Tag Archives: YA

The Ravenous

Book Review of The Ravenous, by Amy Lukavics

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I won a copy of Amy Lukavics‘ The Ravenous through Goodreads.

Description:
From the outside, the Cane family looks like they have it all. A successful military father, a loving mother and five beautiful teenage daughters. But on the inside, life isn’t quite so idyllic: the Cane sisters can barely stand each other, their father is always away, and their neglectful mother struggles with addiction and depression. 

When their youngest and most beloved sister, Rose, dies in a tragic accident, Mona Cane and her sisters are devastated. And when she is brought back from the dead, they are relieved. But soon they discover that Rose must eat human flesh to survive, and when their mother abandons them, the sisters will find out just how far they’ll go to keep their family together.

Review:
This wasn’t bad, quite creepy actually, and I appreciated the way Lukavics’ teens weren’t all perfect, stereotypical angels. We had alcoholism and mild drug use and a little sexual diversity. The writing is even pretty good. But it took me forever and a day to finish it. I just never was really invested in it. So, I would read a couple chapters, get bored, pick something else up and then, when I finished that, pick this up for a couple more chapters, before wandering off again. So, not bad, but also not a big winner for me.

Book Review of Crimson Son, by Russ Linton

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I won an Audible credit for Russ Linton‘s Crimson Son.

Description from Goodreads:
Nineteen-year-old Spencer Harrington is the son of the Crimson Mask, the world’s most powerful superhero. Since witnessing his mother’s abduction two years ago, he’s been confined to his father’s arctic bunker. When the “Icehole” comes under attack by a rampaging robot, Spencer is forced to launch into his father’s dangerous world of weaponized human beings known as Augments.

With no powers of his own save a multi-tool, a quick wit and a boatload of emotional trauma, Spencer seeks to uncover his mother’s fate and confront his absentee father. As he stumbles through a web of conspiracies and top secret facilities, he rallies a team of everyday people and cast-off Augments. But Spencer soon discovers that the Black Beetle isn’t his only enemy, nor his worst.

Review:
Got a teen who loves comic book heroes? Love them yourself? This should be a winner. A couple F-bombs drop here and there, but it’s otherwise pretty PG and little Spencer is pretty darned resourceful. Sure, he just happens to be a genius and just happens to have genius friends, but he’s amusing and a hero in his own right.

The main character is a 19yo guy and though I didn’t find this relentlessly male, like some super hero books, it does have a bit of male gaze going on. I gota little tired of having female bodies described to me, even during dramatic scenes. Meh.

I did think the ending was a little wimpy, since the reader doesn’t see the action, only hears about it after the fact and is never wholly sure what exactly happened.

Mitchell Lucas did a great time with the narration, bring out Spencer’s frustration and sarcasm. All in all, worth picking up if you’re into this sort of thing.

Book Review of My Fairy Godmother Is a Drag Queen, by David Clawson

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I won a copy of David Clawson‘s My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen through Goodreads.

Chris Bellows is just trying to get through high school and survive being the only stepchild in the social-climbing Fontaine family, whose recently diminished fortune hasn’t dimmed their desire to mingle with Upper East Side society. Chris sometimes feels more like a maid than part of the family. But when Chris’s stepsister Kimberly begins dating golden boy J. J. Kennerly, heir to a political dynasty, everything changes. Because Chris and J. J. fall in love . . . with each other.

With the help of a new friend, Coco Chanel Jones, Chris learns to be comfortable in his own skin, let himself fall in love and be loved, and discovers that maybe he was wrong about his step-family all along. All it takes is one fairy godmother dressed as Diana Ross to change the course of his life.

My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen is a Cinderella retelling for the modern reader. The novel expertly balances issues like sexuality, family and financial troubles, and self-discovery with more lighthearted moments like how one rogue shoe can launch a secret, whirlwind romance and a chance meeting with a drag queen can spark magic and light in a once dark reality.

I

This was cute and funny, but there were several moments that made me think, “As not a member of X minority group, is it ok to laugh at this?” A feeling that might not have been so strong if all the characterizations hadn’t been quite so stereotypical. To be fair the title and purposeful riffing of Cinderella do give a clue that it is that sort of book, one that is playing with pre-existing ideas. But I don’t think it was quite deep enough to be considered a deconstruction, exploration or even parody of those same ideas. I also had trouble with some of the language around gender, women, LGBTQI+, Drag and more.

Those who can’t tolerate cheating in a book, especially cheating with a woman in their M/M, this is not the book for you. The whole thing is two gay men and their beard. I appreciate the way Clawson presented a gay man circumstantially unable to come out and that he never let Chris demand that J.J. do just that to prove his love. But as is almost always the case in such stories, I don’t think the emotional damage possible to the woman a gay couple hid behind was considered at all.

Writing is clear and easy to read, though repetitive at times, and it’s well edited. Basically it’s one of those books that I liked but found problematic.