A review by seullywillikers
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

So I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this story. I like Ezra, but I felt that the characters all felt a little shallow, a little 2-dimensional. At one point one character points out how they love Felix's dry sense of humor, but there's no real examples in the book of Felix using dry or sarcastic humor. I thought the premise was great, and I really wanted to love this story, but it was so much telling, and so little showing, that it felt spoon-fed and just given to the reader, without having to critically examine the text. That said, I really like Felix, and the themes of questioning identity and finding out who your friends are will resonate especially with YA readers. Also, I didn't care for the casual drug and alcohol use of the main characters, which is never examined or questioned or explored, beyond that it is just cool for 17 year olds to drink while they're skipping school. Now, I'm the least curmudgeonly person when it comes to drugs and alcohol, and as a 16 year old exchange student in Germany, I did my fair share of youthful drinking. That said, these characters skip school to use fake ids to buy alcohol and grow weed and none of that is ever questioned, examined, or explored in a way that is healthy and important for young people. Representation is so so important, and I'm so glad there's more literature than ever before featuring black, queer, and trans people, but I'm not sure that this book is one I'd recommend. And that breaks my heart because I had such high expectations.