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Finished "Witch Eyes" (Scott Tracey) last night, and am having some trouble getting my thoughts together to write a review of it. I've never been good at doing reviews, I'm very much an "I liked it" or "It stinks!" kind of person. Okay, much more of the "It stinks!" usually. I'm highly critical. Very rarely am I all "omg best EVAH!" So, be warned.
The writing was good enough, and for me 'tolerable' is about the best I'll usually say about a YA novel. Not clever or particularly fun or challenging to read, and that's the thing I most appreciate in writing. I know some people don't, though. I like Jasper Fforde, Patrick O'Brien and Wodehouse. Tracey is not that kind of writer - he's more a Point A to Point B, but not painfully clunky, I didn't want to gouge my eyes out as I do with 90% of stuff I read. All of the characters had overly cutesy names, which I find annoying: the main character is Braden, his potential apparent romantic interests are Drew and Trey, his female friends are Jade and Riley. Of course maybe that's the kind of names parents are giving their kids these days; another reason to be glad I have no kids.
This book, for me, was like watching TV. I kept thinking that the visuals were cool, it would make a pretty scene. But there's a reason I don't watch TV the past few years - none of it makes any sense to me. The majority of the characters seem to be completely irrational and I don't understand why they would choose to do and say the things they do. That doesn't mean it's necessarily bad, it probably just means that there's been enough change in the culture and I've kept myself isolated enough from it that I've fallen out of the habit of how to relate. Eor tells me that, since the characters are teenagers, I should expect that randomness is very in character. I... guess? But even the older people didn't exactly seem to be doing things that made any sense. Of course they were seen from the vantage point of inside a teenager's head, so maybe that's why.
The action pulled me along, but partly because I kept not understanding why things were happening and hoping that the main character would do something smart, some day.
The plot... well, maybe another reason I don't write book reviews is that sometimes I have a hard time telling the difference between what is the plot and what is the action. People's actions and choices of things to say, and when to say them (or not) didn't make sense to me and maybe that was because they did what they did so that the plot would go where it was supposed to go. Other than people making stupid or inexplicable choices the other thing that seemed to determine the plot was complete random happenstance/synchronicity - someone meets someone and decides to be kind and it turns out they're related to someone else.
I was not pleased with the ending, mainly because it seemed as though he wants to make it the beginning of a loooong series so he left plenty of unresolved threads.
Highlight for spoilers:
I had got the impression that there was supposed to be a romance in it, and that didn't really happen. Trey was kind of a jerk and never got nicer, it seemed to be a mostly physical attraction on both their parts with very little support structure of friendship, honesty or trust, the kinds of things I really look for in romance, and I kept hoping that would get sorted out but it never did, and they didn't get together at the end. Braden magically sees that Trey is loyal, but Braden never gets that loyalty given to him. Instead they start fighting each other right at a crucial point in the climax of the action, for no apparent reason.
Drew was the other potential romantic interest, it appeared, and he was more likeable for me - he was mainly defined by his anger, but was willing to put his life on the line for someone he didn't even know, and willing to keep stirring the pot to his greatest ability even though he knew he was on the losing side.
While I'm spoilering, I also did not get why, when Braden arrives as a new kid at the high school he is taken on as instant BFF by the rich girl, Jade. I thought Trey's romantic interest setup seemed a little thin - Braden is cute, new in town, and apparently exudes the 'I need taking care of' vibe? Thin, but okay, why not, right? And the journalist girl, Riley, near the end you get an explanation for her motivation. But Jade never seemed to have any motivation for being a friend besides being just incredibly kind. Are we supposed to understand she's just the one really nice person in town, completely altruistic, even though her raising wouldn't seem to have been the sort which would give her that trait?/spoilers
Oh, and why is comic store owner guy such a complete ass? It's like Tracey just figured he'd make the guy live up to every negative nerd stereotype so we could have a complete idiot we could look down on, which seems really unfair.
I'm not bemoaning time lost from my life, as I would with most New York Times Best Sellers; it was kind of fun, and worthwhile reading gay characters in a YA book. But I'm not sure that I'm happy with the messages it sends about gay relationships - maybe I'm just contrary, but I was actually kind of wishing Braden could develop something with one of the girls who actually seemed to be friends to him. I don't think I'd read a whole long series like this. It's probably just not really my kind of thing. I would give Scott Tracey another chance, if he lightened up a little, let his characters have something good in their lives.
The writing was good enough, and for me 'tolerable' is about the best I'll usually say about a YA novel. Not clever or particularly fun or challenging to read, and that's the thing I most appreciate in writing. I know some people don't, though. I like Jasper Fforde, Patrick O'Brien and Wodehouse. Tracey is not that kind of writer - he's more a Point A to Point B, but not painfully clunky, I didn't want to gouge my eyes out as I do with 90% of stuff I read. All of the characters had overly cutesy names, which I find annoying: the main character is Braden, his potential apparent romantic interests are Drew and Trey, his female friends are Jade and Riley. Of course maybe that's the kind of names parents are giving their kids these days; another reason to be glad I have no kids.
This book, for me, was like watching TV. I kept thinking that the visuals were cool, it would make a pretty scene. But there's a reason I don't watch TV the past few years - none of it makes any sense to me. The majority of the characters seem to be completely irrational and I don't understand why they would choose to do and say the things they do. That doesn't mean it's necessarily bad, it probably just means that there's been enough change in the culture and I've kept myself isolated enough from it that I've fallen out of the habit of how to relate. Eor tells me that, since the characters are teenagers, I should expect that randomness is very in character. I... guess? But even the older people didn't exactly seem to be doing things that made any sense. Of course they were seen from the vantage point of inside a teenager's head, so maybe that's why.
The action pulled me along, but partly because I kept not understanding why things were happening and hoping that the main character would do something smart, some day.
The plot... well, maybe another reason I don't write book reviews is that sometimes I have a hard time telling the difference between what is the plot and what is the action. People's actions and choices of things to say, and when to say them (or not) didn't make sense to me and maybe that was because they did what they did so that the plot would go where it was supposed to go. Other than people making stupid or inexplicable choices the other thing that seemed to determine the plot was complete random happenstance/synchronicity - someone meets someone and decides to be kind and it turns out they're related to someone else.
I was not pleased with the ending, mainly because it seemed as though he wants to make it the beginning of a loooong series so he left plenty of unresolved threads.
Highlight for spoilers:
I had got the impression that there was supposed to be a romance in it, and that didn't really happen. Trey was kind of a jerk and never got nicer, it seemed to be a mostly physical attraction on both their parts with very little support structure of friendship, honesty or trust, the kinds of things I really look for in romance, and I kept hoping that would get sorted out but it never did, and they didn't get together at the end. Braden magically sees that Trey is loyal, but Braden never gets that loyalty given to him. Instead they start fighting each other right at a crucial point in the climax of the action, for no apparent reason.
Drew was the other potential romantic interest, it appeared, and he was more likeable for me - he was mainly defined by his anger, but was willing to put his life on the line for someone he didn't even know, and willing to keep stirring the pot to his greatest ability even though he knew he was on the losing side.
While I'm spoilering, I also did not get why, when Braden arrives as a new kid at the high school he is taken on as instant BFF by the rich girl, Jade. I thought Trey's romantic interest setup seemed a little thin - Braden is cute, new in town, and apparently exudes the 'I need taking care of' vibe? Thin, but okay, why not, right? And the journalist girl, Riley, near the end you get an explanation for her motivation. But Jade never seemed to have any motivation for being a friend besides being just incredibly kind. Are we supposed to understand she's just the one really nice person in town, completely altruistic, even though her raising wouldn't seem to have been the sort which would give her that trait?/spoilers
Oh, and why is comic store owner guy such a complete ass? It's like Tracey just figured he'd make the guy live up to every negative nerd stereotype so we could have a complete idiot we could look down on, which seems really unfair.
I'm not bemoaning time lost from my life, as I would with most New York Times Best Sellers; it was kind of fun, and worthwhile reading gay characters in a YA book. But I'm not sure that I'm happy with the messages it sends about gay relationships - maybe I'm just contrary, but I was actually kind of wishing Braden could develop something with one of the girls who actually seemed to be friends to him. I don't think I'd read a whole long series like this. It's probably just not really my kind of thing. I would give Scott Tracey another chance, if he lightened up a little, let his characters have something good in their lives.
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From:
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I'd hate to read a book with characters with those types of names. I can't imagine that significant amounts of people really name their kids those things either. They sound like names from an 80s cartoon set in a rich kids high school.
I finally installed the internet in my new gaff *waves*
From:
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Thanks, I appreciate how you don't get annoyed with me for my crankyassness. ;) And an 80s cartoon set in a rich kids high school. INDEED! *snickers* ;) Although no 80s cartoon about a rich kid's high school would be really complete without a Biff, I think. :)
From:
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It was okay, and the romance honestly didn't bug me as much as it did you, I don't think. Maybe I've gotten so used to jerk-ass love interests generally I barely notice them anymore? I don't know.
Re: the comic book guy. Ugh, I know! You know what really irked my inner geek though? "Cyke." No one in the fandom or comic 'verse calls him that. Speaking as a DC girl, I might be wrong abouut this, but my understanding of Cyclops is if you want to show your geek-fu, you call him "Scott." Classic Did Not Do The Research.
(So says the girl with the Jean Grey icon.)
From:
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Is it a thing in romance novels that the love interest is an asshole? The ones I remember from thirty years ago the guys often seemed kind of rude at first because they just had their own thing going on they were concentrating on, and these days I read slash, with a strong preference for 'fall in love because they're best friends' stories.
Classic Did Not Do The Research.
Ahaha! Y'know, I kind of wondered about that, but again, it's been probably the same amount of time since I read X-Men. :) Why did the author even bother to pretend?
I'm going to go read your review. :)
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