A review by alyssamakesart
Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

What is promoted is pretty spot on. Messy/Grey plot and discussion of rape culture, internalized misogyny, etc were solid and nuanced. The book felt campy a lot in a cute, nostalgic way. Art was stunning.

SPOILERS

(-.25) Name of people to real life predators and rapist made sense, but also didn’t like. Maybe first names, but not lasts. Except queen b because that shit was funny.

(-.5) Class: Glossed over class dynamics in the men they choose except in short discussions about alphas boyfriend. Like the fact that they were dating was more important for plot at expense of seeing the other lost boys/men - specifically the one that was too far. Class was only discussed regarding women (her mom, Queen B, Thatcher, etc.)

(-1) Race: I love the sapphic love, it was slowly built and cute but I can’t get over the fact they came from the biggest micro-aggression perpetrator?? And it was left 100% unaddressed. I’m kinda uncomfortable about how the two black leads (Amanda and the teacher) were portrayed. Like Amanda was played as kinda sassy even though she was like almost always right?!?
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