1.5 stars.

I really wanted to like this, because there are so many different ways to make a villain, and I had high hopes for many of these (well-established) YA authors. But whether it was due to the short-story form or some kind-of weird prompts, I felt like most of these were underdeveloped and/or not nuanced enough, creating unsympathetic cartoon villains; a lot of the "analyses" that followed read like middle-school book reports with plot summary and surface-level interpretations, more focused on the writer's own reaction to the story (i.e., how much they "loved" what the author did with their prompt) than any contributions to a broader conversation about ethics and morality and personal tragedy and crime.

Usually with an anthology like this I'll rate each work individually, but honestly they all kind of blended together and I don't have much else to say.

Exceptional stories, i.e. the ones I actually enjoyed:
- "Beautiful Venom" by [a:Cindy Pon|2471183|Cindy Pon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1259643400p2/2471183.jpg]
- "Death's Knell" by [a:Victoria Schwab|3099544|Victoria Schwab|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1336685438p2/3099544.jpg]
- "You, You, It’s All About You" by [a:Adam Silvera|7577278|Adam Silvera|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1414725025p2/7577278.jpg]
- "Julian Breaks Every Rule" by [a:Andrew Smith|26810|Andrew Smith|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]
- "Sera" by [a:Nicola Yoon|7353006|Nicola Yoon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1411143980p2/7353006.jpg]

Exceptional essays:
- "Dear Death" by Jesse George
- "Glamorized Recovery: Expectations vs. Reality" by Whitney Atkinson