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olivialandryxo 's review for:
The Becoming of Noah Shaw
by Michelle Hodkin
2.5 stars
CW: suicide, suicidal ideation, self-harm, depression, nihilism, reference to attempted rape, death of parents, death/murder, graphic scenes (There’s an extensive list of CWs in the front of the book, but it seemed insincere. Be really careful going into this.)
I read the Mara Dyer trilogy in 2016 (almost 2 years ago wow) and I adored it. When I heard that my fav Noah Shaw was getting his own series, I was over the moon. But alas, this book kiiiiiiiiind of really sucked, sorry not sorry.
I don’t know what happened here. I’m usually okay with slower-paced books, but this had no plot. It was 345 pages of filler with rather confusing action in the last 20ish pages. I considered dnfing, but I kept hoping something would happen and save the book for me.
Nope.
A better title would be The Tragedy of Noah Shaw; all of his charm and character development were thrown out the window, and then down a mountain for good measure. In the Mara Dyer trilogy, he was sassy, snarky, a bit pessimistic, and open with his declarations of love for Mara. In this book, his pessimism completely took over and he essentially stopped caring about everything. His snark was abrasive, and almost entirely related to suicide and the pointlessness of life. This boy isn’t my fav. I miss the old Noah.
Every other character was overshadowed by Noah’s 180. Even his relationship with Mara, the passionate slow-burn that we suffered for in the original trilogy, was ruined. He got frustrated with her for not telling him everything, yet did the same thing right back. Every time they were together they were either in each other’s pants or at each other’s throats. This isn’t my ship. I miss the way they were before.
In the first 25 pages there’s an almost-sex scene, in which Mara takes off her underwear and Noah promptly passes out from a vision. Next thing you know, they’re running to see if what he saw actually happened, and it’s never mentioned if Mara got her underwear back or left them on the floor of the ruins. It’s the little things that you notice, you know?
The first time Jamie is mentioned is when he calls Mara, and when she asks who it is, Noah tells her that it’s their “favorite bisexual Jewish black friend.” What exactly was the point of that?? I could be misinterpreting, but it seemed like Michelle was very obviously trying to remind readers that HEY DON’T FORGET JAMIE IS A MARGINALIZED CHARACTER. If you’ve read this, it’s very, very likely you read Mara Dyer, so this was unnecessary. Mentioning a character’s marginalizations on page is good, but a character should be more than just their marginalizations. (Please let me know if I misspoke here.)
The only reason I gave this book an extra half star is Jamie, to be honest. He’s such an underrated character and he was put on the back burner with every other character that wasn’t Noah. He’s comical, a good friend, and he deserves better; if I trusted Michelle to do him justice, I’d say I want a book about him. But I don’t, so I won’t. #JusticeForJamie
I think that’s everything. I don’t mean to come across as harsh, but this book absolutely wasn’t my cup of tea. There’s a chance you’ll like it, so definitely pick it up if you’re interested. But if you loved the original trilogy and Mara and Noah like I did, save your time and money.
CW: suicide, suicidal ideation, self-harm, depression, nihilism, reference to attempted rape, death of parents, death/murder, graphic scenes (There’s an extensive list of CWs in the front of the book, but it seemed insincere. Be really careful going into this.)
I read the Mara Dyer trilogy in 2016 (almost 2 years ago wow) and I adored it. When I heard that my fav Noah Shaw was getting his own series, I was over the moon. But alas, this book kiiiiiiiiind of really sucked, sorry not sorry.
I don’t know what happened here. I’m usually okay with slower-paced books, but this had no plot. It was 345 pages of filler with rather confusing action in the last 20ish pages. I considered dnfing, but I kept hoping something would happen and save the book for me.
Nope.
A better title would be The Tragedy of Noah Shaw; all of his charm and character development were thrown out the window, and then down a mountain for good measure. In the Mara Dyer trilogy, he was sassy, snarky, a bit pessimistic, and open with his declarations of love for Mara. In this book, his pessimism completely took over and he essentially stopped caring about everything. His snark was abrasive, and almost entirely related to suicide and the pointlessness of life. This boy isn’t my fav. I miss the old Noah.
Every other character was overshadowed by Noah’s 180. Even his relationship with Mara, the passionate slow-burn that we suffered for in the original trilogy, was ruined. He got frustrated with her for not telling him everything, yet did the same thing right back. Every time they were together they were either in each other’s pants or at each other’s throats. This isn’t my ship. I miss the way they were before.
In the first 25 pages there’s an almost-sex scene, in which Mara takes off her underwear and Noah promptly passes out from a vision. Next thing you know, they’re running to see if what he saw actually happened, and it’s never mentioned if Mara got her underwear back or left them on the floor of the ruins. It’s the little things that you notice, you know?
The first time Jamie is mentioned is when he calls Mara, and when she asks who it is, Noah tells her that it’s their “favorite bisexual Jewish black friend.” What exactly was the point of that?? I could be misinterpreting, but it seemed like Michelle was very obviously trying to remind readers that HEY DON’T FORGET JAMIE IS A MARGINALIZED CHARACTER. If you’ve read this, it’s very, very likely you read Mara Dyer, so this was unnecessary. Mentioning a character’s marginalizations on page is good, but a character should be more than just their marginalizations. (Please let me know if I misspoke here.)
The only reason I gave this book an extra half star is Jamie, to be honest. He’s such an underrated character and he was put on the back burner with every other character that wasn’t Noah. He’s comical, a good friend, and he deserves better; if I trusted Michelle to do him justice, I’d say I want a book about him. But I don’t, so I won’t. #JusticeForJamie
I think that’s everything. I don’t mean to come across as harsh, but this book absolutely wasn’t my cup of tea. There’s a chance you’ll like it, so definitely pick it up if you’re interested. But if you loved the original trilogy and Mara and Noah like I did, save your time and money.