User Profile

I really wanted to love that series. And the fact, that it still resonates with me is clearly a sign, that it was something speical. And maybe, we should remove ourselves from these star ratings, which say more about what we want from a book than the book quality of the book itself.

Still, I really wanted to love this series. As an alternative to Who, which we are not naming anymore. And this series had a female protagonist, a group of four that all did not quite fall into the usual construct of (German YAO) groups (like TKKG, ???, !!!, Die Wilden Hühner), the female lead is albino. Her best friend has a single mother, who works most of the time and has experienced a lot of trauma her in life. It discusses rascial topics on so many levels. And so on and so on.

But somehow, I'm really really bothered by all these novels (not only this series), that have elders, who are not helping, higher beings, who only expect and demand (which is their nature), and youth, that is supposed to figure everything out on their own, grow on their own, and thus, suffer a lot in the process.

It is my age, it is my social standing right now, my current being of overprotection, of helping others, that criticizes this. And yet, I'm yearning for more softness, for more community, for more growth together and through others, less expected and normalized violence, less normalized misogyny, less social status and self worth through money and power...

Still pondering this book.

I really liked it and it felt like something different. I liked how certain phases were just skipped over while still being able to convey uniformity in the main characters life.

On the other hand, authors tend to fall back into the same patterns: the girl, that is not like other girls (though this girl at least had female friends). The lost boy, that is searching for his one true quest. And of course it is a girl. And I'm sorry, but I do not like these repetitive phrases, where again and again the in the same character traits are always listed, which also correspond to the main characteristics of the main character, as well as her visually prominent features.

Also, what is it with these older side characters, that play such vital roles, know everything, don't tell everything and let everyone discover everything on their own time, even if it kills them. What about responsible grown ups?

Still. I really liked this book. Its fastness, its emptiness, how they both carried it all so well.