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A review by ebbiebooks
We All Fall Down by Rose Szabo
2.0
TW: police brutality against black people, women and marginalized folx, mention of abuse (and rape? unclear)
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This is a book about a special place where there used to be magic, and there still is, but it’s running out so the ones who can use it are few and far between. There’s mainly 4 POV: a young non-binary person who escape their not-so-great reality to get to this place in search of their long lost friend; an orphan scientist who’s having trouble to find his place in the world, wherever he is; a small buff butch lesbian who’s basically the henchman of a rich bar owner (a talkin dog, for reasons); an octopus-like trans woman who always lived on her own, trying to stay hiden from society. Of course, they all will meet and have some impact in each others’ life.
I received this book through Illumicrate and it is a very very pretty book, even without the illumination added to it. The cover is stunning. Then, just a few days later, one of my favorite BookTuber (Rachel from Reads with Rachel) made a video about it, so I decided to read it right away.
I know this book isn’t highly rated and was 1-star-bombed (for reasons I understand 100%), and I can say the things I enjoyed about it didn’t outweight the bad stuff. So I’m giving it a 2, because I cannot in good faith give it more than that. It’s like you’re walking barefoot on a floor greased with butter all over, and then, at some point, the floor is not only full of butter, but the floor becomes ice: good luck not breaking your neck.
My expectations for the book were somewhat low from the get go, and maybe that’s why I’m not giving it 1 star. Since I knew I was going to stumble on some problematic shit, I was wary from the get go. But I did find myself intrigued by some stuff, interested to continue through the end, and I was captivated-ish now and then.
The ending of this book… It’s where everything but nothing happens at the same time? I didn’t like it. I feel like it wasn’t well planned, as the ending of a duology. I get that you want to keep things open for the sequel, but this is just a whole mess. I had to take time to decide how I was going to rate it (IF I was going to rate it) and how to talk about it. I’m still unsure if I’m going to read the sequel. There’s some kind of morbid curiosity of wanting to know how bad of a car crash it’s going to get, but since my TBR list is almost 600+, I’m really unsure I’ll find the will to pick it up. And if I do, I won’t give any money to it, that’s for sure.
I know a lot of people say this book is weird, and it is. I usually like weird… when it’s done properly. This is not the case here, mainly because it seems the author didn’t really understand what was the “reading contract”: you do know this is YA, right? The book is trying to do too much and too little at the same time. It’s trying to be weirdly opaque and complicated, but it’s also trying to take you by the hand and force feed you stuff that you already get. And by doing so, you feel like the authors thinks you’re really dumb, it feels kinda condescending in a way. But the thing is, I’m used to complicated shit in art, I have diplomas to back it up. And this book is just not it. It’s trying really hard to, but it’s failing really hard as well.
The writing is fine. I liked the flow of it overall, and you can see the author is good with her craft on that front. There were still some clumsy things here and there, at least to my taste, but I would say the style of the writing is one of the things that are good in this book.
But I didn’t like the useless change of style for that meeting verbatim, nor the change of pronouns. The pronoun thing was just confusing, not in a good way. I get what the author was trying to do, with pronouns being sometimes at the forefront of gender identity and such. But we already get how the characters feel, with how they act, how they react, how they think, etc. We didn’t need this gimmick on top of it, that really brought nothing more to the issue. And on top of it, it kinda was harmful to the comprehension of who Turing is. I couldn’t understand, for the longest time, that she was a trans woman. The author is non-binary, so I expected “better” representation. Even the whole he/she/they thing with Jesse was just getting annoying. And it made little sense with the “popping” thing as well, and by doing so, it’s equating gender to sex in a very bizarre way.
As for the pace… I don’t know. I’m not the best judge for pace most of the time, and I didn’t feel like it was slow. BUT! The ending felt way too rushed. And I feel like there were parts in the story that we really didn’t need, that informed nothing and were not in any way furthering the plot or the characters development. So to me, a book of 416 pages had plenty of time to manage its ending pace better. I also think the pace might be the culprit in me not being able to give a chronological summary of what happened in this book. It’s just a big pile of thinsg that are somewhat connected sometimes. I can give an idea of how things unfold for the murder “mystery” of it all, then the ending, but why is that? The murder isn’t the center of the story, it’s an excuse for things to happen around it. So yeah, I don’t know.
I don’t quite understand why Jesse is presented as the main character for a good part of the book. Because they are not. The book is mainly centered around Jack, which is my (problematic) fav, with Turing. But at the same time, I feel played in my feelings towards Jack. It’s clearly THE character that the author likes the most as well. But the whole problematic racially charged thing that happened and is the reason for readers being mad at this book happens through her. And, in the way it’s presented in the story, we don’t get much more other than her saying she’s “sorry, but…”. Which is not a good look.
But I liked the relationship, whatever it is, of Turing and Jack, but I think because I really love the cold love interest trope. I didn’t care for all of the other relationships. And I really didn’t care for Astrid and Belle as characters (Belle is REALLY underdeveloped). I don’t know if I had to though.
I think the whole fairy tale adjacent thing really fucked the story much more than what the author expected it to be. It hindered character development for most of the main 4 I feel like, because yeah sure, you’re going to become more confident or focused and whatnot, but is that you or destiny? Are you really choosing stuff or are you part of a plan that was decided for you? And I feel like the author didn’t do the work on that front, and it’s a big part of why the story feels like a big mess. There’s traumaSSSS on top of it, for everyone (in the backstory for all of them, and unfolding as you read for some as well), and with the gender thing and the destiny-fairy tale thing, you just feel like screaming “PICK A STRUGGLE” at the characters. But that can be done well, I think, and the author didn’t take the time to do it well.
Worldbuilding is flawed. There’s big holes everywhere, like for the hospital-university thing, the New City part of River City (you know they are more privileged, and that’s about it), the river (both the magical one and the actual one - are they the same, who knows?), the fairies, the previous king, the map of River City, the witches (WHAT DO THEY DO)… It’s a big pile of stuff put together and rarely explained. And by “explained”, I don’t need every single detail, but I need enough to make some connection and make it make sense, at least a little. I know what it feels like to be left in the dark, and that’s good and fine if it’s done wisely. It’s, again, not the case here. Because if done wisely, I would want to read the second book to piece things together. But that’s nowhere near the (very) weak motivation I have to read the next volume. And I feel like when you build a fantasy, you have to build things more tightly, since there’s no way for the reader to have a basic understanding of your world otherwise.
And if you’re going to put a prologue chapter, give me more. Give me enough to understand why magic matters that much on top of its healing power, why older people miss the old times, why the King/Maiden cycle is that bad, etc etc. At least, that way, maybe the ending would make more sense.
The whole free for all police force is also a choice that really wasn’t needed. There could have been a better way, that wasn’t triggering. Right now, even without the Jack thing, it was still not great as it’s put in this book by a white author to traumatize a character who’s a black man and harrass women and otherwise marginalized people. WTF, seriously.
I don’t know who would enjoy this book considering everything. I’m happy it didn’t take me much more than a week to read it because I feel like time was robbed from me. I did enjoy parts of it, like the Turing/Jack relationship and I guess the “vibes” even though… yeah… not the greatest vibes throughout. But looking back, I’m left with disappointment.
If you also received it with Illumicrate like me, I would say give it a try as it might inform your decision to keep it, gift it or unhaul it in another way. But yeah, basically, this book confirmed for me that I needed to unsubscribe from Illumicrate. It’s way too expensive for bookish goodies + 1 mediocre book.
—
This is a book about a special place where there used to be magic, and there still is, but it’s running out so the ones who can use it are few and far between. There’s mainly 4 POV: a young non-binary person who escape their not-so-great reality to get to this place in search of their long lost friend; an orphan scientist who’s having trouble to find his place in the world, wherever he is; a small buff butch lesbian who’s basically the henchman of a rich bar owner (a talkin dog, for reasons); an octopus-like trans woman who always lived on her own, trying to stay hiden from society. Of course, they all will meet and have some impact in each others’ life.
I received this book through Illumicrate and it is a very very pretty book, even without the illumination added to it. The cover is stunning. Then, just a few days later, one of my favorite BookTuber (Rachel from Reads with Rachel) made a video about it, so I decided to read it right away.
I know this book isn’t highly rated and was 1-star-bombed (for reasons I understand 100%), and I can say the things I enjoyed about it didn’t outweight the bad stuff. So I’m giving it a 2, because I cannot in good faith give it more than that. It’s like you’re walking barefoot on a floor greased with butter all over, and then, at some point, the floor is not only full of butter, but the floor becomes ice: good luck not breaking your neck.
My expectations for the book were somewhat low from the get go, and maybe that’s why I’m not giving it 1 star. Since I knew I was going to stumble on some problematic shit, I was wary from the get go. But I did find myself intrigued by some stuff, interested to continue through the end, and I was captivated-ish now and then.
The ending of this book… It’s where everything but nothing happens at the same time? I didn’t like it. I feel like it wasn’t well planned, as the ending of a duology. I get that you want to keep things open for the sequel, but this is just a whole mess. I had to take time to decide how I was going to rate it (IF I was going to rate it) and how to talk about it. I’m still unsure if I’m going to read the sequel. There’s some kind of morbid curiosity of wanting to know how bad of a car crash it’s going to get, but since my TBR list is almost 600+, I’m really unsure I’ll find the will to pick it up. And if I do, I won’t give any money to it, that’s for sure.
I know a lot of people say this book is weird, and it is. I usually like weird… when it’s done properly. This is not the case here, mainly because it seems the author didn’t really understand what was the “reading contract”: you do know this is YA, right? The book is trying to do too much and too little at the same time. It’s trying to be weirdly opaque and complicated, but it’s also trying to take you by the hand and force feed you stuff that you already get. And by doing so, you feel like the authors thinks you’re really dumb, it feels kinda condescending in a way. But the thing is, I’m used to complicated shit in art, I have diplomas to back it up. And this book is just not it. It’s trying really hard to, but it’s failing really hard as well.
The writing is fine. I liked the flow of it overall, and you can see the author is good with her craft on that front. There were still some clumsy things here and there, at least to my taste, but I would say the style of the writing is one of the things that are good in this book.
But I didn’t like the useless change of style for that meeting verbatim, nor the change of pronouns. The pronoun thing was just confusing, not in a good way. I get what the author was trying to do, with pronouns being sometimes at the forefront of gender identity and such. But we already get how the characters feel, with how they act, how they react, how they think, etc. We didn’t need this gimmick on top of it, that really brought nothing more to the issue. And on top of it, it kinda was harmful to the comprehension of who Turing is. I couldn’t understand, for the longest time, that she was a trans woman. The author is non-binary, so I expected “better” representation. Even the whole he/she/they thing with Jesse was just getting annoying. And it made little sense with the “popping” thing as well, and by doing so, it’s equating gender to sex in a very bizarre way.
As for the pace… I don’t know. I’m not the best judge for pace most of the time, and I didn’t feel like it was slow. BUT! The ending felt way too rushed. And I feel like there were parts in the story that we really didn’t need, that informed nothing and were not in any way furthering the plot or the characters development. So to me, a book of 416 pages had plenty of time to manage its ending pace better. I also think the pace might be the culprit in me not being able to give a chronological summary of what happened in this book. It’s just a big pile of thinsg that are somewhat connected sometimes. I can give an idea of how things unfold for the murder “mystery” of it all, then the ending, but why is that? The murder isn’t the center of the story, it’s an excuse for things to happen around it. So yeah, I don’t know.
I don’t quite understand why Jesse is presented as the main character for a good part of the book. Because they are not. The book is mainly centered around Jack, which is my (problematic) fav, with Turing. But at the same time, I feel played in my feelings towards Jack. It’s clearly THE character that the author likes the most as well. But the whole problematic racially charged thing that happened and is the reason for readers being mad at this book happens through her. And, in the way it’s presented in the story, we don’t get much more other than her saying she’s “sorry, but…”. Which is not a good look.
But I liked the relationship, whatever it is, of Turing and Jack, but I think because I really love the cold love interest trope. I didn’t care for all of the other relationships. And I really didn’t care for Astrid and Belle as characters (Belle is REALLY underdeveloped). I don’t know if I had to though.
I think the whole fairy tale adjacent thing really fucked the story much more than what the author expected it to be. It hindered character development for most of the main 4 I feel like, because yeah sure, you’re going to become more confident or focused and whatnot, but is that you or destiny? Are you really choosing stuff or are you part of a plan that was decided for you? And I feel like the author didn’t do the work on that front, and it’s a big part of why the story feels like a big mess. There’s traumaSSSS on top of it, for everyone (in the backstory for all of them, and unfolding as you read for some as well), and with the gender thing and the destiny-fairy tale thing, you just feel like screaming “PICK A STRUGGLE” at the characters. But that can be done well, I think, and the author didn’t take the time to do it well.
Worldbuilding is flawed. There’s big holes everywhere, like for the hospital-university thing, the New City part of River City (you know they are more privileged, and that’s about it), the river (both the magical one and the actual one - are they the same, who knows?), the fairies, the previous king, the map of River City, the witches (WHAT DO THEY DO)… It’s a big pile of stuff put together and rarely explained. And by “explained”, I don’t need every single detail, but I need enough to make some connection and make it make sense, at least a little. I know what it feels like to be left in the dark, and that’s good and fine if it’s done wisely. It’s, again, not the case here. Because if done wisely, I would want to read the second book to piece things together. But that’s nowhere near the (very) weak motivation I have to read the next volume. And I feel like when you build a fantasy, you have to build things more tightly, since there’s no way for the reader to have a basic understanding of your world otherwise.
And if you’re going to put a prologue chapter, give me more. Give me enough to understand why magic matters that much on top of its healing power, why older people miss the old times, why the King/Maiden cycle is that bad, etc etc. At least, that way, maybe the ending would make more sense.
The whole free for all police force is also a choice that really wasn’t needed. There could have been a better way, that wasn’t triggering. Right now, even without the Jack thing, it was still not great as it’s put in this book by a white author to traumatize a character who’s a black man and harrass women and otherwise marginalized people. WTF, seriously.
I don’t know who would enjoy this book considering everything. I’m happy it didn’t take me much more than a week to read it because I feel like time was robbed from me. I did enjoy parts of it, like the Turing/Jack relationship and I guess the “vibes” even though… yeah… not the greatest vibes throughout. But looking back, I’m left with disappointment.
If you also received it with Illumicrate like me, I would say give it a try as it might inform your decision to keep it, gift it or unhaul it in another way. But yeah, basically, this book confirmed for me that I needed to unsubscribe from Illumicrate. It’s way too expensive for bookish goodies + 1 mediocre book.