Pulling from his own personal experience, this story of a talented teen filmmaker who discovers he needs open heart surgery is an emotional ride as JePulling from his own personal experience, this story of a talented teen filmmaker who discovers he needs open heart surgery is an emotional ride as Jesse tries to get his Zombie movie filmed before he goes under the knife.
This did fall into the same problem that I've had with other gay romance books, in that Jesse chased a guy who was so obviously unsuitable for him, while the obvious final love interest had to wait for him to notice him until a few chapters off the end. I heavily dislike this trope.
What did keep me reading though was the movie making itself, and Jesse's talent was portrayed incredibly well, without it feeling unrealistic for a teenage boy to be able make and direct the movie with the help of his friends. The entire group really pulled the story together, and made it shine....more
The cover of this book loudly proclaims this book is "like Hunger Games, but better" which is just setting the story up to fail, especially as it is lThe cover of this book loudly proclaims this book is "like Hunger Games, but better" which is just setting the story up to fail, especially as it is literally nothing like The Hunger Games. This is a UK set story of a gay teen who is sent to a facility with 99 other teens, and given weird tasks in a bid to somehow cure a mass epidemic of depression.
I don't think I could fully categorise this as a Dystopia. Nothing about this story could prevent it from being set in the present day and all the technology they use dates it to this decade too. Apart from this, the story has some mild similaries to The Maze Runner, which would have been better to compare it to.
This story did feel lacking in places for me. I liked the tasks but needed stronger, more interesting characters outside of Seb and Finn. Eleanor is a complex, interesting character but I can't really name the others. I am fully invested enough to buy the sequel though!...more
Told in the style of a podcast series, where the characters talk around a table, and sometimes through letters, this technique worked incredibly well Told in the style of a podcast series, where the characters talk around a table, and sometimes through letters, this technique worked incredibly well to tell a story of a first romance twisting into a toxic, abusive relationship, and the impact the COVID-19 Pandemic would have on it.
While there's a lot of darkness in this story, there's a lot of light too, from the friends and family of Luka who tell of their despair as she starts to pull away from them, and their hopes for her to come back home. The trans rep was very well portrayed, too.
The ending, although I saw it coming from the first chapter, was still brutal and impactful, while managing not to shift the focus from Luka to her abuser. This is such an important story, and shows the best of UK YA....more
I loved the portrayal of Black British London in this story, and the struggles the main character went through felt realistic, and from lived experienI loved the portrayal of Black British London in this story, and the struggles the main character went through felt realistic, and from lived experience. However, this was plugged very heavily as a time travel story, and I was left disappointed that we didn't get much of that.
I felt that the author was so caught up in the actual science - pages and pages trying to explain scientific concepts that I didn't understand and nearly ended up skim reading - that he forgot to make the plot make any sense.
I couldn't see at the end of the story what Esso had actually changed, if Rhia's world was the world he changed then we got no glimpses of the consequences if he hadn't. I would be interested in watching the Netflix movie if it does appear, but that looks to be stuck in development hell right now....more
Quill&Queer
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Books:
uk-ya
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