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I actually related to some of this book and thought I was going to rate it higher than I ended up doing, but the tone in which this is written is so insufferable that my rating just kept going down and down.
If I'd realised beforehand that this was by a tiktok comedian then I probably wouldn't have picked it up. It's not my kind of humour at all and when the author was trying to be funny I was just completely turned off.
I really really wish I could've liked this. A book involving sports with pretty much every character being queer is in theory right up my alley, but this just did not work for me.
The story is set in a made up European country but really doesn't need to be at all so I'm not sure what the point of that was. The plot is also ridiculously thin and the fact that a majority of the characters are athletes doesn't really add to the story as much as it should do. The writing is what really lets down this book. It's surface level throughout and after almost 300 pages with Alex, I don't feel like we really know them aside from the fact that they're a swimmer, they have a boyfriend and they've struggled with their gender. The struggles with their sexuality aren't properly given time either. Is Alex on the aro or ace spectrum? Guess we'll never know. A lot of this is telling instead of showing or letting interactions between characters naturally develop and take place.
I also hate to say it, but the fact that so many different sexualities were included in the book kind of made it feel a little bit inauthentic. Queer people 100% group together and find each other, especially at university, but all the different characters almost felt like diversity bingo and it really shouldn't.
The romance happens really suddenly and it honestly doesn't even feel like the mc is that into it even though they claim to be. They won't initiate any kind of physical contact with their love interest (because reasons?) and they're just generally awkward around them. Sorry, but you should not be awkward with someone you're in a relationship with. It felt like they talked about three times and then were together without any proper development.
The epilogue also doesn't sit right with me. If Alex has struggled so much with their gender over the course of the book and does not feel like a woman, why would they still be participating in qualifying events where they are misgendered? It just doesn't make sense to me that we have internal monologues from them through the course of the book on how gendered terms make them feel (especially feminine terms) but they are allowing themselves to be misgendered because of their sport. Unless the author has written it so the Olympics no longer segregate qualification and events by gender, but that's never confirmed on page so I guess not.
The fact I rated this two stars instead of one is solely because I related to some of Alex's feelings on gender.
The audiobook version of this absolutely slaps. It's mixed media in written form with articles and multiple POVs, but the audiobook is a full cast production with sound effects and just works really well.
Promise Boys follows three teens who attempt to clear their names after they are suspected of killing their principal. Considered troubled teens who were regularly on the wrong side of their principal, they had motives to off him and weak alibis which made them easy to accuse. Condemned by their peers, they work together to try and find who the killer actually is.
The mix of POVs can be distracting in some books, but really worked in this one where you could hear their individual voices. Promise Boys is also fast-paced and incredibly readable (I got through it in about 2 and a half hours), with twists and turns as the mystery is unfolded.
Paper Planes follows Dylan and Leighton, childhood best friends who are sent to a summer camp as a punishment, and the navigation of both their fractured friendship and camp activities.
I loved the artwork in this and thought the illustrations and colouring was really well done. I also appreciate the LGBTQ+ rep, with a non-binary MC and an aromantic asexual MC with other sapphic/queer characters also on-page.
A lot of what's going on in this graphic novel is hinted at but then fully revealed over the course of the story. Flashbacks form a major part and help to give context to both why the main characters are at a summer camp and how their friendship has developed over time. Whilst I understand this as a storytelling device and it did somewhat work, it also seemed to slow down the pace of the storyline a little bit.
I wish I had liked this more than I did, but I think there was just too much going on which made it difficult to give ample focus to all the storylines they had going on. Romance is woven throughout but only one pairing is adequately addressed. Given that this is presumably a standalone, introducing any topic that isn't resolved is somewhat frustrating as a reader and takes away from other storylines which could've been fleshed out more. There is also the trope of a bully targeting someone they have a crush on which isn't the greatest trope in the world but is another aspect that is introduced and then not properly addressed. The final pairing is something that was hinted at but never spoken about between the characters involved. The interactions between these characters could've definitely been changed to either expand upon the possible connections introduced, or to give an increased focus to other issues that the graphic novel wanted to tackle.
Racism and classism also form part of the story, but again not enough attention has been given to either. There is a subplot with the MC exploring their heritage but it seems to be placed into the story with no build-up, addressed quickly, and then not really brought up again. Classism is also huge and is one of the main reasons why the MCs have a fraught friendship (and why one of the MCs is bullied throughout) but isn't really confronted until the end of the graphic novel in a conversation which doesn't take place between the MCs. I admire the number of important issues the writer wanted to explore, but I think too many were chosen.
Honestly, this graphic novel could've easily been another 100 pages longer and probably would've been better for it. Whilst I thought this didn't live up to it's potential, I would read another graphic novel or other project from those who were involved in this one.
I have three thoughts after finishing this:
- If half as much time was dedicated to the plot as it was to the characters being horny this would be 300 pages shorter
- The pacing is so off throughout and nothing of consequence really happens for the first half
- Maybe Cassandra Clare is a teeny bit sapphophobic? Mayhaps
