nesdy's reviews
951 reviews

I love the novel and this was a great version. The voice actors are incredible and the sound effects really worked to feel immersed in the story. Also, Bite is a banger.

It's an introduction to certain ideas about power and activism, with extra resources for people who want to go deep into it. It's a little reference book more than anything else, and in that regard it fulfills its purpose. If this is a topic you're already familiar with, it's probably not very useful.

It's an easy read despite how long it is. I was in from the very beginning and towards the middle I was incredibly hooked. I loved Hope's perspective, and how the novel takes her superpower/curse to its logical conclusions. I also loved the social commentary about the relationship between capitalism and beauty standards. However, the denouement felt too long and it took me a while to finish the last few chapters.

I liked it, and it's not a hard read for such a science-focused book. I was very surprised that so many of the assumptions that we culturally have about men and women have been justified by looking at other species

This was incredibly cheesy towards the end, and I don't love the insta-love. However, I did like both of them as characters and the little details of coincidence and backstory and future events that appear throughout the book. I cried in the last few chapters so it clearly did something right because I connected with the characters.

For a children's book, this was kind of scary at times. There's a lot of tension throughout, especially in the first half. And I looooved the writing style, and the importance stories have in the narrative. The characters are really well developed and I sincerely felt for them.

I liked it because it doesn't shy away from difficult topics, and the characters are nuanced, but I do have a big gripe with it:

The novel seems to sympathize a lot with Julia's mother because of the trauma she's been through. However, that doesn't justify the way she's treated Julia her entire life. She never listens or cares about anything Julia tells her. Julia's never allowed any privacy. Even after the suicide attempt, when the novel is trying to convince us that the mother is trying to be a better mother, she never takes any responsibility for what happened. She even tells Julia she didn't know she wanted to be a writer, even though that's all she talks about, and even though the mother ripped her writing journals because she didn't approve. And then she acts as if she was oblivious to it, as if their lack of a relationship is Julia's fault for not trying enough. 

Another thing I hated was that it is very heavily implied that Julia's depression is inherent to her, as if there weren't any other factors, which pissed me off. Of course she's depressed, her own parents don't show her any love and she is trapped in that house. Even after the suicide attempt, when we're supposed to believe her parents are trying, I see the opposite. She gets sent to Mexico. When she shows concern about missing so much class because that will hurt her chances at college, they completely dismiss her and tell her she can always go to community college, something she's said repeatedly she doesn't want to do. 

I don't understand why the novel wants me to empathize with these people.

Nice ending. It kept me engaged. These are extremely entertaining