Oooooooooo...this book is goooooooooood. Really good. Really creepy good. Really creepy, eerie, chill-inducing GOOD!!!

A powerful look at challenging prejudicial views, empowering yourself and those around you, and overcoming your own harsh realities. I (and excuse my language) fucking loved this.

Girls with Sharp Sticks in two words: ominous and eerie.

I'd call it Contemporary with some thriller/dystopian/scifi traits... Either way, it's a fantastic read once you get into it.

DNF

More than anything, I want to tell you how much I loved this book. After tearing through “The Program” series a couple years back, I was enthusiastic when I heard Suzanne Young announce her new series.

I was pleased (as usual) with Young’s writing style and the issues it addresses. (There are similarities that really highlight the flaws in our society). But the slower pacing of the story and the plot twist being that the girls are... cyborgs? AI’s? Robots? It really threw me out of the story, made it a lot harder for me to sympathize with the characters and didn’t justify how cyborgs are so quickly and easily humanized.

(Ex. Jackson telling Mena that of *course* it is a life she has. If I were in his shoes I think I would be a little more freaked that my potential crush turned out to not even be the same species as me.)

Despite feeling the ending was slightly anticlimactic, I do still look forward to reading the rest of the series. Young has yet to disappoint me, and I have high hopes that the story will pick up in the next book.

You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!

I’m gonna be honest with you, I wasn’t feeling this one in the beginning. The characters were meh and the storyline was kinda slow. But I kept reading (which I usually DNF really fast if I’m not enjoying a story, so I must have seen something in it) and I have to say, the last like 150 pages were GREAT. They had me so enraptured. It was just so good. But without spoiling everything, I can’t say too much.

The characters in the beginning are pretty boring. There’s really no way around that, but once you learn things about Innovations Academy and what their deal is, you learn how that’s intentional. I still can’t really tell you much about the girls as individuals, but I’m thinking that will come in the sequel.

I want to learn more about Leandra. I think she is so fascinating.

This book actually reminded me a lot of The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James. It raises a lot of similar questions.

This book is TERRIFYING. Women must be perfect and obedient and we are allowed to exist only thanks to the good graces of men. I really don’t think this is far off from what some men want women to be and can see a future similar to this. It’s such bullshit, but if you just look under some twitter threads/youtube videos you can see the like minded men. Which is just really horrifying. Anyway, girls will always sharpen their sticks and men will never win.

I wish I could talk in more detail about it, but I don’t want this to be a spoiler-y review. I think I’m just going to leave it here. I definitely recommend picking this up if you get the chance!

Down with the patriarchy!!! At least, Young addressed this topic in a non-exaggerated manner.

Unlike other YA novels about the oppression of women, Young didn't create elaborate situations where the men in this book take advantage of these girls. She demonstrated their actions through very simple examples. I thought that made the book more enjoyable and less like an over exaggerated feminist manifesto. (Although, one could argue that the book of poems was just that!)

The characters were strong minded and the plot was well done. A lot of things come together near the end which is nice. I hope the world building is more descriptive in the next book.

who knew a book about robots could be so moving?

Detroit become feminist
3.5