Enjoyable and a fun read!

The story caught my eye from the moment I read the blurb, and I just knew I wanted to read this book. I was not let down and can recommend this to everyone!

I think this falls into ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ territory. I read Young’s ‘The Program’ series and became increasingly annoyed with her style and sentence structure there. She tells a compelling story but I think her style is just not for me. This reminded me of Louise O’Neil’s Only Ever Yours – which I hated btw – and it’s clearly in the vein of Attwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The trouble is, many of these types of books that speak out against misogyny have come along after that bit of the battle has already been fought, so they lack impact for me. I know there are whole new generations to raise awareness in but my problem is that so many of these YA Handmaid imitators is that they are unnuanced and very black and white. Anyway, this wasn’t for me. I don’t think it’s a bad book. It was just a combination of not liking the style and just really wanting to see sexism and misogyny addressed in better, more positive ways.

‘They’re beautiful, but it’s not all they are’.

Welcome to the world of Innovations Academy. A world of beauty, serenity, and obedience. A world of professors and guardians, redirection and guidance, and if that fails, a course of impulse control therapy will soon get you back to one hundred percent...

Now, I will start by saying I didn’t have high hopes for this one. I’ve never read anything by Suzanne Young before, but I do read a lot of YA dystopian fiction, and it’s getting rare for me to really feel like something stands out as truly special. Add to that the reference on the back to The Handmaids Tale, and I was ready for another disappointing knock off.

I. Was. Wrong.

I loved it. The idea felt really unique, and it was so well executed in the quality of the writing. I found reading this incredibly unsettling, not just because of the content, but the tone too - the way that, through Mena, you experience the slow burn of an awakening as the horror of the situation becomes more and more real.

I also liked the fact that it didn’t fall into the insta love trap. Mena’s actions aren’t driven by her desire to get with the cute boy, and I was so glad to see this - insta love in feminist leaning novels always reads as a play for fans, and it was nice to see Young sticking to her message.

My only real criticism?


SPOILERS AHEAD!







The summary of the novel that I saw before reading was different to that on GoodReads, and included a quote stating that the Girls With Sharp Sticks is like a combination of handmaids tale and a TV show that will remain nameless just to avoid spoiling as much as possible.

Now, I’m not saying the twist can’t be guessed at. But, there are certain scenes that, for me, would have been a lot more disturbing if the back cover hadn’t of literally shouted what the twist was. In big letters. Right before the synopsis. So you couldn’t miss reading it.

This didn’t overly affect my enjoyment of the book, as I still found it very well written, the tone was fantastically sinister, and I loved Mena - but I can’t help thinking that maybe not knowing that element of the novel in advance could have made it even better.

Nonetheless, I will definitely be picking up the second book in this series, and I found it a really enjoyable read that was surprisingly unsettling - always the sign of high quality writing!

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Woozers. YA feminist dystopia and I am here for it. One of the better of the lady-dystopia books; the characters and the narrative feel real and authentic. And the sad part is that I don’t not believe this is happening somewhere already. Sharpen your sticks!