Non-Review: Renegades

Hello! It's me, posting even though I only have a 2-hour window of electricity today.

I have my priorities straight, clearly.

Also, I pretty much hate PG&E, who have shut down power to thousands of Californians today because of a "weather event" that consisted of 80 degree weather and a light breeze. Which is pretty much... California. So, go figure. I guess the whole state just needs to go solar.

On to the review! (Sort of.)

I was planning on reviewing Marissa Meyer's Renegades in a couple of weeks, because it's a long book and I don't get much reading time, but it turns out I'm ready now.

I hate this book.

I wanted to like it. I love the Lunar Chronicles. But this book is nothing like the Lunar Chronicles. It's like the older cousin of the LC, complete with nose ring and neck tattoo. It chews tobacco for the shock factor and thinks all music besides German death reggae is "too mainstream."

Spoilers ahead, so be warned.

I only made it 13 pages in before I put this book down, because in the first 13 pages, a baby dies. Gets shot, specifically, in front of her sister, the book's protagonist. And the baby has the same name as my 2-year-old niece.

Now, you can write whatever you want. I endorse creativity and free speech. But you should be honest about what you've written. Don't market this as Fantasy/Sci-Fi, an action-adventure, or a follow up in any way to the Lunar Chronicles. Sell it as what it is: Sci-Fi horror.

The only other book I've ever put down this fast, with this much of a gut-churning sadness, is Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes. When you can, in 13 pages, unsettle me on the same level as one of the masters of the horror genre, you need to be upfront about what you're selling. Because I was not prepared for that.

I have two babies. I remember what it was like to lose my baby sister, when I was a kid. It's not the kind of trauma I enjoy reliving for the shock factor. In fact, it kills a story for me. 

Fridging women is bad enough, but fridging babies and children just absolutely turns my stomach. 

Not everyone is going to feel this way. Not everyone is going to have this visceral, jarring, drop into depression; not everyone experiences dark intrusive thoughts or flashbacks to personal tragedy. I know that. But I do. And I think I deserved a little warning. 

This is why I'm in favor of trigger warnings and content warnings. They've been the subject of a lot of mockery lately, but if you want to honestly look me in the eye and call me a snowflake because I'd like to be warned that a book contains child murder, then put a scarf on me and call me Olaf because I am made of snow and I'll own it. 

Do I do messed-up stuff to my characters, put them through tragedy, and torture them? Yes I do. Do I think no one should be allowed to write disturbing material? Of course not. I voluntarily read Stephen King, don't I? But if you are a well-known and beloved author of a series of fluffy fairytale retellings who wants to break out with a grimdark sci-fi gorefest, you had better make that pretty freaking clear from the outset, because otherwise, you're going to have a lot of upset fans. You'll basically be selling your book to the completely wrong audience.

And for heaven's sake, unless what you're writing is specifically intended as horror, if you're going to shoot a baby, do it off-page and have it mentioned later in a character's dialogue or internal monologue. Don't do it in detail at the outset of your novel. That's a horror move.

Zero out of five. And yes, I stand by this rating, even though I only read 13 pages. It's not an objective rating, ok, it's my own personal opinion.

A very happy 0th birthday to my new nephew who was born today, making me that much more sensitive to the topic. He's beautiful and I love him so much already.

Song Recs to Soothe a Broken Snowflake:

Sugar Cane

I Have Never Loved Someone

Gracie