Take a photo of a barcode or cover
bespectacledbibliophile 's review for:
The Love Interest
by Cale Dietrich
I think the most frustrating thing about this book was that it felt like I could see the seams where the charming metafiction and the interesting YA spy thriller were grafted together. It asked questions that could be answered with metafiction (why teens? because YA books!) but that couldn't be satisfactorily answered within the worldbuilding. Likewise, some of the basic worldbuilding was sacrificed for the needs of the metafiction. It never really found a balance that made either element fully satisfying.
I also keep going back to the details that they did nothing with. Caden specifically mentions which books he reads, but his fondness for science fiction has no bearing on the story even when he is in what is essentially a science fiction story. Heck, he mentions a fondness for Ready Player One but absolutely nothing about how much RPO relies on connecting to a specific type of fandom experience connects to Caden's experience of media.
I love what this book had to say about the way that sexuality often forces people into boxes. I loved the discussion Caden and Juliet had about the reasons someone might represent their sexuality in a certain way. I loved the moment where Caden asserted that he is a protagonist. I loved what it wanted to say about heteronormativity but didn't because it was the climax of the book and there were other things to do.
This book had a lot of good things to say, but the way it said them just did not land for me.
I also keep going back to the details that they did nothing with. Caden specifically mentions which books he reads, but his fondness for science fiction has no bearing on the story even when he is in what is essentially a science fiction story. Heck, he mentions a fondness for Ready Player One but absolutely nothing about how much RPO relies on connecting to a specific type of fandom experience connects to Caden's experience of media.
I love what this book had to say about the way that sexuality often forces people into boxes. I loved the discussion Caden and Juliet had about the reasons someone might represent their sexuality in a certain way. I loved the moment where Caden asserted that he is a protagonist. I loved what it wanted to say about heteronormativity but didn't because it was the climax of the book and there were other things to do.
This book had a lot of good things to say, but the way it said them just did not land for me.