I received a review copy of this book from the author through a Goodreads giveaway; all opinions are my own and honest.

"It's not that he doesn't believe in magic, per se, but it does seem a little whack [...] In a comic book, sure. Or in the future, when people have tons of money for body mods. But this is real life and they're just a bunch of brown and black kids with no bank."

First things first, the rep is absolutely fantastic: Black, Latinx, biracial, LGBTQIAP+ (bi/questioning and genderfluid), and socioeconomic; I was particularly struck by the fact that these kids have legitimate reasons to be mistrustful of authority, which I don't see much in YA lit [outside of dystopia]. There's even a scene where a main character messes up another's pronouns, providing a good model for how to handle that situation! (I do wish there was at least one Asian MC, but admittedly that's a different PoC experience so I can understand why it wasn't included.)

That said, I had a few hesitations about the way the bi/questioning MC's sexuality is presented; I do like that the other characters make a point of not presuming her sexuality, but at the same time they implicitly kind of do:

Spoiler

having dated someone doesn't mean you're necessarily attracted to that gender, and there's some gatekeeping-esque language in implying that she "can" be bi because she's dated a boy and a girl

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The messages about consent also don't seem totally consistent:

Spoiler

there are understandable concerns about altering others' thoughts/memories, but they really get on her case for unintentional/unconscious actions even while there are also some potentially problematic romantic interactions

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I would've liked to rate this even higher, but honestly the writing tripped me up quite a bit. There was so. much. slang. And pop culture references and idioms. Not all of which I think millenials even use, let alone Gen Z (and the characters are explicitly Gen Z, if memory serves). The dialogue tags were also inserted at weird places, and too many overly-descriptive talking verbs. (Look, "said" is serviceable and wonderfully invisible.) Finally, more editing is needed; among other examples, HIPAA is written as "HIPPA" several times; "ma'am" is mispelled twice on the same page, differently each time.

All that said, 4 stars is a pretty high rating. But this had the potential to be even better.

content warnings:

Spoiler

racism (including slurs), transphobia (including slur), violence, mild gore, negligent parents, ableist language, non-medical marijuana use, self-medication with prescription antidepressants, mentions of past gaslighting, non-consensual memory alteration

rep:

Spoiler

Black/Latina bi/questioning MC, Black/Caucasian genderfluid MC with anxiety, Cuban-American vegetarian MC in foster care, Mexican undocumented MC, Black homeless MC

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CONVERSION: 11.6 / 15 = 4 stars

Prose: 6 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 8 / 10
Emotional Impact: 8 / 10
Development / Flow: 9 / 10
Setting: 8 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: 4 / 5
Intellectual Engagement: 3 / 5
Originality / Trope Execution: 4 / 5
Rereadability: 3 / 5
Memorability: 5 / 5