Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I really liked this book for most of its length, and I would have given it a much higher score if not for the ending, which was a substantial letdown.
The book's tension builds and builds into a risky, desperate plan, in the middle of which the kids discover a secret that upends the world as they know it ... And that's it. An adult character says that this secret will save them all, but little attempt is made to explain how or why; an epilogue set months later leaves me with more questions than answers.
Considering that the VS labs were already full of unethical experiments on vampires, why did the discovery that they were experimenting on shifters too make such a huge, immediate difference?
It's especially jarring that the epilogue makes no mention whatsoever of what happened to the shifters after that cut-to-black "this fixes everything" moment in the lab -- not even in the context of Fennec having connections to any of these people now.
Honestly, it almost felt as if the author was just leaning in to the book's climax when they realized they needed to wrap it up in the next 4 pages and quickly concocted this ending. It feels like a bit of a slap in the face, considering the important real-life issues the book takes on, to have the rug pulled out from under you like this just when things are getting intense -- as if you're literally yanked out of the building plot in mid-event and redirected to a simplistic, largely meaningless resolution.
Is the message I'm supposed to take away here that bigotry can be instantly solved if we just find the right images of horrifying abuse to broadcast on the news? The last 10 years suggest that's very much not the case.
The book's tension builds and builds into a risky, desperate plan, in the middle of which the kids discover a secret that upends the world as they know it ... And that's it. An adult character says that this secret will save them all, but little attempt is made to explain how or why; an epilogue set months later leaves me with more questions than answers.
It's especially jarring that the epilogue makes no mention whatsoever of what happened to the shifters after that cut-to-black "this fixes everything" moment in the lab -- not even in the context of Fennec having connections to any of these people now.
Honestly, it almost felt as if the author was just leaning in to the book's climax when they realized they needed to wrap it up in the next 4 pages and quickly concocted this ending. It feels like a bit of a slap in the face, considering the important real-life issues the book takes on, to have the rug pulled out from under you like this just when things are getting intense -- as if you're literally yanked out of the building plot in mid-event and redirected to a simplistic, largely meaningless resolution.