mary liz's Reviews > To Best the Boys

Well then.

I didn't hate it, but that's the most glowing praise you'll get out of me.

Two stars feels slightly harsh, but three stars feels too generous . . . *scratches head* Times like these make me wish Goodreads had half stars, but c'est la vie.

L I K ES:

-The cover. The way the letters loop around the maze and the gorgeous greenery everywhere?? Yeah. I'm digging that cover.

-A YA BOOK WITH SUPPORTIVE PARENTS. Ladies and gentleman, you heard that correctly. This is indeed a rare specimen. It's not often I read YA books with parents, much less supportive and loving ones with whom the protagonist shares a close relationship. This was one of my favorite parts of the book. Rhen's parents never stop encouraging her to pursue her dreams and challenge the status quo. I especially loved her Da, who Rhen worked with in their in-home laboratory. Alllllll the kudos to the author for wonderful parental relationships.

-The whole science/uni focus. I'm not a science girl--like, at all--but I really appreciated seeing a character who loved science and was education-focused. We need more stories with girls (and guys) who actually want to get a higher education and love learning.

-Seleni. She was probably my favorite character in this book. To be honest, I feel kind of "meh" about the characters in this book as a whole. However, I loved that Seleni unashamedly loved her long hair and fancy dresses and wanted a family of her own . . . but she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty and fight for what she believed in. She was a strong female character who was still feminine. I really appreciated that Mary showed there's more than "one type" of strong female character. WE SUPPORT.

D I S L I K E S:

-The writing style. Ehhhhhhhhhhhh. I really disliked the writing style in Storm Stiren, so I didn't expect it to be different here. Her writing style is pretty clunky and awkward. Sometimes I have to reread sentences for them to make sense. Most of the writing consists of run-ons, sentences with an excessive amount of prepositional phrases, or cliche/boring descriptions. I don't know. I'm not trying to be critical, but her writing just isn't My Thing. It feels very unpolished and awkward. (Plus, I came across several grammatical and syntactical errors. I know it's impossible to avoid, but it was more frequent than I would have liked.)

-The setting. Mary Weber does an . . . interesting job at worldbuilding. Her worlds always feel so random and unnecessarily weird. I never got a good sense for what the world was like other than the fact that it had a lot of dead bodies/ghouls/creepy sirens. IT WAS WEIRD, GUYS. I just felt really weirded out by the setting. It didn't seem like she really thought through her worldbuilding that well. She just came up with a bunch of odd creatures and dumped them in a random setting. #notafan

-The labyrinth. Speaking of weird . . . *cough* The labyrinth was really bizarre. Reading about it was such a disorienting, unsettling sensation. It wasn't actually a maze but a bunch of mind-games and anticlimactic tests. This whole book felt like a wild, trippy experience & the labyrinth just emphasized how W E I RD the whole setting was. To be clear, I don't mind weird things; there just has to be a method to the madness. In the case of To Best the Boys, there were no rules to the world. It was all very undefined. I never really understood what the world was supposed to look and feel like. It just left me confused and Very Disturbed.

-aLl ThE dEaD boDiEs. NO THANK YOU. The first chapter should have been a warning to me. I honestly felt sickened by all the corpses, blood, and nasty dead things that were described in length. It felt superfluous. Like yeah, I get it - Rhen does a lot of experiments. But her interest in dead things borders on morbid. I got a really "icky" feeling. and legitimately almost stopped reading because of the excessive discussion of bodily fluids, exploding corpses, etc. Not to mention, she actually flirts with people by talking about corpses. I don't know whether to laugh, cringe, or gag . . .

-The romance. It felt so awkward but not in a cute way. Rhen kept thinking about Lute's pursed, anatomically perfect lips (gross) and the kiss scenes made me put the book down. I don't know why, but the romance between them made me Uncomfy. It had a good amount of teenage angst, and I'm not here for that.

-Everything was just "meh." The dialogue felt forced, the writing was awkward, the setting was odd, the characters (mostly) felt bland, the plot didn't get underway until halfway in the book, etc. I feel rather "meh" about the whole book. I didn't hate it, but the only feelings it really generated in me were confusion & boredom & disgust. Nothing wowed me; it's just overall forgettable.

Like I said, it wasn't the worst book ever. It was just kind of a waste of time. I highly doubt I'll be reading more of Mary Weber's books in the future because, sadly, she just isn't for me. :)

2.5 stars