A review by mewtenantworf
The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

3.0

I started to like Kelsea less and less in this book. I thought the way her self-injuring was depicted glamorizes it and is very dangerous in a book aimed at teens.

I was frankly disgusted that her magic changed her appearance. Can we not for once have a plain, round faced, chubby heroine and just keep her? This book probably makes bigger girls feel really shitty about themselves with the way it depicts Kelsea losing weight so dramatically and everyone thinking she’s sexy all of a sudden.

And seriously, this book really needs trigger warnings. There is a brutal rape scene that I had to skip over and then several more references to violent rape. She put gratuitous and loving detail into the rape scene and zero details into Kelsea banging her bodyguard. Yes, the rapist gets what he deserves, no, you didn’t need to describe it in such gory detail.

Interesting plot overall, highly problematic execution.