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A review by amber_lea84
Calexit by Matteo Pizzolo
2.0
I picked this up based on the cover alone.
I was expecting something hilariously bad, but it's mostly just regular bad. This feels like an opener for a series that never happened. There was potential here, but it's got that painful feel of being written by people who don't really get it as well as they think they get it. Like it feels silly but it's clearly taking itself seriously. (And again, it's not so bad it's good, it's more just boring and uncomfortable.)
Also reading a book about occupied California at this exact moment in time feels like it's in poor taste. Obviously the timing isn't the fault of the creators because this is 5 years old, but I have a thing about fiction that takes dark real world things and places them in present day California. (Looking at you, Internment.) I think the message is like, "What if this happened here? Let's think about that for a second" but it comes across as LARPing as oppressed. Like, "Man, imagine being a badass resistance fighter in this alternate history/potential future scenario." And it's like please don't. Like if that's the story you want to write, make it MORE fictional. This occupies this space of "too real but not real enough" and it just feels disrespectful to people really going through it.
I also wish there wasn't a character who looks exactly like Steve Bannon walking around with his robe open. I was not digging the characters who were obviously based on real people but who were different enough to make it confusing.
I was expecting something hilariously bad, but it's mostly just regular bad. This feels like an opener for a series that never happened. There was potential here, but it's got that painful feel of being written by people who don't really get it as well as they think they get it. Like it feels silly but it's clearly taking itself seriously. (And again, it's not so bad it's good, it's more just boring and uncomfortable.)
Also reading a book about occupied California at this exact moment in time feels like it's in poor taste. Obviously the timing isn't the fault of the creators because this is 5 years old, but I have a thing about fiction that takes dark real world things and places them in present day California. (Looking at you, Internment.) I think the message is like, "What if this happened here? Let's think about that for a second" but it comes across as LARPing as oppressed. Like, "Man, imagine being a badass resistance fighter in this alternate history/potential future scenario." And it's like please don't. Like if that's the story you want to write, make it MORE fictional. This occupies this space of "too real but not real enough" and it just feels disrespectful to people really going through it.
I also wish there wasn't a character who looks exactly like Steve Bannon walking around with his robe open. I was not digging the characters who were obviously based on real people but who were different enough to make it confusing.