Fun

This was fun. Worth a read for the fantasy loving gay tween into magical creatures and boys.

I read a review that hated it…well he clearly wasn’t target audience because it clearly demonstrated a connection with coming out to family and friends and starting a new job.
If you don’t like angsty teens navigating their emotions….don’t read this. However if you love a good teen angst drama, and a perspective on the world, that offers solutions, challenges and failures…click buy now.
I loved how the magical creatures were used as points of learning and drama to challenge the protagonist and then his perspective relating it back to the real world made me smile.

Nobody is perfect but everyone deserves to be heard!

Looking for to number 2!!

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Loved it

Different strokes for different folks I suppose, cause the couple of negative reviews are absolutely NOT how I feel about this book, I LOVED IT!! And just cause someone’s not bullied doesn’t mean they can’t be scared of what could happen, Bridget states multiple times part of what he bases his fear is on what he’s seen in tv or books or movies, and no matter how excepting ur parental unit it’s, if that’s the only parent u have, I’d be kinda scared about their reaction to, I mean it’s a big deal, and it wouldn’t be the first “loving family” to do a 180 and go from love to hate and intolerance in a heartbeat, and homophobia is a VERY likely reaction from people, so I get being scared about coming out, I mean I was! And Bridger reacted, in my opinion, exactly how a closeted teen boy with hormones and social anxiety would act, and I LOVED all the characters, I thought they were great! As for the narrator, I think he did an awesome job, I felt he was spot on, so overall I LOVED it, and desperately hope there’s many more! I love the world and reality the author has opened our eyes to, and can’t wait for more!!🥰

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1 person found this helpful

Fun

F T Lukens never disappoints! this was a highly entertaining romp through the world of myths!

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Cute story

Who doesn’t love some magical teens? And bisexual magical teens are even better. And bisexual magical teens who successfully navigate coming out, high school friendships, parents, and a whole new magical world are the best.

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I may be in the minority…

Immature, self-center, angsty teens I can deal with. Immature, self-centered, angsty teens spouting terribly unbelievable dialogue in ridiculous situations that are supposed to be funny, but aren’t… Well I can’t.

The only thing that made this audiobook worse was the narration. W. Blake Kimber’s performance was so over the top, that it became uncomfortable to listen to. I switched the speed to 2.0x just to make it through.

Yeah, I hated this book. Don’t recommend.

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1 person found this helpful

Definitely not Lukens' best

I was almost dismayed at how much I disliked this book, because I've enjoyed Lukens other works so far, but I was later comforted to discover that this is one of their earlier works, so. Glad it's been an upward trajectory since then.

So there's a laundry list of things I have a problem with in this book. I think the number one gripe is that most of our main characters are honestly not all that likable. Nia and Bran are written to be your generic annoying little kreecher types, Mindy has basically no character beyond being grouchy and unavailable, Astrid spends a lot of time overreacting to minor slights and being generally inconsistent in whatever feelings she has about her friendship with Bridger, and Bridger himself is...

Bridger is this weird combination of super self-absorbed, weirdly insecure, inappropriately snarky at bad times, seemingly witty and yet simultaneously oblivious... you know what, he has the same problem as Astrid. He's just wildly inconsistent as a character. It seemed like at any given moment, he was just whatever kind of character the author needed him to be. I couldn't really identify a "voice" for this character, because the things he wants seem to change at the drop of a dime, and his emotions are weirdly turbulent for someone who has demonstrably never experienced any actual adversity. I think that's the part that really bugs me, he spends so much of this story being scared and insecure about what it would mean to "be himself", when meanwhile he's not bullied (nor has he apparently ever been), his mom is exceptionally loving and supportive, the whole school seems to know about Leo being gay and into Bridger and has no issues with it, and Bridger already is pretty out in the open about like every other aspect of himself beyond his sexuality. And then once everything is fully revealed, he's accepted without question by everyone. And don't get me wrong, that's nice to see in a queer story, but it's kind of hard to justify where all that insecurity and secrecy stems from when the life of the character experiencing it has provided zero trauma (other than a father who left when he was young, which doesn't really bear much relevance beyond a couple throwaway lines). Like, I am a queer boy, and I can tell you that if I had lived Bridger's life, I'd have never had a fear about coming out. At all.

Bridger is frustrating. Moreso for being this story's protagonist.

Pavel and Leo were fine, I guess. Leo was inoffensive, if cliche, and Pavel was entertaining enough.

But I can't put it all on the characters. There was ALSO a lot of dialog that was just... kinda cringey? And cheesy as well. Stuff that can really take you out of the moment that the story is attempting to have. Not to mention an absolute abundance of situational cliches, such as the ever popular "character A is about to confess to character B but then the worst-timed, extremely convenient interruption happens at the last second, manufacturing false drama by keeping the guessing game going", which I believe is used three separate times in this book? Yeah sorry, once is already more than enough. There were also a lot of half-cooked ideas that didn't get a lot of development, and some of them had no actual through-lines to follow and just went forgotten about.

Honestly though, to the Author's credit, the absolute worst aspect of this audiobook had nothing to do with them; it was the narrator, Blake. Like, genuinely I'm sorry, but this guy should not be narrating books if this is how he's going about it. Everything he did was so absurdly over the top. Every emotion is cranked up to 11. Subtlety does not exist for him. He narrates the description of a magical creature the same way you might narrate an intense action scene. He narrates a character becoming slightly misty eyed like they're sobbing, and then in the same breath turns them light and snarky when they have a clever remark to make during the emotional moment. He narrated Astrid's cold confrontation with Bridger like she was screaming at the top of her lungs. This guy cannot accurately read the mood he should be trying to convey in any given scene to save his life, and seemed to subscribe to the "I went to an improv class a few times" school of thought, which is "when in doubt, be loud!" I eventually had to put this book on 1.5x speed to hurry through what was left because it slightly alleviated the issue of listening to this guy badly try to act.

Anyway, yeah. I really didn't like this book.

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