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nenya_kanadka's review against another edition
4.0
Read this one back in March as an ARC, and shamefully never reviewed it! Agh.
Excellent third novel in this series. I'm enjoying each of the three main plot arcs (Becky, Felicité, and Ross/Mia/Jennie + Summer) for different reasons. LOVED Becky's storyline, even though it was really rough witnessing her fucked-up family situation. But wow, I'm so happy with where she ended up, and the starring roles of her girlfriend Brisa and spoilery-adult-character-I-love,. :D Lots of stuff about feeling locked into an awful situation, how abuse can happen right under concerned people's noses, and how escape is possible--and how people can come together to help the ones they love. Oh, and Becky is going to rock in her chosen career. :D
Felicité's ongoing struggle with her feelings about the Changed, her Change, and other people's bigotry around her (especially that of her parents, and the conflict between her father and grandmother) gets more intense in this story. Things just get wound up tighter and tighter until you feel there HAS to be a breaking point soon. If she doesn't star in the next book I'll be shocked. Felicité is one of those "mean rich girl" characters I hated the guts of back in book one, but now she's one of my favourites, thanks to emotional complexity and careful, slow character development. It's pretty great. But, damn, some rough waters for her in this one for sure.
Ross, Jennie, and Mia's poly-V romance was kind of drowned out a bit by the two plotlines above, at least for me, but I enjoyed how Jennie and Mia had different approaches to their relationships with Ross, and how they supported each other as friends even when they had different needs. I love Mia so much. (Jennie's great too, but I feel like she got a big emotional arc in the previous book rather than here, so I have less to say about her here.) Ross is, well, decent kid, not a bad woobie, but to me he's way less interesting than either of his girlfriends. But that's okay--there's enough other cool characters around. Summer's plot and more backstory for Ross was interesting, though. And while I care more about Jennie and Mia's friendship than about Jennie/Ross or Mia/Ross, I'm really happy at the really friendly way they're going about building this poly relationship. Very much love that the girls have resolved that nothing's going to tear them apart, not even sharing a boyfriend. ;-) ((and yes, still shipping Jennie/Mia!))
(As an aside, one neat thing with this series that comes up briefly in Felicité's story and is a background for Becky's is that this is a culture where there's no homophobia. Like, just...it's a non-issue. Kids confess their secret crushes, or people get into relationships, or people have two moms, and the drama is about whose dad hates whose uncle or who they're voting for or something, but nobody blinks an eye about what gender your sweetheart is. I find that really, really, really refreshing to read. There's definitely prejudice against people with mutant Changes, so the story is working with the question of bigotry, but it's just SO NICE to have a world where queer people aren't othered at all. (LGB comes up more than T, but there is at least one trans kid in the story. I'm not 100% sure I'm into how the reveal that he's trans comes about in the narrative, but I love the rest of his story and his relationship with his family.))
Further revelations about the wider world! I loved that. I very much want to see more of other towns now! And interested to see where the ongoing Voske plot goes. Because you KNOW there's a big showdown coming...dun dun dun.
Excellent third novel in this series. I'm enjoying each of the three main plot arcs (Becky, Felicité, and Ross/Mia/Jennie + Summer) for different reasons. LOVED Becky's storyline, even though it was really rough witnessing her fucked-up family situation. But wow, I'm so happy with where she ended up, and the starring roles of her girlfriend Brisa and spoilery-adult-character-I-love,
Spoiler
Sheriff CrowFelicité's ongoing struggle with her feelings about the Changed, her Change, and other people's bigotry around her (especially that of her parents, and the conflict between her father and grandmother) gets more intense in this story. Things just get wound up tighter and tighter until you feel there HAS to be a breaking point soon. If she doesn't star in the next book I'll be shocked. Felicité is one of those "mean rich girl" characters I hated the guts of back in book one, but now she's one of my favourites, thanks to emotional complexity and careful, slow character development. It's pretty great. But, damn, some rough waters for her in this one for sure.
Ross, Jennie, and Mia's poly-V romance was kind of drowned out a bit by the two plotlines above, at least for me, but I enjoyed how Jennie and Mia had different approaches to their relationships with Ross, and how they supported each other as friends even when they had different needs. I love Mia so much. (Jennie's great too, but I feel like she got a big emotional arc in the previous book rather than here, so I have less to say about her here.) Ross is, well, decent kid, not a bad woobie, but to me he's way less interesting than either of his girlfriends. But that's okay--there's enough other cool characters around. Summer's plot and more backstory for Ross was interesting, though. And while I care more about Jennie and Mia's friendship than about Jennie/Ross or Mia/Ross, I'm really happy at the really friendly way they're going about building this poly relationship. Very much love that the girls have resolved that nothing's going to tear them apart, not even sharing a boyfriend. ;-) ((and yes, still shipping Jennie/Mia!))
(As an aside, one neat thing with this series that comes up briefly in Felicité's story and is a background for Becky's is that this is a culture where there's no homophobia. Like, just...it's a non-issue. Kids confess their secret crushes, or people get into relationships, or people have two moms, and the drama is about whose dad hates whose uncle or who they're voting for or something, but nobody blinks an eye about what gender your sweetheart is. I find that really, really, really refreshing to read. There's definitely prejudice against people with mutant Changes, so the story is working with the question of bigotry, but it's just SO NICE to have a world where queer people aren't othered at all. (LGB comes up more than T, but there is at least one trans kid in the story. I'm not 100% sure I'm into how the reveal that he's trans comes about in the narrative, but I love the rest of his story and his relationship with his family.))
Further revelations about the wider world! I loved that. I very much want to see more of other towns now! And interested to see where the ongoing Voske plot goes. Because you KNOW there's a big showdown coming...dun dun dun.
egelantier's review against another edition
5.0
FINALLY! this is an arc review - the book is coming out in may - and i've waited it for so long and it DIDN'T DISAPPOINT. it's a technically lull, character-driven book occupying a quieter spot between plotty excitement of hostage and the upcoming endgame showdown in traitor, and i've still stayed up until five in the morning reading it on a workday, because all the character bits were so, so compelling.
there's ross, mia and jenny continuing to explore their relationship and hang-ups thereof; ross grappling with the concept of family (there's a surprise! it's awesome), love, home, security; kerry adjusting to both loss of her status and perks of not living in a totalitarian dystopia of her father; becky callahan slowly learning to escape the lifetime of abuse (as bonus, it's a lesbian character pov, previously absent, and her chapters were harsh but lovely, and her relationship with her girlfriend incredibly heartwarming); and there's, back again, felicity who's trying to live with her secret and with her loving, awesome father who would hate her if he just new (i love felicity an unholy amount, and i find her father the racist-against-changed dude more and more intriguing, and i'm greatly looking forwards to the next book when his prejudiced ways are finally going to bite him in the ass good). there's a very decent whodunnit plot uniting all the threads, tons of customarily good worldbuilding (my favorite bit was a theater company performing some mythical stories from the world-that-was, it being YA DYSTOPIAN NOVELS, complete with customary love triangle - i pretty much howled with laughter at the denouement), some cameos from absent characters (yuki seems to be having great fun with his prospecting ways, which is reassuring), and an uber-adorable rat imprinting scene.
so, yeah, worth the wait. i've read it, re-read some choice bits, spot-reread my favorite bits from favorite books, and now i'm stuck waiting for the finale.
there's ross, mia and jenny continuing to explore their relationship and hang-ups thereof; ross grappling with the concept of family (there's a surprise! it's awesome), love, home, security; kerry adjusting to both loss of her status and perks of not living in a totalitarian dystopia of her father; becky callahan slowly learning to escape the lifetime of abuse (as bonus, it's a lesbian character pov, previously absent, and her chapters were harsh but lovely, and her relationship with her girlfriend incredibly heartwarming); and there's, back again, felicity who's trying to live with her secret and with her loving, awesome father who would hate her if he just new (i love felicity an unholy amount, and i find her father the racist-against-changed dude more and more intriguing, and i'm greatly looking forwards to the next book when his prejudiced ways are finally going to bite him in the ass good). there's a very decent whodunnit plot uniting all the threads, tons of customarily good worldbuilding (my favorite bit was a theater company performing some mythical stories from the world-that-was, it being YA DYSTOPIAN NOVELS, complete with customary love triangle - i pretty much howled with laughter at the denouement), some cameos from absent characters (yuki seems to be having great fun with his prospecting ways, which is reassuring), and an uber-adorable rat imprinting scene.
so, yeah, worth the wait. i've read it, re-read some choice bits, spot-reread my favorite bits from favorite books, and now i'm stuck waiting for the finale.
tora76's review against another edition
5.0
This was so good! There wasn't any really big event like there was in the first two books, but the there was a lot going on, a lot of reveals, a lot of progress and change, and now I'm really eager to read the next book but I have no idea when it's coming out. D:
schneefink's review
4.0
I liked this a lot; not as much as the first two books, but that's a pretty high bar. The plot was more meandering, and two of the main character-focused storylines weren't my favorites (Felicité and at first Summer), but there was still plenty of good character stuff and worldbuilding. Becky's story was fantastic, and I also really liked Kerry. And Mia/Ross/Jennie, of course. I also enjoyed that we got to see more other towns.
This book also more than the others seemed to prepare several storylines for a future pay-off and it felt like some threads were left hanging, making me look forward to book 4 even more.
This book also more than the others seemed to prepare several storylines for a future pay-off and it felt like some threads were left hanging, making me look forward to book 4 even more.
bethmitcham's review against another edition
4.0
Sensitive understanding of teen emotions and decisions, although sometimes too much info for me. But I'll definitely be looking for the next one.
naye's review against another edition
5.0
Rebel most definitely lived up to the excited expectations I had for it! I don't know what else to say. I have so much love for this series I don't even know if I can do anything but gush about everything that makes them such a joy to read:
-The characters (all complex, all trying their best even when it seems impossible - even the characters that make poor choices do it for reasons that make sense)
-The romantic relationships (also complex and sweet and full of uncertainty and awkwardness in a fantastically relatable way)
-The friendships and family relationships (some lovely and warm some painfully bad but gripping)
-The world with all its amazing variety of Changed flora and fauna - I'm not wishing for an apocalypse but oh to see some of them in person....!
-The food. So lavishly described, so delicious and varied and I can't read about all of those amazing dishes without salivating a bit.
-The hopeful tone, with people creating functional, mostly happy societies despite ever-present dangers and predjudices.
-All of the writing, which just sparkles.
-The characters (all complex, all trying their best even when it seems impossible - even the characters that make poor choices do it for reasons that make sense)
-The romantic relationships (also complex and sweet and full of uncertainty and awkwardness in a fantastically relatable way)
-The friendships and family relationships (some lovely and warm some painfully bad but gripping)
-The world with all its amazing variety of Changed flora and fauna - I'm not wishing for an apocalypse but oh to see some of them in person....!
-The food. So lavishly described, so delicious and varied and I can't read about all of those amazing dishes without salivating a bit.
-The hopeful tone, with people creating functional, mostly happy societies despite ever-present dangers and predjudices.
-All of the writing, which just sparkles.
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