still doesn't sit right with me.
That being said, the art style and the colors was just too good. I loved flipping the page and getting to see the art there. I also loved the queer/sapphic rep. That one was a lovely surprise.
The sisterhood and the found family that I was initially expecting was just not there. Or it was there, but it was a skewed version. The way the MC tried so hard to fit into these girls was just not working (or maybe I'm just too introverted for this 😂) Also the fatphobia and the racist micro aggressions from your supposed "friends"?? No thanks 😭
The feminist theme was good at first too (werewolves preying on boys who manipulate and take advantage of girls). But then it got weird. I know they got desperate and they were starving and all, but still doesn't sit right with me.
That being said, the art style and the colors was just too good. I loved flipping the page and getting to see the art there. I also loved the queer/sapphic rep. That one was a lovely surprise.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Rape, Violence, Sexual content, Blood, Sexual assault, Racism, Fatphobia, and Murder
raesreadingcorner's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Did like some of the comments toward the MC WHO IS Asian and just some pf the dialogue in general made my uncomfortable
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Grief, Sexual harassment, Murder, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Racism and Violence
sarafinley's review against another edition
dark
funny
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Fatphobia, Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault
sciammi's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
I love the concept -clique-y girls, who are werewolves and avengers with a moral backbone. I love that there was some effort to include a sapphic storyline. Overall, I still think that the social commentary could have been more fleshed out. The art style is simply gorgeous. The best part of the graphic novel is the art style.
I get that Black girls don't have to be the "good" characters but the only Black character being the meanest, angriest one (other than Ri) sat really badly with me. Ew.
Also, I thought that it was kinda sad that the main Asian character ended up with a white character. As in, it would have been more innovative if she was with another person of color. Especially since Marley made tons of mean comments about her sexuality.
In terms of racial representation, this book could have used more work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Lesbophobia, and Racism
starklinqs's review
3.75
This was hard to review because depending on how much certain aspects bother me this ranges from a 3.5-4 lmao but I figured this was a good middle ground.
The book was really interesting in the dynamics portrayed - the girls have a nuanced relationship and there’s a lot of lore and backstory that I would be really interested in reading more about. It was definitely an interesting book and I wanted to know more about each girl.
Amanda’s treatment, however, was horrendous. Ultimately the book feels like a toxic friend group, but Amanda (referred to as “Mandy” despite her saying her name preference multiple times) gets multiple microaggressions thrown her way. The ending is treated as if she’s fully in the wrong by the other mains, and I just didn’t love it - or the fact that our main and Marley get together, despite Marley’s own racist tendencies. I wasn’t opposed to them getting together, but I thought that behavior was going to be called out, acknowledged, and that she would actually grow. It’s nice that Marley acknowledged how nice Becca is and that’s their group was toxic, but it doesn’t exactly change her underlying casual racism or the fact that she lobs these microaggressions and caused said toxicity multiple times. It didn’t necessarily feel like a conscience malicious thing on the writer’s part, moreso a poor attempt at nuance, so I’m not as harsh on these aspects than I would be for other books - hopefully the author has or will improve upon these in the future.
It’s one of those things where it’s a great idea and I would have LOVED to have seen more nuance in it, because this was a really interesting concept, the art was great, and I was into the characters and genuinely wanted to know more about them.
The book was really interesting in the dynamics portrayed - the girls have a nuanced relationship and there’s a lot of lore and backstory that I would be really interested in reading more about. It was definitely an interesting book and I wanted to know more about each girl.
Amanda’s treatment, however, was horrendous. Ultimately the book feels like a toxic friend group, but Amanda (referred to as “Mandy” despite her saying her name preference multiple times) gets multiple microaggressions thrown her way. The ending is treated as if she’s fully in the wrong by the other mains, and I just didn’t love it - or the fact that our main and Marley get together, despite Marley’s own racist tendencies. I wasn’t opposed to them getting together, but I thought that behavior was going to be called out, acknowledged, and that she would actually grow. It’s nice that Marley acknowledged how nice Becca is and that’s their group was toxic, but it doesn’t exactly change her underlying casual racism or the fact that she lobs these microaggressions and caused said toxicity multiple times. It didn’t necessarily feel like a conscience malicious thing on the writer’s part, moreso a poor attempt at nuance, so I’m not as harsh on these aspects than I would be for other books - hopefully the author has or will improve upon these in the future.
It’s one of those things where it’s a great idea and I would have LOVED to have seen more nuance in it, because this was a really interesting concept, the art was great, and I was into the characters and genuinely wanted to know more about them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Murder, and Racism
brianneh's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, and Racism