Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

It’s been awhile since I read a book as bad as this one. Honestly, though I have friends who have read the Monster High series and I knew this probably wasn’t going to be quality literature when I started reading, I didn’t expect something this boring. It’s not even that it was poorly written (though it kind of was), but just that there seemed to be literally no point to the entire story at all. The characters were juvenile, at best, even for freshman in high school. And to top it off, they were all completely emotionally unstable. (Not to mention the complete lack of self-awareness and maturity of any kind.) I wouldn’t even recommend this to younger audiences because it’s not a good introduction to young adult literature and we really shouldn’t be teaching kids that things like this is what they should be reading.

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

What I Liked:

• Honestly, if the book had seemed to have a plot of any kind, I would have enjoyed it a lot more than I did. The writing wasn’t awful, though it could use a lot of work. But, I mean, there was at least some sort of potential, and that’s a definite plus.

What I Didn’t Like:

• The characters in this book were completely insufferable and a study in cliché stereotypes. There wasn’t a mature voice found among them. Sheridan is completely obsessed with acting and “channels” someone new every day—she is almost never just herself and instead puts on masks. She is completely, 100% conceited and bratty—she throws fits when she doesn’t get her way, assumes that she will always get the leads in the school plays, and acts like a spoiled little girl when that doesn’t happen. Lily is next—she’s a skater girl who has been homeschooled up until now. She is obsessed with one of the other kids, Andrew Duffy—she steals his things so her “collection” can continue to grow. The only realistic part of her is her almost overwhelming desire to fit in with the other public school kids. Vanessa is the “smart girl”, who only tries to get good grades so her parents won’t fight. She, too, is completely spoiled—every time she doesn’t do well on a test or quiz, she blames it on everyone but her. She can never accept the fact that she slacked off. And in a desperate attempt to keep up the appearance that she’s still trying, she instead commits a crime and hacks into the school’s database to forcibly change her grades. Andrew and Jagger are both pretty insignificant—Andrew is just obsessed with basketball and gets angry when his parents can’t pay for everything for him; Jagger is the almost-orphan of two people who “avenged” a kid who was bullied—either by beating up or killing the original bully. (Which the book tries to make us believe is noble—which it isn’t on any level.) So Jagger becomes the stereotypical “loner” kid who wears black and talks in short sentences and has a shady and dark past. None of these characters were even the slightest bit realistic. And, in addition, for a book that seemed to try so hard to have a diverse cast, each voice seemed to be pretty much the same—bratty and immature.

• There was just absolutely no point to this book at all. It was completely boring; for all the plot that occurred, it was about three hundred pages too long. It literally felt like a “day in the life” documentary of five teenagers who were completely unremarkable. I think, in young adult literature, we get sick of the “chosen one” trope—but at the same time, as much as I dislike that cliché, it is infinitely worse to read about five kids who are completely ordinary and totally boring. Who never do anything with their lives. Who wander around aimlessly, wondering when someone else will do something for them next. The whole point of the book is that these five students have done something interesting, have become the “Phoenix Five”—they are supposed to be remarkable in some way. However, the Phoenix Five nominations don’t even take place until April—and this book ends mid-October. For a series, the first book is completely pointless—you could just read my short descriptions of each character and move into the second book without missing a beat. I got to the end, and I was angry because I felt like I had wasted so much time to get absolutely nowhere by the end.

Overall: This definitely doesn’t make my recommendation list. It fails even as a book directed at preteens/early teenagers, because we shouldn’t teach children in that age group that this is somehow quality literature of any kind. It was literally pointless and had absolutely no commentary or anything to make about society or these characters. It just…was. Definitely not worth the time.

(http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/86641126967/pretenders-review)