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A review by kappareads
Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller
5.0
God, this book felt like coming home, reliving all the good memories while being reminded of that weird stain behind the sofa that you blocked from your mind.
Basically, I love this book, but it definitely has moments that show off how "early 2000s" of a book it is. There are comments about a characters weight, many, many descriptions of outfits, and surprise, a Chinese girl written by a white woman isn't the most accurate/good portrayal out there.
So there are obvious problems that wouldn't fly today (and shouldn't have flown back then), but I can also appreciate the overall themes of empowering girls and truly being a middle school girl's fantasy of "you get selected by an elite group of other girls to go on kick ass missions."
And now I'm going to round out the review with a list of ships that came to me while reading, because the fact that there are no gay characters in this is a travesty. The main characters are all middle school girls, that's prime "questioning my sexuality" time!
-Ananka/Kiki (take a shot every time Ananka comments on how pretty Kiki is)
-Ananka/Betty (remain friends even when the Shit Goes Down)
-Luz/Dede (see above)
-Kiki/Oona (they have a History)
Is this book truly a 5 star read? Probably not, but I'm a grown adult (ha!) and can admit when I'm letting nostalgia get the best of me
Basically, I love this book, but it definitely has moments that show off how "early 2000s" of a book it is. There are comments about a characters weight, many, many descriptions of outfits, and surprise, a Chinese girl written by a white woman isn't the most accurate/good portrayal out there.
So there are obvious problems that wouldn't fly today (and shouldn't have flown back then), but I can also appreciate the overall themes of empowering girls and truly being a middle school girl's fantasy of "you get selected by an elite group of other girls to go on kick ass missions."
And now I'm going to round out the review with a list of ships that came to me while reading, because the fact that there are no gay characters in this is a travesty. The main characters are all middle school girls, that's prime "questioning my sexuality" time!
-Ananka/Kiki (take a shot every time Ananka comments on how pretty Kiki is)
-Ananka/Betty (remain friends even when the Shit Goes Down)
-Luz/Dede (see above)
-Kiki/Oona (they have a History)
Is this book truly a 5 star read? Probably not, but I'm a grown adult (ha!) and can admit when I'm letting nostalgia get the best of me