I was especially attracted to this book because of the comparison to Get Out. The mention of “relevant social commentary” in the blurb I read on BookishFirst further heightened my interest.
The development was fairly slow. Chiamaka was such an unlikeable character, although I am sure that was intentional, but I was having such a difficult time spending time with her narrative. It, while seeing things through her perspective, I’d been given a reason to see her as sympathetic, I might have had more of an interest in the game that Aces was playing. I don’t think anyone deserves that, to be clear, but I struggled to connect with what the story was offering.
Admittedly, I don’t understand the vicious, deceptive climb to the top of a social hierarchy. I don’t mean that I don’t understand that it exists. I do. I just can’t understand why anyone chooses to sacrifice identity and morals for the sake of popularity. It seems a source of inauthentic praise and fake friendship, not an emblem of success, and I will truly never comprehend being blinded by this ambition. I think I may have been able to invest in the story better if there had been some redeeming qualities presented for Chiamaka early on. Of course, this is a book about high schoolers, which offers greater opportunity for growth; for them to see the error of their ways. So, I tried to press forward, hoping that was the direction this all was headed.
I’m not the target audience. This isn’t always an important factor because I’ve often enjoyed books written for age groups other than my own, but this one just didn’t do much for me. I’ve no doubt the author worked hard on this and, technically, no story is wholly unique, but this felt far too familiar to me, following a formula I’ve seen play out before.
I truly hate to abandon another audiobook I received for review, but if I push through this any further, I know I won’t rate it well. I’d like to think that this is really a case of “it’s not you, it’s me.” I am reading another book right now with social commentary on racism and it suits me a lot more. It’s so hard to decide on YA books. I try to determine if it will be one that works for all ages or if it’s something that will end up feeling really young. I’d hoped for the former, but this feels like the latter. To be fair, I’m almost 45. I think, even with my complaints in mind, that the issue is that I’m just too old for this story.
I won’t review elsewhere, since I didn’t finish, and I’m rating it with three stars, not based on my enjoyment, but based on how I can see why it would appeal to a younger audience.
I am immensely grateful to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my audio review copy.
The development was fairly slow. Chiamaka was such an unlikeable character, although I am sure that was intentional, but I was having such a difficult time spending time with her narrative. It, while seeing things through her perspective, I’d been given a reason to see her as sympathetic, I might have had more of an interest in the game that Aces was playing. I don’t think anyone deserves that, to be clear, but I struggled to connect with what the story was offering.
Admittedly, I don’t understand the vicious, deceptive climb to the top of a social hierarchy. I don’t mean that I don’t understand that it exists. I do. I just can’t understand why anyone chooses to sacrifice identity and morals for the sake of popularity. It seems a source of inauthentic praise and fake friendship, not an emblem of success, and I will truly never comprehend being blinded by this ambition. I think I may have been able to invest in the story better if there had been some redeeming qualities presented for Chiamaka early on. Of course, this is a book about high schoolers, which offers greater opportunity for growth; for them to see the error of their ways. So, I tried to press forward, hoping that was the direction this all was headed.
I’m not the target audience. This isn’t always an important factor because I’ve often enjoyed books written for age groups other than my own, but this one just didn’t do much for me. I’ve no doubt the author worked hard on this and, technically, no story is wholly unique, but this felt far too familiar to me, following a formula I’ve seen play out before.
I truly hate to abandon another audiobook I received for review, but if I push through this any further, I know I won’t rate it well. I’d like to think that this is really a case of “it’s not you, it’s me.” I am reading another book right now with social commentary on racism and it suits me a lot more. It’s so hard to decide on YA books. I try to determine if it will be one that works for all ages or if it’s something that will end up feeling really young. I’d hoped for the former, but this feels like the latter. To be fair, I’m almost 45. I think, even with my complaints in mind, that the issue is that I’m just too old for this story.
I won’t review elsewhere, since I didn’t finish, and I’m rating it with three stars, not based on my enjoyment, but based on how I can see why it would appeal to a younger audience.
I am immensely grateful to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my audio review copy.