I am going to refrain from rating this because I can not tell if I didn’t like it because of the book itself, or for the fact that it was not written for me. I feel like this sits in a strange spot – it reads like a middle-grade, in terms of plot pacing etc, with the mature content of a young adult. It is short and tries to pack a lot into a little bit of space – not always a bad thing, but not something that was done successfully here.

While I do think the lyrical aspects are a good, accessible stepping stone to help young adults access and appreciate poetry, I don’t think this is enough to carry the story. Not enough space was given to allow for the natural development of the plot, instead the story line felt rushed and unrealistic. Which is a shame, because it is a brilliant concept.

The protag also never acknowledges or has his privileged checked – it is nothing but a burden (which in his case, sure), but there was space to really unpack the concepts of privilege, excess, fame and race, but those opportunities were not taken.

I read this via audiobook, which was both a great and terrible experience. The inclusion of the music was great, reminiscent of “Echo”. Then there were the parts of the book that were expressed as text messages or conversations, which were extremely disjointed in an audio context, and really took you out of the story. I don’t need time stamps for every like, 140 characters of a text. I don’t need a conversation to have the subtitle “conversation”.

The physical book looks to be a little over 300 pages, however the audio was only 4 hours. I think it could have benefited from being longer.

4.5

I went into this expecting hidden figures/smart women doing smart things.. and while I go that, I also think this book may have focused on the trivial side of the woman’s lives a little more than needed. While I loved the social commentary on how being a woman in the 60’s was not always a great time, and how that really impacted your career opportunities (thank god that isn’t an issue for female-identifying people anymore, lol!), it did end up feeling like filler.

Overall though, I think this was a great introduction to some remarkable woman who do not get recognized for their contribution or achievements nearly enough.

4.5, but rounding up because, well, I can and Holy heck.. I may possibly like this more than the hate u give!
I love Bri as a character, and I love the exploration of expression through music, the links to THUG and the inclusion of the struggles girls of colour experience in predominantly white spaces, such as schools and other institutions. I loved the way addiction and violence were handled, and the acknowledgement that families are tricky, messy things. Adding in the exploration of poverty and low socioeconomic statues was brilliantly handled.

My only critiques are the side characters and the ending. I didn’t get the visceral connection to the side characters in the same way I did in THUG (I know it is not fair to compare, but, let’s be real, we all do!), I don’t feel like we got to know some of the bigger support cast enough to have any kind of emotional connection with them.

I also think the ending was a bit convenient and tied everything up a little too neatly. Not that it felt rushed, just that it was a bit unsatisfying and neat, when the rest of the book was hard hitting, gritty and showed the real-life messiness of family and relationships.
But I loved, loved, loved this with my whole heart, enough to overlook the things that could have been tweaked and improved on.

Sexy space polyamory and open relationships… be still mahhh heart!!! Loved the art style and approach to physical and emotional relationships, and I LOVE that we got a kick-ass, sexy, fat protagonist. Rigo is cute as hell, owns her sexuality and goes after what she wants and I want to see so much more of that in media. She is curvy as heck and always sees herself as attractive, wears what she wants and not only isn’t shy about her body, but is proud of it. I love a world where beauty standards are just not a thing anymore, where sexuality and gender are celebrated in all their forms and people are accepted and celebrated for being exactly who they are. Sign me the fuck up!!

If the secret history had a hard-on for Shakespeare, it would be this book. And you know what? It totally worked! I think that this was layered and took an intense look at characters, the human psyche and what one person will do for those they love.
My issue was that I didn’t end up connecting with any of the characters, and, if I am being honest, got a few of them mixed up, or forgot about them… Sorry ‘bout it Colin!

Get yo girl gang together and go slay some damn big-bad!

The first half of this book was fantastic… but by about halfway I was checking to see how much longer I had left. Not because I was bored, just because I think the length of this book really let it down – it could have been about a quarter shorter, with zero issues! It fell into the trap of over explination – while at the same time, doing jump-cuts that felt disjointed.

What I did LOVE was the explicit description of friendships and familiar relationships. The characters are great – the rep is great, love the girls lovin’ girls and the ace rep! I love chubby girls getting down and dirty, showing a bigger girl feeling and being made to feel attractive (cause, ya know, #fuckyourbeautystandards). The friendship are fantastic and the exploration of broken trust, hurt and anger that does not end a friendship, it just impacts it I think was handled beautifully. I just wish there had not been such a big case of over explanation of everything, because this could have been a much higher rated boiii!

Insert heart-eyes emoji here!

Sam (thoughtsontomes) said it best – this is just a bunch of precious nerds, trying their very best! Although I was not as drawn in by Séverin as a character as much as I would have hoped to be, the remainder of the cast really made up for the lack of depth I felt from him. I am 100% in love with Hypnos and with Zofia – I will be picking up the next book to reconnect with the two of them alone!

What makes this book such a good time is the complex, intense friendship and found family elements. This band of misfits need each other to survive, both figuratively and literally – and I love that. On top of that, we have queer, neurodivergent and biracial rep, a killer heist, a cool science based magic system and underlying themes of colonialization… what more could you want?

This book hit me like a freight train. I knew going in that it was a hard hitting contemporary, but was not expecting such a strong, moving, nuanced piece of writing. Some YA novels that cover hard topics such a violence, assault, trauma etc do so in a very heavy-handed, watered-down manner. Somehow, Caletti managed to tease out a story that showed, (not told), the dangers of systemic and internalized sexism, misogyny, toxic masculinity, conditioning of girls and women, while also beautifully and respectfully examining grief, mental illness and female agency.

This is such a step in the right direction for YA, or media in general. Moving away from “Trauma Porn”, and exploring topical subjects in a way that is not sensationalizing or exploitive.

While there is every trigger warning in the world on this one, tread carefully, I was so happy that I went into this not knowing what was going to happen, because the way the story unfolded was beautifully done. It allows for connection to the characters before the full story is discovered, which is so powerful. By avoiding making the cause of the trauma the focus, Caletti was able to focus on the repercussions and the ripple effect left in it’s wake – which is the real story being told.
I honestly think this is one of the most brilliantly crafted, nuanced, strong, important pieces of writing I have read in years. It is fucking phenomenal and I really hope this is what we can come to expect from YA going forward.