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A review by hellororyg
youthjuice by E.K. Sathue
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Important to know about me: I love American Psycho, I love The Devil Wears Prada and I am endlessly fascinated by (though not sucked into) wellness and beauty cults, very specifically goop. So on the surface, this is the perfect book for me.
And in a lot of ways, it was. I’m a litfic guy through and through and I love a cast of unlikeable characters. (Not you Jamie, I am never talking about you.) Sadly, though, I found that it fell a little flat for me. I’m not sure if it was the weight of the comparisons, but it lacked the punch I wanted from it.
Which isn’t to say I disliked it at all. I’m giving it 3.75 stars overall, and although the first third dragged for me at times, I powered through the rest very quickly once it hooked me.
I think maybe I wish this book had been more of something, though I can’t pinpoint exactly what. Grosser, more gory maybe. I wish Sophia had either been a villain who would commit to it, or been a voice of reason. As it was, her occasional bursts of morality (which always quickly fell to one side) just ended up annoying me. Be a bad guy! Be the horror you wish to see in the world, Soph! The same can be said for the 2008 plot. I’ll try to stay spoiler free, but I really wish the ending of that was that she’d done something much worse than she did. That history had really repeated itself, which in my opinion, it hadn’t.
This all sounds very negative but again, I actually did like this book once it grabbed me. I liked its despicable cast of characters (Soph aside) and their self-centred delusion, I liked the way it somehow combined what was very obvious with a slow reveal. I loved the clear picture it gave me of HEBE, the way these women and this company was so familiar and clear. The Ashleys are generic characters, as they should be, but they each felt very real to me. I’ve known these girls my whole life, I’ve loved and admired them, I’ve felt jealous of them and I’ve also hated them and rolled my eyes at them.
Ultimately, I wish this had leaned more into the blood and gore of it all. I wish Soph had been a real Villain. But I felt entranced by the world of HEBE, by these women and their awful quest for immortality and beauty, and so I would say the good outweighs the bad for me.
Big thanks to NetGalley and Renegade for the ARC.
And in a lot of ways, it was. I’m a litfic guy through and through and I love a cast of unlikeable characters. (Not you Jamie, I am never talking about you.) Sadly, though, I found that it fell a little flat for me. I’m not sure if it was the weight of the comparisons, but it lacked the punch I wanted from it.
Which isn’t to say I disliked it at all. I’m giving it 3.75 stars overall, and although the first third dragged for me at times, I powered through the rest very quickly once it hooked me.
I think maybe I wish this book had been more of something, though I can’t pinpoint exactly what. Grosser, more gory maybe. I wish Sophia had either been a villain who would commit to it, or been a voice of reason. As it was, her occasional bursts of morality (which always quickly fell to one side) just ended up annoying me. Be a bad guy! Be the horror you wish to see in the world, Soph! The same can be said for the 2008 plot. I’ll try to stay spoiler free, but I really wish the ending of that was that she’d done something much worse than she did. That history had really repeated itself, which in my opinion, it hadn’t.
This all sounds very negative but again, I actually did like this book once it grabbed me. I liked its despicable cast of characters (Soph aside) and their self-centred delusion, I liked the way it somehow combined what was very obvious with a slow reveal. I loved the clear picture it gave me of HEBE, the way these women and this company was so familiar and clear. The Ashleys are generic characters, as they should be, but they each felt very real to me. I’ve known these girls my whole life, I’ve loved and admired them, I’ve felt jealous of them and I’ve also hated them and rolled my eyes at them.
Ultimately, I wish this had leaned more into the blood and gore of it all. I wish Soph had been a real Villain. But I felt entranced by the world of HEBE, by these women and their awful quest for immortality and beauty, and so I would say the good outweighs the bad for me.
Big thanks to NetGalley and Renegade for the ARC.