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A review by kateywumpus
The Scapegracers by August Clarke
5.0
One of the problems that I have with a lot of books featuring teen characters is that they don't really capture teenagedom. They're usually just little adults. Let teenagers be teenagers in all their messy glory. This book does a wonderful job of that. They have that overconfidence, that surety that they know how the world *really* works and adults are just kind of dumb about everything that only teenagers have. They can be unreasonably petty and spiteful, and yet bond in a way that we never do as adults. They form cliques instead of friend groups. They're just... *teenagers* and I have to give the author credit for capturing that wonderfully.
The book does a good job of world-building, starting with the ignorance of the main character, and then slowly drip-feeding information about how magic and the different magical societies around them works. I like a book who knows how to do this well instead of just having an NPC just spout exposition. I like how a character tries to do a bit of that and the main characters, being teenagers, *just don't listen*. I like how it catches up with them in the end, how the author allows the main characters to be so terribly wrong.
I really liked this book and can't recommend it enough. This is Hannah Abigail Clarke's debut novel, and if the sequel is anything like it, I can't wait to read it. Check it out, y'all. Five stars.
The book does a good job of world-building, starting with the ignorance of the main character, and then slowly drip-feeding information about how magic and the different magical societies around them works. I like a book who knows how to do this well instead of just having an NPC just spout exposition. I like how a character tries to do a bit of that and the main characters, being teenagers, *just don't listen*. I like how it catches up with them in the end, how the author allows the main characters to be so terribly wrong.
I really liked this book and can't recommend it enough. This is Hannah Abigail Clarke's debut novel, and if the sequel is anything like it, I can't wait to read it. Check it out, y'all. Five stars.