Shelved: Historical, Historical Fiction, LGBT, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 513
My Rating: 3/5 Stars
Goodreads Average Rating: 4.16
I hate that I didn’t love this as much as everyone else. There were a lot of GREAT things about this books, but I feel that some of the cons (for me personally) bothered me enough that I can’t give this a higher rating than a 3 Star.
Pros
-Percy. Percy was undeniably my favorite character. His personality was the most well-rounded and real, and a lot of the times he was the voice of reason, and even though we don’t have a lot in common, I felt like i connected with him the best. Without spoilers, Percy is a biracial, gay man, who is not a slave, but not treated like a normal person either. He goes through a lot in this book, having to deal with his own personal struggles, while also having to deal with heartbreak and Monty generally being overly selfish (more about that later).
-All of the relevant issues. There were so many topics discussed in this book. There was physical abuse, mental/emotional abuse, privilege, racism, homophobia, able-ism, and so much more. And i really disliked how all of the craziness got in the way of really shouting out these messages sometimes.
Cons
-Monty. Henry Montague was an absolute nightmare of a person. He was funny, yes, and loyal as well, but after about halfway through I got sick of his...antics. He likes to drink heavily, and also get “romantic” with both men and women. Which is whatever. But, he claims he loves Percy, or can’t tell if Percy likes him or not and then will go off kissing someone else or drinking himself drunker than drunk. As this is a YA novel, I can’t say I approve of the narrator always acting out and not really learning a lesson. And before anyone says anything about character growth, I’ll give you an example. My book is 501 pages (not including the author’s note) and at page 434 (86%) he goes off and drinks himself silly after he’s already had a bit too much.
-The Plot. To be quite honest, the plot felt a little ridiculous at times and like too much was going on. There are a lot of good things about this book (the character relations, the discussion on women’s rights, privilege, racism, etc.) and a lot of the impact was taken away because we were always waiting for the next plot twist. Or the next adventure.
Overall
This was a good book, if a bit long. I wish it had been from Percy’s perspective, but at the same time it would have been a completely different story.
The audiobook narrator is the actor who plays Tom Riddle in the Harry Potter series and he did an amazing job and I highly recommend.
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