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katielouisef 's review for:
Meddling Kids
by Edgar Cantero
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While this is supposed to be heavily based on Scooby doo, which is why I wanted to read this. It felt very weird to directly pull things from Scooby Doo: 'If only it was a guy in a mask', "if it wasn't for you meddling kids', 'Zoinks river'. I get it, it's recognisable from the show, but it just feels very unoriginal and doesn't entirely work with the rest of the narrative. It would have been absolutely fine and still reminiscent of Scooby Doo without it. Had the author stuck with what he was already writing, rather than trying to jam an SD reference in, the narrative would have flown a lot better.
It also felt like it was written to be like a script, from the speech introductions, emotional descriptions, it was very much just a lot of telling us what is happening, just like a script. Not to mention the narrator of the audiobook having very questionable accents that felt really off-putting. I'd be interested to see how the book actually reads in person, as this narrator just really ruined the experience with the accents and the weird pacing of some elements.
Nate's character and his fights with PTSD and hallucinations were very well written, but again, there were still moments where it felt like this was a script meant to be watched and not read (or listened to). The dog, Tim, having so many 'opinions', also felt like it was trying too hard to literally be Scooby Doo, yet Tim isn't a talking dog (kinda). We were being told and not shown what he was up to and what a 'huff', for example, entailed.
Had this been written as a Scooby Doo spin-off, without trying too hard to rip-off entire elements and catchphrases from the show, it would have been a really good book, maybe even five stars. It felt lacking and dull, especially with the weird screenplay-like nature of some dialogues.
It also felt like it was written to be like a script, from the speech introductions, emotional descriptions, it was very much just a lot of telling us what is happening, just like a script. Not to mention the narrator of the audiobook having very questionable accents that felt really off-putting. I'd be interested to see how the book actually reads in person, as this narrator just really ruined the experience with the accents and the weird pacing of some elements.
Nate's character and his fights with PTSD and hallucinations were very well written, but again, there were still moments where it felt like this was a script meant to be watched and not read (or listened to). The dog, Tim, having so many 'opinions', also felt like it was trying too hard to literally be Scooby Doo, yet Tim isn't a talking dog (kinda). We were being told and not shown what he was up to and what a 'huff', for example, entailed.
Had this been written as a Scooby Doo spin-off, without trying too hard to rip-off entire elements and catchphrases from the show, it would have been a really good book, maybe even five stars. It felt lacking and dull, especially with the weird screenplay-like nature of some dialogues.