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A review by alailiander
See all the Stars by Kit Frick
4.0
Ugh. I hate a twist. I so hate a twist. Even a really good twist!
This was a great read; I didn't want to set it down, and barely did, from start to finish. The reveal is a long way in and I think perhaps some of it could have been trimmed (seriously, why did Jonathan even make the list?) but the curiosity was killing me, but it is a heck of a pay-off. In retrospect-of course-it makes perfect sense-how did I not see that-but I definitely didn't and it was worth the wait for the reveal! The twist is just big enough to feel authentic to the emotional build-up and guilt journey leading up to it, but not so big that it just seems ridiculous. Just excellent.
This one felt like high school to me, all that melodrama and heatbreak and that 111%ness of all feelings and experiences. It rang true, the locations, the rituals, the whole rest of your life as merely backdrop to the meaningful relationship, be it friendship or romance. That singular focus...
The only thing I wasn't sure of Ret - there's, just, this trope of the high school meangirl who has all the emotional manipulative powers of a first world national spy service and never misses the mark puppeteering her underlings... and while it is engaging to read, I don't think I buy it. These people only exist in fiction. Am I wrong? I mean, mean girls: yes, of course they exist - but nobody hits the cruelty target that effectively everytime. I mean, is anybody actually that effectively Machivellian? Wouldn't it be exhausting to be emotionally managing/abusing/manipulating all of the time?
I also appreciate that this one took its time with the ending. The ending goes on awhile after the reveal, there's only some closure and a bit of what is next. The epilogue contains barely a narrative bow to tie things up and I think the ending is the better for it.
This is just a really great YA read. My thanks to the publisher, author and netgalley for the eBook ARC for review.
This was a great read; I didn't want to set it down, and barely did, from start to finish. The reveal is a long way in and I think perhaps some of it could have been trimmed (seriously, why did Jonathan even make the list?) but the curiosity was killing me, but it is a heck of a pay-off. In retrospect-of course-it makes perfect sense-how did I not see that-but I definitely didn't and it was worth the wait for the reveal! The twist is just big enough to feel authentic to the emotional build-up and guilt journey leading up to it, but not so big that it just seems ridiculous. Just excellent.
This one felt like high school to me, all that melodrama and heatbreak and that 111%ness of all feelings and experiences. It rang true, the locations, the rituals, the whole rest of your life as merely backdrop to the meaningful relationship, be it friendship or romance. That singular focus...
The only thing I wasn't sure of Ret - there's, just, this trope of the high school meangirl who has all the emotional manipulative powers of a first world national spy service and never misses the mark puppeteering her underlings... and while it is engaging to read, I don't think I buy it. These people only exist in fiction. Am I wrong? I mean, mean girls: yes, of course they exist - but nobody hits the cruelty target that effectively everytime. I mean, is anybody actually that effectively Machivellian? Wouldn't it be exhausting to be emotionally managing/abusing/manipulating all of the time?
I also appreciate that this one took its time with the ending. The ending goes on awhile after the reveal, there's only some closure and a bit of what is next. The epilogue contains barely a narrative bow to tie things up and I think the ending is the better for it.
This is just a really great YA read. My thanks to the publisher, author and netgalley for the eBook ARC for review.