A review by bookly_reads
Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older

3.0

I feel like an old man shouting grumpily from my lawn but so many of my more negative reviews recently have mentioned how incredibly fast-paced and action-packed some of the newest YA and children's books are. They're like movies squirming within the confines of the written page, and it's uncomfortable and stressful, like authors think our brains have been hijacked by social media and now we're not content to read stories unless the feel like Twitter feeds or something. Older's prose was so lush and rich in some places, and I adored his varied and whimsical vocabulary, but there was very little room for character development as everyone dashed to and fro. Another reviewer mentioned the violence in the book, and I do worry that the book is so fast-paced that not enough attention or emotional realness is given to the little girl who is witnessing the violence in the book.

I really wanted to love this book and give it to all the children in my life, but I just can't.