Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by fire_and_violets
Fearless by Francine Pascal
1.0
I absolutely abhorred this book. It was given to me by my local librarian for a teen book club. I was told that many of the other teens "just couldn't put it down." Well neither could I, but because I was trying to get it over with.
First of all, Gaia may be the least interesting heroine I have ever read. Her insecurities combined with her overall bitchy-ness make her first person chapters almost unreadable. She is the epitome of a stereotypical YA heroine. She's impossibly beautiful, even with out makeup! (So shocking!) she hates everyone because of her tortured childhood. (So sad!) She wants to be popular and have lots of friends, but she doesn't. (Maybe because she's impossibly mean and rude to anyone who shows her any kindness.) I don't know if this type of writing is just out of style, since it was published in 1999, but that's not an excuse.
Second of all, my goooodddd, the unnecessary, undeveloped love triangle. I'm not sure if its just because I only read the first book, but I say if you're going to do a love triangle, do it right! Pascal almost completely forgets about Ed in the second half of the book, which is a crying shame because he's the most likable character in the whole book. The whole book is basically Gaia periodically beating people up, while moaning about how Sam doesn't like her. The clique lines that pascal uses to build up the love story are almost shockingly cheesy. "Gaia wasn't afraid. She was never afraid. But she felt the abstract terror of a world without Sam, without the idea or possibility of Sam, and she didn't want to live there." (163) I MEAN COME ON!! Give me a break will you? And what happened to the "no fear gene" thing? Which brings me to my next point.
The concept of this book is so promising. Pascal has the opportunity to explore themes like, good versus evil, hero or villain, her struggling to get along in the world without the capacity to fear, or how her lack of fear gets her in bad situations. But no! Pascal doesn't do any of these things and, as far as I can tell, the book has no strong themes whatsoever. Gaia just hangs out in dangerous places, hoping to beat people up for her own enjoyment. And Pascal only uses the no-fear thing when it's convenient for her. Gaia should be radically different from her peers, but she isn't! It's so frustrating! I liked where she was going with the vague and menacing threat that was spying on her, and I'm sure that is expanded upon in later books, but why didn't she just do it I this book? There wasn't anything important going on! The character development consisted of about a half a page at the beginning, but that was it! There was so much unnecessary "plot" that could've easily been used to develop that storyline.
All in all, this book was a poorly written, stereotypical, vaguely sci-fi, YA novel that was the worst book I've read this year.
First of all, Gaia may be the least interesting heroine I have ever read. Her insecurities combined with her overall bitchy-ness make her first person chapters almost unreadable. She is the epitome of a stereotypical YA heroine. She's impossibly beautiful, even with out makeup! (So shocking!) she hates everyone because of her tortured childhood. (So sad!) She wants to be popular and have lots of friends, but she doesn't. (Maybe because she's impossibly mean and rude to anyone who shows her any kindness.) I don't know if this type of writing is just out of style, since it was published in 1999, but that's not an excuse.
Second of all, my goooodddd, the unnecessary, undeveloped love triangle. I'm not sure if its just because I only read the first book, but I say if you're going to do a love triangle, do it right! Pascal almost completely forgets about Ed in the second half of the book, which is a crying shame because he's the most likable character in the whole book. The whole book is basically Gaia periodically beating people up, while moaning about how Sam doesn't like her. The clique lines that pascal uses to build up the love story are almost shockingly cheesy. "Gaia wasn't afraid. She was never afraid. But she felt the abstract terror of a world without Sam, without the idea or possibility of Sam, and she didn't want to live there." (163) I MEAN COME ON!! Give me a break will you? And what happened to the "no fear gene" thing? Which brings me to my next point.
The concept of this book is so promising. Pascal has the opportunity to explore themes like, good versus evil, hero or villain, her struggling to get along in the world without the capacity to fear, or how her lack of fear gets her in bad situations. But no! Pascal doesn't do any of these things and, as far as I can tell, the book has no strong themes whatsoever. Gaia just hangs out in dangerous places, hoping to beat people up for her own enjoyment. And Pascal only uses the no-fear thing when it's convenient for her. Gaia should be radically different from her peers, but she isn't! It's so frustrating! I liked where she was going with the vague and menacing threat that was spying on her, and I'm sure that is expanded upon in later books, but why didn't she just do it I this book? There wasn't anything important going on! The character development consisted of about a half a page at the beginning, but that was it! There was so much unnecessary "plot" that could've easily been used to develop that storyline.
All in all, this book was a poorly written, stereotypical, vaguely sci-fi, YA novel that was the worst book I've read this year.