Review:
*I received an ecopy of this book via NetGalley. This has not influenced my review.*
Though I struggled to get invested at first, this was one of those books that got better as it went on. For my review though, I’ve decided to make some good ol’ lists!
Likes:
– In the beginning, Teddy was unlikeable, but she was realistic. She was someone who had made a lot of bad decisions, ones that led to having a gambling problem, and owing a lot of money to a bad man, and stealing money from her parents to pay off some of her debt. Even when she got to the school, which was her last chance to turn her life around, she kept making bad decisions, like showing up to her entrance exam late because she was hungover and had spent the night with a guy. But then she started trying to change, and in some ways she did, in other ways she didn’t, in other ways still she took a while but eventually started to get there. And I think the same can be said for all the characters—none of them were too perfect, and all of them were frustrating to read about at times. It was completely believable though. People aren’t perfect, people make bad choices, people don’t communicate everything, people don’t change overnight, and some people don’t change at all in some ways. So the characters were not easily likeable, but I appreciated how realistic they were.
– The book had some relationships that didn’t go as expected or that didn’t last long, but that was believable too. Some acquaintances never become more. Some friendships are temporary. Not every person you’re attracted to becomes someone you date. And this bit of realism kept the friendships and relationships unpredictable.
– The book had its funny moments, and Teddy could be relatable, at times, as a fellow millennial.
– The plot started a bit slow-paced but got more gripping as the book went on.
Dislikes:
– Teddy made some decisions that didn’t make sense to me. Like lying to Clint when there were strange and possibly dangerous things happening, and like automatically trusting certain people even though she had major trust issues in general.
– At the beginning, the book seemed to be full of cliches and stereotype characters—the brooding bad boy with black hair over his eyes and tattoos, the hacker friend, the “alphas” and “misfits” cliques, the tough female drill sergeant instructor (whom I’m immediately pictured as Jane Lynch for some reason). While I can’t say these really changed, they did become less noticeable as the story filled out, and some of the characters were shown to be more than just their stereotype.
– Sometimes characters (who, supposedly, could not read minds) seemed to know/understand things that they shouldn’t have. This wasn’t a big deal, it didn’t cause any plot holes or anything, it just bothered me each time it happened.
– At the start of the book, Teddy mentioned having epilepsy, but it was quickly revealed to just be a side effect of her psychic ability. There was really no point in even including that. It just kind of makes the disability seem like it’s not a real thing.
– Sometimes things happened a little too perfectly.
Overall Thoughts:
I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book, but it wasn’t bad. There were a few things that didn’t quite make sense, but the realism of the imperfect characters definitely stood out to me in a great way.
Recommended For:
Anyone who likes realistically flawed characters and relationships, psychic/telepathic powers, and a bit of mystery.
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Ooh you read this one. I love students with powers I was wondering if it was good! Especially with college or 20- somethings rather than usual high school. I like the fact that she doesn’t just change overnight, but still screws up even after joining. Like you said, realistic, since sometimes people DON’T change. Or have trouble getting it together… some of the bad decisions and cliched stuff would definitely bother me probably.
Sounds like maybe too the epilepsy could have played a bigger role, having something t do with her HAVING powers maybe? That would be kinda cool.
I loved how realistic it felt that she didn’t change overnight, that it took time and effort to make some changes, that she was still flawed. I was somewhat put off by the cliches and strange decisions though.
I was thinking more along the lines of the epilepsy shouldn’t have been included at all if it wasn’t going to actually be epilepsy.
A mixed bag, but one I would not mind checking out. The premise here is sooo enticing!
Yes, a bit of a mixed bag, but good overall!
I only just heard about this book over the weekend, so your review is so timely! I’m glad that the characters, while imperfect, were realistic. I hate when I can’t believe in the characters. It does bug me a bit, though, when parts of the story just work out too perfectly. Even in fantasy stories, that just seems weird.
I agree, I love finding realistic characters! But yeah, it bugs me when things work out too perfectly too. In this case, it was mostly things like someone happening to leave the room every time she needed to hack their computer or whatever.
I’ve had my eye on this ever since it popped up on some blogs, but I just had too many April releases already and didn’t request it. I have been reading mixed reviews so I’m happy with my decision to let this one go:-)
Yeah, I’ve seen it popping up a lot. There do seem to be a lot of April releases though! I was too tempted to pass this one up during my HP book hangover lol.
I do! I love unlikeable but realistic characters who have a great character arc and sort of develop into more likeable characters? The best example of this I can think of that I have read myself is The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. I wouldn’t describe Monty as likeable. I also love books where there are a school of supernatural kind of people. It always gives me Sky High kind of vibes 😀
Yay for well-written unlikeable characters! I do like the realism of it, and it’s nice to see characters grow. Oh gosh, yes! I actually thought of Sky High when I was reading and forgot to mention in my review, haha. Mostly cuz of the “bad boy” with fire powers who actually turned out to have a good heart and the “misfits” group.
Thank you for a cracking review – I’m looking forward to reading this book:))
Thanks, I hope you like the book!
I’ve now read the book and liked it, too – although there were times when I thought she still came over as very immature. But overall, I’m keen to read the next in the series:)
Glad to hear you liked it! I’ll be on the lookout for your review 🙂
I like the premise of this one. Might give it a go 🙂
I hope you like it!
I like realistic characters…and they don’t always have to be likeable, but sometimes it really does depend on the book. I noticed that most reviews on Goodreads seem to be pretty middle of the road for this one. Thanks for sharing your pros and cons!
-Lauren
I agree, it’s one of those things that depends. But in this case, I really liked the realism. I’ve seen a lot of middle of the road reviews for this one too. Just one of those kinds of books, I guess!
I think I got an email from Netgalley offering me to review this book and their slogan was that “all Harry Potter fans are going to love it” or somehting along that line. After reading your review I do not see any similarities at all with HP, otherwise that featuring main character going to shcool for people with special abilities. So I guess this was another case of false marketing…
Anyway, great review, I enjoyed reading it 🙂
Yeah, it was that email that got me interested cuz I was having a HP hangover at the time lol. But no, it actually wasn’t at all like HP other than what you said. Thanks 🙂
oh I almost requested this one@! I had way too many pending ARCs though 🙁
I’m having one of my episodes so I would have DNF this one as soon as I had encountered the first cliche 🙂
and yay! you are reading the Raging Ones! I have it too!
Spouses Bonding time xoxo
I know the feel. I’ve been not requesting some potentially interesting books cuz I have too many eARCs at the moment too. But it sounds like it was the right decision that you didn’t request this one.
Yes, I’m at like 15% in The Raging Ones, and it’s good so far! Can’t wait to see what you think and discuss with you!
The concept sounds really interesting (a la the Magicians a little?), but it sounds like the execution was a little off. I must admit, I struggle with unlikable characters, and they will keep me from getting to that 4+ star level.
I haven’t read The Magicians yet, but I want to. That’s funny, it was the characters that bumped this up to 3.5 for me, but maybe it wouldn’t be the best book for you!
I’m reading this one right now so I just skimmed, but I know what you mean about mixed feelings. I really like Teddy but kind of want to knock some sense into her at times, lol. I do really like the idea of a school for psychics and have enjoyed the lessons so far. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book.
Yeah she was frustrating, but I found her realistic. I like the idea of the school too though!
I’m glad to see that this one became more enjoyable for you. I recently finished it yesterday and I wasn’t the biggest fan of it. I agree 100% about the stereotypes and cliches at the start of the novel. It was absolutely ridiculous. However, they did get more fleshed out. This one was kind of a bust for me though. Great review!
Thanks 🙂 Yeah, it had a lot of cliches at the start, and I was glad they got a little more fleshed out as the story went on. I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews for this one. Sorry it didn’t work out so well for you!
I only heard about this book from your post the other day of new releases but I am still interested. The cover appeals to me and the summary sounds like the kind of book I’ll enjoy (I think). I am ok with a character who makes bad decisions and it seems like the book does get better as it goes along which is good for me as well. It has its flaws but hopefully, I’ll enjoy it. We’ll see (if I can get a hold of a copy).
I did feel the book got better as it went along, and I really liked that the MC was realistically imperfect. The book had some flaws, but hopefully the good things will outweigh them for you too!
I like the sound of the premise of this one. That’s too bad it took some time to get into it, but it’s kinda nice when a book gets better and better as you progress. That does sound interesting how she is unlikeable, but realistic. And how she changes in some ways, but not in others. I really like realism in books, so that aspects makes me curious about this one.
That does sound strange how she lies to someone when dangerous things are going on and trusts some people even tough she has major trust issue. That doesn’t seem to add much that the epilepsy got mentioned, when it was only a side effect of her psychic powers.
I love that sort of realism in characters! But yeah, some of the things didn’t quite add up for me, and the epilepsy just doesn’t even seem necessary to be included like that since it had no impact on the story.
Damn you poorly-executed magical disability tropes!
Yep, and it was just so not even necessary, so, like, why???