Reviews with content warning for Violence - Felix Ever After

Alex Cabal, cover illustrator of Felix Ever After: Alison, I've been thinking about what to draw for the cover of this book, Felix Ever After.

Alison Donalty, art director: Yeah?

Alex: I want the cover to set the tone for the entire book.

Alison: So it should be heavy-handed, irritating, and inaccurate?

Alex: Bingo! For starters, our main character Felix is trans. I want everyone to know that right away - no subtlety allowed. So he's got to be wearing a tank top that blatantly shows off his top surgery scars.

Alison: But Alex, a tank top isn't revealing enough to show those kinds of scars.

Alex: I'll make it a super low-scooping tank top. Like Jennifer Lawrence's dress in American Hustle! It'll go down to his navel.

Alison: Perfect! But if you show those scars, aren't you risking being medically accurate?

Alex: Don't worry, Alison. I've got the solution. I'll make the scars bizarrely ropey and jagged, as though the surgeon cut Felix up with barbed wire. It'll be super inaccurate.

Alison: And you're sure it'll be obvious enough? Remember, the client wants it to be BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that this character is trans. He can't just be a regular-looking guy - that wouldn't do!

Alex: Of course. I'll even make the scars a vivid red colour, as if Felix had his surgery just last week. It'll be glaringly obvious.

Alison: That's brilliant! And it's even more inaccurate, too. Because someone who actually had top surgery would be sternly warned by the surgeon not to expose the scars to sunlight for at least a year. But here you are, drawing some bright red barbed-wire scars and a tank top that wouldn't block the sun at all! Alex, you're a genius. I couldn't make this cover worse if I tried.

Alex: Thank you, thank you. And that's only the cover. Just wait until you see what Kacen Callender did with the rest—!

--------

You ever read a book that you had to put down for long stretches for the sake of your mental health?

I made the grave mistake of borrowing the audiobook of Felix Ever After. I have the impression that the author chose the audiobook narrator primarily due to his demographic (he is black, trans, and attracted to men, just like the protagonist) rather than on his ability as a narrator.

The narrator's voice constantly strains and crackles with vocal fry as he "like!"s and "god!"s through a Valley-esque accent. It was unpleasant to listen to and I frequently wished I had a written copy of the book instead.

But what about the actual content? Let's start with...

Awful Protagonist

This kills the book. Felix was irritating, unethical, careless, and had virtually no sympathetic qualities. Despite our shared demographics, I felt no connection to him as the protagonist. In fact, I was practically cheering on the characters who call him out on his hypocrisy, misbehaviour, and self-induced problems.

The plot opens around Felix's decision to catfish a university classmate (Declan) who he suspects of a hate crime. That's all - Felix simply suspects Declan, and that's enough for him to punch Declan to the floor and concoct a plan to destroy Declan's life. He knows nothing about Declan's personal life whatsoever, he's just a convenient target for a grudge.

Not only that, but Felix's enactment of his plan is completely inept. Despite intending to keep his real identity a secret on his catfishing Instagram account, he repeatedly exposes himself in ways that would be easy for Declan to piece together, starting with the account name itself - "Lucky", which is the Latin origin of "Felix". To quote Avril Lavinge: "Can I make it any more obvious?"

Felix continues to tell on himself with every action he takes on the catfish account. He follows accounts that are obviously connected to his real self, likes posts that his real self is connected to, posts photos at parties that he has actually attended in real life, and so on. Rather than creating a separate catfishing persona, he carelessly drops hints to Declan that end in the fake account falling apart.

One of Felix's goals is to get into Brown University, but you wouldn't know it by the way he acts. The fact that he's constantly getting stoned with his friend Ezra and never works on his portfolio dulled any chance of sympathy. When Declan called Felix out on this lack of work ethic, it was one of the better moments of the book. The same happened when Ezra similarly calls Felix out, and later Felix's art teacher Jill. "You don't apply yourself." What an understatement.

Felix isn't even a good friend to Ezra. When Ezra expresses distress about his parents, Felix steamrolls over it: "You're literally rolling in privilege and wealth. What do you have to complain about? It kinda pisses me off to hear you complain when you could have anything in the world, if you just had the motivation to do something about it! Your mom really loves you, I can tell, even if she doesn't show it in the way you want. And you could go to any college, any university... " What a guy.

Then, later:

Ezra: I think you're right.

Felix, insufferably: You think I'm right?

Ezra: Okay, you're definitely right.

I couldn't have felt more alienated from this protagonist.

Awful People

Aside from Felix himself, Felix's classmates are equally irritating to read. Just in case we didn't have enough from Felix, they bring even more Valley speak: "I kind of think that astrology is real too", "I swear to God", and so on.

The LGB members of the cast are no better, as they hang out together at parties and insult straight people. Tiresome.

Suspension of Disbelief

Felix's lack of self-awareness is just mind-boggling and I strained to believe it. Consider this:

- Felix wants to fall in love.

- Felix is best friends with Ezra.

- Felix is attracted to guys.

- Ezra is also attracted to guys.

- The two of them sleep in the same bed together and even cuddle.

- Ezra tells Felix "I love you".

So Felix and Ezra are the most obvious, convenient couple... yet this doesn't occur to Felix. Is he really this dense?! I just can't believe it never occurs to him. I wish Felix had raised the idea briefly, even just to explain that it couldn't work for some reason, because this wasn't believable at all.

Contradictions

I've mentioned the inaccuracies in the cover illustration. But wait! There's more!

While walking the streets of New York, Felix comments "At least in Brooklyn [unlike here, in New York,] you don't have to worry about being literally invisible because of your brown skin".

Then minutes later he contradicts himself: (paraphrased) "Eyes tend to skip over me and look at [my friend] Ezra instead."

But Ezra is part black (African), part Bengali (Indian). He is just as brown as Felix is. If Felix is right, shouldn't Ezra be "literally invisible" too? This contradiction goes over Felix's head.

Later, Felix visits a gay-friendly neighbourhood in New York: "So many different sorts of people, all of us connected by this one thing, our one queer identity". Yet not one of the people around Felix ever said they were "queer" or that it was their "identity". Rude. Why do people do this?

Technical Inaccuracies

Felix's classmate Leah is introduced as a tech whiz. She enjoys "cracking", which she describes as "hacking" but legal. Leah especially likes to "crack" into people's cell phones and leave positive affirmations.

What's wrong with this? Firstly, the terminology is at least a decade out of date. Nobody says "cracking" anymore, they just say "hacking" and then specify the legality.

Secondly, Leah's phone hacking is completely illegal, just as much as any hacking without permission is.

Thirdly, the technical details are wildly inaccurate:

Leah: "It'd be easy to see traces of hacking cookies on someone else's phone, if they downloaded a hacking app."

There is no such thing as a ""hacking cookie"" on a phone (cookies are used in browsers, not in native mobile apps). None of what Leah says is actually how it works. It's obvious that the author didn't incorporate the experience of any real-life hackers into this odd fantasy.

Pacing and Structure

Around one third through the audiobook, I thought: "Hey, a lot of stuff has happened already. Maybe this is winding up to the end!", only to be disappointed when I realized there was twice as much left to go.

So many small, irrelevant events trudge by, yet so little overall change occurs. Not only that, but several scenes are extremely repetitive, such as the endless New York parties and social gatherings, each one a copy of the last.

Soapboxing

A lot of the transphobic discrimination Felix references is told, not shown, such as when Felix comments on the news articles he's seen reporting attacks on trans people.

This weakened the impact of the transphobic antagonism against Felix, which was actually real and serious, and turned it into some vague memory of untitled, nondescript news articles. It made some passages in the book read like the author's soapbox essay against transphobia, rather than Felix's personal story and his specific struggles. This was a real shame because the serious antagonism Felix faces was one of the stronger components of the book.

Instead, it would have been much more powerful if Felix had actually read one of these news articles in the present day of the story - he has plenty of opportunity for it.

Inappropriate gender exploration subplot

One of the plot threads is that Felix receives transphobic messages from an anonymous Instagram account, asking him "Why are you pretending to be a boy?"

Tactlessly, the author thought this was a great opportunity for Felix to discover that he's not, in fact, a boy. Seems like this transphobic stranger was right after all!

Can you see the optics of this? Can you understand how it might give the wrong impression?

Yes, yes, gender exploration is an interesting theme and I'm in favour of it. But there's a time and a place for these things, and jamming these two subplots together came off as wildly inappropriate.

Does Felix Ever After do anything right? Anything at all?

The book does have minority representation... with inaccuracies starting from the front cover of the book. Not so impressive, especially with the offputting passages of LGBT characters complaining about The Straights™️.

Equally irritating is the false advertising. Despite what the blurb implies, and what the opening of the book sets up, the number of trans guy characters in this book is zero. Not one. Zilch.

The one bright spot was the depiction of New York. Some passages were like a love letter to the city that never sleeps, with its endless parade of people, parties, street food, crazy artists, wild bohemians, and more. This city ambience was actually decent and created an interesting setting. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save the rest of the book.

Concluding

How does such a bad book receive any positive reviews at all? Well, to quote a few:

I learned so much about the trans and queer communities through Felix and his friends. ... We need to consume more content about these communities so that we can become better allies and don’t unwittingly harm someone with our words and actions.

So you might like it if you're trying to do the right thing for minority groups, and aren't aware of the inaccuracies and problems in the book.

A love letter to queer folk. To the kids who are queer and unapologetic. To the ones who fought and died for our right to exist. To the people who are figuring themselves out. To Black queer kids. To people who deal with queerphobia and LGBTQ+ gatekeeping and still manage to be proud.

Or you might like it if you're starving for representation, and are willing to eat the literary equivalent of baitworms and grass to get it.

Don't read this book. There are much better novels with trans characters out there. If you'd like to read a solid novel about a black trans teenager who's into guys, try instead The Passing Playbook (review linked here).

Content Warnings

mobymaize's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

At first, I did not enjoy Felix Ever After. But as I read, I slowly became more attached to the characters, more interested in the plot and the mystery, more excited by the set pieces and the characters. By the end of the book, I was crying. God, I really enjoyed this book. Also, I really like the descriptions of the city, not just the physical descriptions of the city, but the people who live in NYC and how they interact with the city and how it makes a bunch of streets and businesses and crazy people a city.

Content Warnings

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

leni_cant's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

emily_mh's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

This book is officially my new favourite book of 2021. I've just finished it and I'm at a loss of what to say; it just means so much to me. I loved the conversations it held, such those about pronouns and transphobic "feminists", but also ones about love and what this feels like and looks like and how you are deserving of it. Felix was an incredible main character. He had so much confusion and hope and I felt so caught up in his journey of self discovery and acceptance. He is a character that is going to stay with me for a long time.

However, this book deserves 5 stars not just because of how meaningful it was to me, but also because it was just GOOD. The pacing was fantastic; I read it in two sittings. The romance was gorgeous and done so, so well. The book was also just so poetic. I've highlighted so many places, and the ending was perfect. I genuinely love this book so much.

Content Warnings

binches's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring tense 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

4.75

Content Warnings

sarahaf712's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad 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

4.0

Content Warnings

More...