Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Utvald

Only adding a review on another book in this series to touch on two things: one, it was clear in each sequel that the authors thought extremely little of their readers as at least 1/4 of each book was just reminding the reader of things that had already happened, like we couldn't remember the tiny bit of plot development of each book. I will add my second point under content warnings and hide it as a spoiler but I encourage anyone considering reading or letting their child read it to open it first.

Content Warnings

chlo97's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Content Warnings

haybailzb's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Content Warnings

anna_curlyquotesediting's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

And here at book #3, we finally have some character development!

Not to say the book doesn't have problems. I was curious if Zoey and co. would get less judgemental and rude as the series went on, so I made a tally sheet! We have 15 counts of calling people "slut" or "ho," 13 counts of "hag," 6 counts of really weird remarks around being gay, 3 very judgemental and unnecessary moments, and 1 use of the R-word. Look at that: growth. (Yes, the previous two books were worse, but I didn't get a 100% accurate tally for them, because I kept forgetting my little notebook.)

The base story, the plot, is still the best part of these books. I could live with a lot less teenage angst and drama. I was a teenager not that long ago--about a decade, if you must know. It's 2024 currently--I remember what it was like. And uh, a lot of how this book portrays teens just isn't it. The authors, just like last time, seem out of touch and trying to make up for it by excessive use of clichés.

And I'm only going to say one thing about the adult/minor relationship in this book: the authors did a terrible job making it extremely clear that kind of relationship is always inappropriate and wrong. These books are marketed directly to young girls. Do better.

Content Warnings