Rating: 1 star
This book review is going to be a little bit unconventional because I buddy-read this with a Goodreads group, the Dragons and Tea book club. As such, my thoughts are split into diary entries of my thoughts for the sections we read each day, instead of being just my overall thoughts on the book. (I will filter out any spoilers.) I kind of like this format of book review though because I can reflect on how my opinion of the book changed the more I read of it! Also, I want to thank Melanie and Amy for inviting me to do this buddy read with them!
March 4th: Chapters 1-2
I’m enjoying this one! I love the concept - it’s so simple: alcohol gives people super powers, and also there are monsters (called tremens) that stalk the streets of Chicago. I got some Maze Runner vibes when I first read about the tremens, but I’m so much more interested in this story. I appreciate how this book just jumped into the plot instead of trying to be cryptic and make the reader wonder WTF is going on before actually explaining anything. Even though it’s a third person POV, the reader knows as much as the protagonist so it is much less confusing than other science fiction books.
March 5th: Chapters 3-6
I definitely am not liking the direction this book is taking. I really liked the supernatural aspects introduced in the beginning, but I’m finding, like many others here, that the characters are ruining it. Why is everyone acting like they’re in middle school? Bailey doesn’t think of Zane romantically at all until... she finds out he has a girlfriend. And then she’s all over him, even making unwanted advances. It’s very, very cringe-worthy. And the thing is, I think the intent is that the audience is on Bailey’s “side”, like we should want her to be with Zane. But I like Mona (Zane’s girlfriend), actually. And I wish Bailey could be an adult and have a professional/friendly relationship with Zane. Dear author: just because there is a girl and a guy in a story doesn’t mean they have to be romantically involved, especially if it includes cheating!
March 6th: Chapters 7-10
I think these chapters more than anything show how dumb it was for Bailey to completely give up Divinyl for the bartending thing. They barely explained what tremens were and the whole drinking superpowers thing, and she was like “yeah I’m totally down, forget my actually degree and ya know getting a career.”
The concept of the action scene was interesting but the execution was just not exciting. I was bored and I knew that it should’ve been cool.
And the part where Zane is all upset about the LIIT (Long Island Iced Tea) and then it gets tense should’ve had some emotional punch and it just didn’t. It was forced and artificial and gross.
I don’t have many good things to say about this book at this point. It’s sitting at about a 1.5-2 stars for me right now.
Also, the training tactics make absolutely no sense. I think it’d be interesting if we actually saw Bailey being trained with the different skills before being thrown into the ring. It’s just cheesy/unrealistic the way it is.
March 7th: Chapters 11-15
The author has definitely taken the “Bailey is a goody two shoes” thing too far. It’s not fun anymore. Making flash cards for an interview? Come on.
I’m just very confused about a lot of things. I’m confused on what the central conflict is. The LIIT (Long Island Iced Tea) attracts the tremens (the monsters) and Garrett is trying to make the LIIT for power I guess? So they have to stop him so that the city isn’t overrun by tremens? Nothing is clearly laid out, and I’m tired of not really “getting” the plot.
The emotions are too forced. There’s a lot of telling and not enough showing.
March 8th: Chapters 16-20 (end)
There are lots of continuity errors. For example: “Bailey felt the hold on her release as Garrett walked away.” But they never state before that that Garrett grabbed ahold of Bailey. Is it supposed to be implied or is it just lazy writing? Speaking of, the CLICHES oh dear. “Walk away Bailey. It’s what you do best.” Oh noooooo.
I’m still confused??? About a lot of things in the plot, and consistently. Garrett “would be a benevolent overlord” but I thought Garrett was the problem? And at the final confrontation I’m confused about who is on whose side and who betrayed whom, etc.
The final battle scene was both brief and underwhelming considering how much potential there is when working with telepathic, super strength, and water bending superpowers.
Some stuff is still not resolved by the end of the book. For one thing - Mona and Zane? I don’t want to say too much here for fear of spoilers, but… the Mona and Zane relationship was just a mistake on the author’s part. A bad decision. Another thing is the Blackout. We are given a very vague explanation of this in the beginning, and I was really curious. But by the end of the book it is still being referred to but is never explained why/how it happened.
A grown-up who says they know what they're doing is a grown-up who's lying.
Overall thoughts:
This is a book I would very much like to rewrite, or have rewritten. The concept was so good, and the execution was so poor! The characters and their interactions were either unrealistic or forced, and I never knew what the heck was going on in the plot! There were plot holes, plot conveniences, and continuity errors in almost every chapter. I really can’t think of a reason to give this book more than one star. Maybe, maybe, I should bump up my rating a little because of the fact that the concept was good… but I feel like my excitement for the book, incited by learning the concept, just made me more disappointed with the outcome.
Despite my thoughts on the book itself, I enjoyed discussing with with the Dragons and Tea Book Club! I will look forward to next month’s buddy read; fingers crossed that it agrees with me more!
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