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A review by solaria
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Major spoilers ahead!!
Before I begin, I'd like to preface this by saying the book is leaps and bounds ahead in terms of its diversity in comparison to other books out there. I particularly loved how it didn't shy away from discussing problems within the queer community, such as white privilege and inter-community transphobia which often isn't talked about in queer fiction, or, even in the queer community at large. The author did a decent job at exploring Felix's internal dialogue when experiencing identity crisis and trying to figure out his gender identity, and it is definitely one of the best parts of the book.
Now onto my problems with the book:
1) Plot devices / macguffun quest — The whole "grandequeen69" sub-plot was SOOOO unnecessary and really added nothing to the story. Realistically, Felix would've blocked the account as soon as he saw it. Instead, he continues to engage with the account and get hurt by it, which makes this part of the story particularly frustrating to read especially when he continually brings up wanting to block the account but doesn't every single time. I felt like screaming JUST BLOCK IT ALREADY at him. It also made Leah only important for this macguffun quest of finding out who was behind the account and the gallery (until the end of the novel where she becomes more involved, but still just feels like a character that was added to further the relationship between Felix and Ezra). Additionally, when the person responsible for all the transphobic comments and actions that Felix endured revealed...it was really anticlimactic? The clues are laid out blatantly with no real mystery or twist, and by that point of the novel I had completely got over my desire to know who was responsible for it about the gallery and just wanted the book to stop trying to bring it up.
2) The whole story is TOLD — The book is told from Felix's first person perspective, but I can't think of a single example where Felix SHOWS us anything that's happening aside from basic descriptions of the events occurring around him. This leads to a very one-dimensional and uninteresting landscape of his world, the people and the problems within it. As a reader I like digging out information about the world I'm exploring and painting a picture of what's happening in my head, but in this book it was very hard to do that because Felix gives us all the information we need in which leaves no room for exploration or interpretation. The only time he does do this is when describing his own or other characters art, which is nice but I wish the book didn't just blatantly tell everything as it was. Sometimes I felt like there was too much dialogue between characters to cover up for the fact that the plot and otherwise descriptions of the world weren't that interesting.
3) Editing choices? — Especially when the book was showing us the characters texting, I don't know why some of the text conversations were repeated like we didn't just read them a chapter ago? Not sure if anyone else picked up on this but it bugged me a little.
4) Felix isn't a compelling lead character — Throughout the book, I thought Felix got rewarded a lot for being an asshole. An example of this was his dismissal of Ezra, his struggles and his passions (especially in the first half of the book I noticed). I thought that he was very lucky that Ezra was such a good friend that stuck around. Felix himself would even realise he was an asshole, but it felt like there were never any repercussions and the conflict would disappear. There was continous cycles of this: Felix would make an offhanded or unnecessary comment about someone or something, the person affected gets upset or angry, Felix has an internal dilemma about saying what he said, and then nothing comes of it. Rinse and repeat. It made Felix a quite frustrating narrator because he would start to gain some self-awareness and then immediately let go of it because he was never really reprimanded for, putting it simply, being a dick sometimes. The only compelling part about him was his exploration and struggle in figuring out his identity.
5) Corny dialogue — The Harry potter references made me cringe so badly. Why why why. A lot of the slang and conversations felt really out of touch.
6) The parents — The exploration of Felix and his mother's relationship or lack thereof was also a bit underwhelming. His father kept popping in and out of the story randomly, I wish the author would've utilized him more as a character. I felt like there could've been a lot better exploration of with Felix's parents and the impact they've had on him. Felix's father felt like a character in a teen drama where they just do not exist outside of the home.
7) Felix and Ezra — Likewise, I didn't think the romance between Felix and Ezra was particularly compelling. There were no signs throughout the novel up until Ezra's confession that Felix had any feelings for Ezra and didn't see him as more than a best friend, which is why them ending up together by the end of the book caught me off guard. It felt forced and I thought a more thoughtful ending could've been utilized to solidify Felix realising that forming his identity and figuring out his place in the world isn't easy and his journey isn't over yet instead of throwing him into a relationship for the sake of it.
Before I begin, I'd like to preface this by saying the book is leaps and bounds ahead in terms of its diversity in comparison to other books out there. I particularly loved how it didn't shy away from discussing problems within the queer community, such as white privilege and inter-community transphobia which often isn't talked about in queer fiction, or, even in the queer community at large. The author did a decent job at exploring Felix's internal dialogue when experiencing identity crisis and trying to figure out his gender identity, and it is definitely one of the best parts of the book.
Now onto my problems with the book:
1) Plot devices / macguffun quest — The whole "grandequeen69" sub-plot was SOOOO unnecessary and really added nothing to the story. Realistically, Felix would've blocked the account as soon as he saw it. Instead, he continues to engage with the account and get hurt by it, which makes this part of the story particularly frustrating to read especially when he continually brings up wanting to block the account but doesn't every single time. I felt like screaming JUST BLOCK IT ALREADY at him. It also made Leah only important for this macguffun quest of finding out who was behind the account and the gallery (until the end of the novel where she becomes more involved, but still just feels like a character that was added to further the relationship between Felix and Ezra). Additionally, when the person responsible for all the transphobic comments and actions that Felix endured revealed...it was really anticlimactic? The clues are laid out blatantly with no real mystery or twist, and by that point of the novel I had completely got over my desire to know who was responsible for it about the gallery and just wanted the book to stop trying to bring it up.
2) The whole story is TOLD — The book is told from Felix's first person perspective, but I can't think of a single example where Felix SHOWS us anything that's happening aside from basic descriptions of the events occurring around him. This leads to a very one-dimensional and uninteresting landscape of his world, the people and the problems within it. As a reader I like digging out information about the world I'm exploring and painting a picture of what's happening in my head, but in this book it was very hard to do that because Felix gives us all the information we need in which leaves no room for exploration or interpretation. The only time he does do this is when describing his own or other characters art, which is nice but I wish the book didn't just blatantly tell everything as it was. Sometimes I felt like there was too much dialogue between characters to cover up for the fact that the plot and otherwise descriptions of the world weren't that interesting.
3) Editing choices? — Especially when the book was showing us the characters texting, I don't know why some of the text conversations were repeated like we didn't just read them a chapter ago? Not sure if anyone else picked up on this but it bugged me a little.
4) Felix isn't a compelling lead character — Throughout the book, I thought Felix got rewarded a lot for being an asshole. An example of this was his dismissal of Ezra, his struggles and his passions (especially in the first half of the book I noticed). I thought that he was very lucky that Ezra was such a good friend that stuck around. Felix himself would even realise he was an asshole, but it felt like there were never any repercussions and the conflict would disappear. There was continous cycles of this: Felix would make an offhanded or unnecessary comment about someone or something, the person affected gets upset or angry, Felix has an internal dilemma about saying what he said, and then nothing comes of it. Rinse and repeat. It made Felix a quite frustrating narrator because he would start to gain some self-awareness and then immediately let go of it because he was never really reprimanded for, putting it simply, being a dick sometimes. The only compelling part about him was his exploration and struggle in figuring out his identity.
5) Corny dialogue — The Harry potter references made me cringe so badly. Why why why. A lot of the slang and conversations felt really out of touch.
6) The parents — The exploration of Felix and his mother's relationship or lack thereof was also a bit underwhelming. His father kept popping in and out of the story randomly, I wish the author would've utilized him more as a character. I felt like there could've been a lot better exploration of with Felix's parents and the impact they've had on him. Felix's father felt like a character in a teen drama where they just do not exist outside of the home.
7) Felix and Ezra — Likewise, I didn't think the romance between Felix and Ezra was particularly compelling. There were no signs throughout the novel up until Ezra's confession that Felix had any feelings for Ezra and didn't see him as more than a best friend, which is why them ending up together by the end of the book caught me off guard. It felt forced and I thought a more thoughtful ending could've been utilized to solidify Felix realising that forming his identity and figuring out his place in the world isn't easy and his journey isn't over yet instead of throwing him into a relationship for the sake of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Abandonment
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Racism