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A review by artemishi
Easy Prey by Catherine Lo
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There were things I did and didn't like about this read, but overall it was interesting.
The good:
The hypocrisy of how boys are punished vs how girls are "supported" when sexual harassment (in this case, leaking nude photos) is brought to the fore. Sometimes I wished it was a little more subtle and woven throughout, rather than the female MC baldly stating it, but either way it's the crux of this story and an important social observation to be brought up.
Both the teen character side of the sexual harassment, and the adult response to it (and the adult sexual harassment setup) felt realistic, possible, and even probable to me.
As much as I didn't like either male MC, I also found their self-justification for their behavior to be realistic. Especially for white guys. This is just.....sadly, the kind of thinking you encounter time and again.
The less good:
There seemed to be a lot to set up, both in terms of what happened to Jenna the previous year, and in terms of why each character felt justified in doing what they did. But this made the "before today" and "today" chapters feel really unbalanced (and consequently, the ending felt rushed).
I saw the "twist" coming pretty far away. I'm not sure if this was a deliberate intention of the author (to let the audience be smarter than the MCs), but it took any suspense out of it.
I also disliked all three MCs, for the obvious reasons of them making and justifying and doubling down on terrible decisions, so I didn't feel invested in any one storyline. I liked Jenna marginally more than Drew and Mouse, by the end, but not enough to support anything she did. This left the story feeling, while socially potent, devoid of emotional impact for me.
The good:
The hypocrisy of how boys are punished vs how girls are "supported" when sexual harassment (in this case, leaking nude photos) is brought to the fore. Sometimes I wished it was a little more subtle and woven throughout, rather than the female MC baldly stating it, but either way it's the crux of this story and an important social observation to be brought up.
Both the teen character side of the sexual harassment, and the adult response to it (and the adult sexual harassment setup) felt realistic, possible, and even probable to me.
As much as I didn't like either male MC, I also found their self-justification for their behavior to be realistic. Especially for white guys. This is just.....sadly, the kind of thinking you encounter time and again.
The less good:
There seemed to be a lot to set up, both in terms of what happened to Jenna the previous year, and in terms of why each character felt justified in doing what they did. But this made the "before today" and "today" chapters feel really unbalanced (and consequently, the ending felt rushed).
I saw the "twist" coming pretty far away. I'm not sure if this was a deliberate intention of the author (to let the audience be smarter than the MCs), but it took any suspense out of it.
I also disliked all three MCs, for the obvious reasons of them making and justifying and doubling down on terrible decisions, so I didn't feel invested in any one storyline. I liked Jenna marginally more than Drew and Mouse, by the end, but not enough to support anything she did. This left the story feeling, while socially potent, devoid of emotional impact for me.