Surprisingly, this is not the first time I've hated a character and then been guilt-tripped for it.

When I saw the description for Fragile Remedy, it reminded me a lot of Victoria Lee's Fever King but even angstier, and it immediately got put at the top of my TBR. Do I regret it? I don't think so.
The story follows Nate, who is a genetically modified boy (a GEM) whose body can be used to heal the sick. Unfortunately, he's also dying because the government withholds "Remedy" to make sure GEMS can't survive without them. Simply put, it was a survival story and there wasn't any other overarching plot. If this had been any other story, I probably would not have enjoyed it but this book had a constant sense of danger. Like, I kid you not, Nate was always either a) on the verge of passing out, b) passing out, or c) wounded in some other way. It escalates the stakes immensely and was probably the reason I enjoyed it as much as I did.
My main issue was with the characters and their depths. Although we're given the basics of a found family with the gang that Nate is a part of, we get very little information on Sparks and Brick. I didn't love Reed just because we didn't get to see why Nate loved him, but I didn't dislike him. I didn't mind Pixel, and later on, I didn't hate Juniper either. As far as main characters go, I didn't dislike Nate but he definitely lacked the characteristic strength of a protagonist. The only character I really had strong opinions on was Alden...and I hated him. I don't care that he was sad and cared about Nate, I found him to be a manipulative jerk with fancy hair and I will stand by my hatred.
If you're looking for a short, fast-paced sci-fi story, Fragile Remedy is the story for you.
3.5/5
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