A review by herelieshenry
The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

In the interest of full disclosure, this review is specifically regarding an ALC copy of the audiobook from Net Galley, so while I imagine this audiobook was pretty close to finalized, some details may have been changed between my copy and the official release.

I think I would recommend this book to people who have experience in being an outcast kid experiencing intense childhood friendships, especially if you’re someone who frequently reads Young Adult books. I think the strongest element here is the raw portrayal of messy teenage friendships and the way it ties in to the symbolism at play throughout the story. The weakest is how abrupt the ending was. I think I would have preferred this book in eBook format instead of as an audiobook. I’m not sure I’d pick up another book by the author unless the premise was particularly compelling to me.

Overall, I think the plot was very well-crafted and the way it was put together was relatively coherent. It was a little difficult to ease into, but once I was able to get invested, I was able to buy in and suspend my disbelief. Conflict felt authentic and realistic to teenage drama feeling much bigger when you’re experiencing it. The narrative structure was interesting, and I think it was a good choice on the author’s part. There’s a relatively even layout of dialogue versus prose. Dialogue is a little dramatized, but it’s believable enough overall.

The shift in perspective modes was relatively effective. Due to the chapters out of Nora’s point of view being in third person perspective (as opposed to Nora’s being first person), the point of view shifts are relatively clear. The depth of perspective is consistently strong, zoomed in on the anchor character’s interior world in their specific chapters. This prevents head-hopping and adds an earnestness to the style. The writing style is consistent but effectively malleable to point of view, showing character voice between Nora, Becca, and Ruth. It all has the cadence of teenage youth, overall serious but understandably dramatic for teenagers going through it.

Pacing was mostly straightforward, but a little bit stumbly. Word choice is very direct and precise, and phrasing is easy to understand. There’s a lot of use of description, but it’s rather lean, not overweighing the narrative. Visual and sensory details are very rich with metaphor while still realistic to the point of view characters. It’s not long-winded or overstuffed, but occasionally, it’s very poetic.

A lot of the character dynamics rang true for me. The relationship between Nora and her mother in particular hit home for me—while I can relate to Nora and Becca’s relationship too, I found it very authentic to the experience of growing up with a chronically ill mother. A lot of the side characters kind of meld together in my memory, but they were easy enough to distinguish in the story itself while reading. However, I really appreciated the diversity of the cast here and how casually it’s referenced to. The portrayal of different identities throughout this book felt realistic and natural, but more importantly, I found it to be respectful and authentic.
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