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cayley_graph's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Macbeth reimagined from Lady Macbeth’s point of view, where she is a teenager getting revenge on a troupe of golden boys, in a dark slightly fantastical #MeToo story. Jade’s trauma unravels over the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide
roglows's review
5.0
Foul is Fair, basically, is a modern take on Macbeth--but with a twist...as if Macbeth married Heathers. At first, the affected style and snappy language distracted me, but soon I felt myself pulled into the dreamy Shakespearian vibes.
On the night Elizabeth (Elle) Jade Khanjara turns 16, she and her 'coven' --her three best friends-- crash a party thrown by the it boy of the rival school. What transpires there is nothing less than awful, and the assault on Elle turns her and her friends into a pack of murderous Mean Girls.
Elle becomes Jade, and she has nothing left to lose.
What ensues is their plan to kill each of those involved in what happened that night, and it all goes down in the preppy halls of St. Andrews school.
I loved this book. The suspense had my stomach in knots. Elle/Jade is unflinching, as are her badass girlfriends, and there's never a moment of fakeness or sentimentality. They are always goddesses, no matter how twisted, and never victims. An important book for the MeToo generation, this shows how deeply the wounds created by the recklessness of rape culture and assault cut, and just how far down the rabbit hole some will go to regain their sense of power.
On the night Elizabeth (Elle) Jade Khanjara turns 16, she and her 'coven' --her three best friends-- crash a party thrown by the it boy of the rival school. What transpires there is nothing less than awful, and the assault on Elle turns her and her friends into a pack of murderous Mean Girls.
Elle becomes Jade, and she has nothing left to lose.
What ensues is their plan to kill each of those involved in what happened that night, and it all goes down in the preppy halls of St. Andrews school.
I loved this book. The suspense had my stomach in knots. Elle/Jade is unflinching, as are her badass girlfriends, and there's never a moment of fakeness or sentimentality. They are always goddesses, no matter how twisted, and never victims. An important book for the MeToo generation, this shows how deeply the wounds created by the recklessness of rape culture and assault cut, and just how far down the rabbit hole some will go to regain their sense of power.
katykelly's review
5.0
Stunning - deliciously dark, dangerous and Shakespearean.
Appearances can be deceiving... if you didn't know before starting that this was a modern take on Macbeth, it would become apparent before long.
This is NOT for the faint-hearted, or for anyone expecting a light teen romance. You could not read anything further from that description. While it just about shys away from deeply graphic content, know from the off that this contains scenes of rape, violence, murder. And it's absolutely brilliantly done.
Elle is about as resilient, resourceful and razor-sharp as they come. After she and her friends crash a 'prep school' party on her sixteenth birthday and she is badly assaulted, she and her 'coven' immediately swear revenge. With their assistance, Elle switches schools and begins using her wiles and charms to infiltrate the popular group, intent on splitting loyalties, sowing distrust and rancour. She is going to make sure every last one of them pays for what they did.
And it's just delicious. While nobody in real life will condone this sort of amoral amoral payback, it's cathartic and satisfying to watch Shakespeare's dark story play out among the privileged, entitled teens of St Andrew's.
I didn't feel that any of Elle's coven really stood out as a character in their own right - they are the witches, with Elle taking centre stage as the duplicitous Lady Macbeth, manipulating behind the scenes. None of her opponents at St Andrew's are anywhere near as well-drawn or interesting. Elle is brutal. She is beautiful and knows how to use this. She is sly, scheming, smart and never less than sympathetic. You cheer her on.
Highly entertaining in its dark humour and intentions. Get your Shakespeare fix here. Not for younger teens really, I would recommend to age 14 and above. And adults - you'll love it.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.
Appearances can be deceiving... if you didn't know before starting that this was a modern take on Macbeth, it would become apparent before long.
This is NOT for the faint-hearted, or for anyone expecting a light teen romance. You could not read anything further from that description. While it just about shys away from deeply graphic content, know from the off that this contains scenes of rape, violence, murder. And it's absolutely brilliantly done.
Elle is about as resilient, resourceful and razor-sharp as they come. After she and her friends crash a 'prep school' party on her sixteenth birthday and she is badly assaulted, she and her 'coven' immediately swear revenge. With their assistance, Elle switches schools and begins using her wiles and charms to infiltrate the popular group, intent on splitting loyalties, sowing distrust and rancour. She is going to make sure every last one of them pays for what they did.
And it's just delicious. While nobody in real life will condone this sort of amoral amoral payback, it's cathartic and satisfying to watch Shakespeare's dark story play out among the privileged, entitled teens of St Andrew's.
I didn't feel that any of Elle's coven really stood out as a character in their own right - they are the witches, with Elle taking centre stage as the duplicitous Lady Macbeth, manipulating behind the scenes. None of her opponents at St Andrew's are anywhere near as well-drawn or interesting. Elle is brutal. She is beautiful and knows how to use this. She is sly, scheming, smart and never less than sympathetic. You cheer her on.
Highly entertaining in its dark humour and intentions. Get your Shakespeare fix here. Not for younger teens really, I would recommend to age 14 and above. And adults - you'll love it.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.
vonderbash's review
4.0
I loved this book! The writing style is amazing, so descriptive and it pulls you in. A fun revenge story and an excellent retelling of Macbeth.
ariannagojara's review
4.0
WOW THIS WAS POWERFUL. Bad bitch energy thru and thru. Lots of trigger warnings for this story and it’s definitely not a story for everyone to read to read but wow, if you don’t have a weak stomach, I would recommend!
simonizzys's review
3.0
♡ — 3 stars. buddy read with lwl cult
(TWs for SA, check content warnings)
i don't really have much to say about this book. i really wanted to like it more than i did. the first part of the book was much more enjoyable than the second half i think. the coven were cute and i loved their scenes together. it was vengeful and kind of cult-y which is really what i was looking for. it did start to get kinda repetitive like the author *really* wanted to get across how angry jade was and how insecure the boys were. it came across a little info dumpy which kind of took me out of it. it wasnt really a huge issue for me so my rating was still pretty high.
then jade starts to fall for the boys' best friend? who she was planning on pinning it all on. yk because he is really close to them?? which was already highly unnecessary for a r-pe revenge. like this girl has already been through enough with this friend group and this shithole school. like the author could have really just stopped here. but it just gets worse.
because he gave her the drink. yes it was an accident kind of, but it was still unnecessary as shit. him killing himself did help i guess but it still threw me off. they still all ended up dead so i can't be too mad
(TWs for SA, check content warnings)
i don't really have much to say about this book. i really wanted to like it more than i did. the first part of the book was much more enjoyable than the second half i think. the coven were cute and i loved their scenes together. it was vengeful and kind of cult-y which is really what i was looking for. it did start to get kinda repetitive like the author *really* wanted to get across how angry jade was and how insecure the boys were. it came across a little info dumpy which kind of took me out of it. it wasnt really a huge issue for me so my rating was still pretty high.
then jade starts to fall for the boys' best friend? who she was planning on pinning it all on. yk because he is really close to them?? which was already highly unnecessary for a r-pe revenge. like this girl has already been through enough with this friend group and this shithole school. like the author could have really just stopped here. but it just gets worse.
because he gave her the drink. yes it was an accident kind of, but it was still unnecessary as shit. him killing himself did help i guess but it still threw me off. they still all ended up dead so i can't be too mad
clichemarker's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
4.25
This book isn't perfect, but holy shit is it good
A mix between Heather's and I spit on your Grave. The assault is never shown in graphic detail. I appreciate that. Too many times, in this type of story, they focus on the wrong parts. I'm glad she stuck to the vengeance, using their words against them. Showing their lack of guilt and remorse
I think she could have gone harder with the kills, but they were still pretty good.
The identity of the dazzle smile boy was pretty obvious throughout the book
I think the whole novel was presented and handled well, it was almost therapeutic in a twisted sense
A mix between Heather's and I spit on your Grave. The assault is never shown in graphic detail. I appreciate that. Too many times, in this type of story, they focus on the wrong parts. I'm glad she stuck to the vengeance, using their words against them. Showing their lack of guilt and remorse
I think she could have gone harder with the kills, but they were still pretty good.
I think the whole novel was presented and handled well, it was almost therapeutic in a twisted sense
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, and Blood
Moderate: Rape and Bullying
brianne_k's review
3.0
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. This did not affect my rating.
*2.5/5*
Elle and her friends Mads, Jenny, and Summer are queens of their L.A. social circle. They’re rich and pretty. Elle celebrates her sweet sixteen by crashing a prep school party. That’s the night her entire life changes. She is roofied and raped. Her and her friends (aka her coven) are sworn to revenge. They will do anything for each other (“They are mine and I am theirs”), including to help plan and orchestrate murder.
Elle becomes Jade and transfers to St. Andrews Prep. She enmeshes herself with the group (who all either let this happen or participated in it…) Jade quickly gets accepted into the group and seduces Mack, a teammate of the golden boys of St. Andrews. Jade is a master puppeteer with Mack, just pulling all the right strings to get him to do her bidding. One by one, they start to fall. Jade is actually diabolical. She never waivers or hesitates. She savours it right up until the very last page.
The writing was a little too flowery for me. It was super dark, but I found myself getting taken out of the story because the writing was just a little too over the top for me. Also, it was a little hard to believe the ages of the characters.
This book was compulsively readable, wanting to know who was the next to go down and how it was going to happen. It was dark and twisted and disturbing in the best way, verging and almost toppling over the edge of being too much.
As a Macbeth retelling, I think the author nailed it. I loved the Coven, and want to read more about them.
“Fair is Foul, Foul is Fair."
*2.5/5*
Elle and her friends Mads, Jenny, and Summer are queens of their L.A. social circle. They’re rich and pretty. Elle celebrates her sweet sixteen by crashing a prep school party. That’s the night her entire life changes. She is roofied and raped. Her and her friends (aka her coven) are sworn to revenge. They will do anything for each other (“They are mine and I am theirs”), including to help plan and orchestrate murder.
Elle becomes Jade and transfers to St. Andrews Prep. She enmeshes herself with the group (who all either let this happen or participated in it…) Jade quickly gets accepted into the group and seduces Mack, a teammate of the golden boys of St. Andrews. Jade is a master puppeteer with Mack, just pulling all the right strings to get him to do her bidding. One by one, they start to fall. Jade is actually diabolical. She never waivers or hesitates. She savours it right up until the very last page.
The writing was a little too flowery for me. It was super dark, but I found myself getting taken out of the story because the writing was just a little too over the top for me. Also, it was a little hard to believe the ages of the characters.
This book was compulsively readable, wanting to know who was the next to go down and how it was going to happen. It was dark and twisted and disturbing in the best way, verging and almost toppling over the edge of being too much.
As a Macbeth retelling, I think the author nailed it. I loved the Coven, and want to read more about them.
“Fair is Foul, Foul is Fair."
heyitsmeg777's review
5.0
Elizabeth Jade Khanjara isn't a victim. Or a survivor. She's an... Avenger.
After getting sexually assaulted by some preppy school boys from a neighboring academy during her sweet sixteen, Jade transfers to their school and shakes up the social status there as well as taking down each person that hurt her.One by one. The revenge plot itself is successful and I admit it was a delicious plot that left me satisfied. While I would not be able to do what Jade did, her cunning plan and using people ( like mac) as her pawn to deliver her plan is crazy.Jade seems like the perfect villain amd at the same time, she truly proves that she IS an avenger. The ending was a bit disappointing and while i wish it could be better, the story truly wraps you in with a meticulous and dangerous revenge plan that truly pushes the plot forward.
After getting sexually assaulted by some preppy school boys from a neighboring academy during her sweet sixteen, Jade transfers to their school and shakes up the social status there as well as taking down each person that hurt her.One by one. The revenge plot itself is successful and I admit it was a delicious plot that left me satisfied. While I would not be able to do what Jade did, her cunning plan and using people ( like mac) as her pawn to deliver her plan is crazy.Jade seems like the perfect villain amd at the same time, she truly proves that she IS an avenger. The ending was a bit disappointing and while i wish it could be better, the story truly wraps you in with a meticulous and dangerous revenge plan that truly pushes the plot forward.