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olivialandryxo 's review for:
Restore Me
by Tahereh Mafi
CW: panic attacks, transphobia, gun violence
I read the original trilogy in 2015-16 so I don’t remember much, but I can confidently say that this is the best book in the series thus far.
negatives
✩ There were some things that seemed inconsistent.
✩ This story was intended to at least partially enlighten readers to the state of the world outside of North America, but I don’t think it did that. The Reestablishment controls everything, the other continents are ruled the same way, yes, but what else? I wanna know.
✩ I did see another review that mentioned some representation issues – I can’t speak for any rep, but I’ll leave them here. One, the Argentinian characters didn’t speak the right Spanish dialect, and two, the only trans character was outed the first time we meet them by a transphobic character.
✩ I’ll be honest here…what was the point of Lena existing??? If someone figures that out, please tell me. She’s one-dimensional and seems to only exist to be the petty, jealous ex. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
✩ On a similar note, the other leaders’ children were pretty bland. Most of them only made one appearance and were mentioned later. The only one with an actual role and personality was Nazeera.
positives
✩ I loved all of the character development!!
✩ Juliette was absolutely badass, like wow. And in the end? She did THAT. Seriously though, it’s both freaking awesome and extremely terrifying?!
✩ Again, I can’t speak for the rep, but Warner does have anxiety and panic attacks.
✩ I LOVE KENJI KISHIMOTO. He’s the best character, to be honest: his friendship with Juliette, his unrequited crush on Nazeera, giving Warner relationship advice, making jokes…10/10 we need more characters like him.
✩ I also love Nazeera. She seemed like a bit of a sour gumdrop at first, but she absolutely grew on me. She went off on Kenji when he questioned her hijab and in that same scene flipped him off. AN ICON™️. In addition to her wonderful sass, she ended up being a great friend and advisor to Juliette. Let’s call her the second best character, by a minuscule amount.
✩ I really have to applaud Tahereh on the twists she woven into the story, because holy crap! Brilliant. Toward the end I did suspect one thing, but otherwise flawless execution. I’m in legit disbelief.
✩ I would say let’s talk about the ending, but it’s after midnight and I don’t think I’m emotionally prepared for that, so let’s not.
✩ Drunk Juliette was the BEST scene in the entire book, don’t @ me.
I can’t wait to read more!!! It’s going to be hard to wait until 2019, but we’ve got the Kenji novella [HEART EYES] in March and book five in April so I think I’ll survive. To be determined.
I read the original trilogy in 2015-16 so I don’t remember much, but I can confidently say that this is the best book in the series thus far.
negatives
✩ There were some things that seemed inconsistent.
✩ This story was intended to at least partially enlighten readers to the state of the world outside of North America, but I don’t think it did that. The Reestablishment controls everything, the other continents are ruled the same way, yes, but what else? I wanna know.
✩ I did see another review that mentioned some representation issues – I can’t speak for any rep, but I’ll leave them here. One, the Argentinian characters didn’t speak the right Spanish dialect, and two, the only trans character was outed the first time we meet them by a transphobic character.
✩ I’ll be honest here…what was the point of Lena existing??? If someone figures that out, please tell me. She’s one-dimensional and seems to only exist to be the petty, jealous ex. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
✩ On a similar note, the other leaders’ children were pretty bland. Most of them only made one appearance and were mentioned later. The only one with an actual role and personality was Nazeera.
positives
✩ I loved all of the character development!!
✩ Juliette was absolutely badass, like wow. And in the end? She did THAT. Seriously though, it’s both freaking awesome and extremely terrifying?!
✩ Again, I can’t speak for the rep, but Warner does have anxiety and panic attacks.
✩ I LOVE KENJI KISHIMOTO. He’s the best character, to be honest: his friendship with Juliette, his unrequited crush on Nazeera, giving Warner relationship advice, making jokes…10/10 we need more characters like him.
✩ I also love Nazeera. She seemed like a bit of a sour gumdrop at first, but she absolutely grew on me. She went off on Kenji when he questioned her hijab and in that same scene flipped him off. AN ICON™️. In addition to her wonderful sass, she ended up being a great friend and advisor to Juliette. Let’s call her the second best character, by a minuscule amount.
✩ I really have to applaud Tahereh on the twists she woven into the story, because holy crap! Brilliant. Toward the end I did suspect one thing, but otherwise flawless execution. I’m in legit disbelief.
✩ I would say let’s talk about the ending, but it’s after midnight and I don’t think I’m emotionally prepared for that, so let’s not.
✩ Drunk Juliette was the BEST scene in the entire book, don’t @ me.
I can’t wait to read more!!! It’s going to be hard to wait until 2019, but we’ve got the Kenji novella [HEART EYES] in March and book five in April so I think I’ll survive. To be determined.