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lucymonsterIn the throes of a bad breakup, troubled twentysomething Lennon has her suicide attempt interrupted by a mysterious phone call inviting her to an admissions interview for a college she has never heard of. Located on a magically concealed campus in the US Deep South, Drayton College teaches its handpicked students the art of persuasion, or the ability to psychically manipulate reality. Within a short time of accepting her offer, Lennon discovers all of the following:
The single biggest problem is that Lennon is a YA protagonist in a book that's very much not YA. At the start of the book we're given a whole pile of information about her immediate backstory and told what her main character traits are supposed to be, but the backstory is minimally relevant and the character traits are barely apparent in her actual on-screen behaviour. She's bland. Blank slate-ish. Weirdly passive. Other characters are drawn to her for no obvious reason and become deeply attached with little encouragement. The plot mostly just sort of happens to her, and when she does make use of her agency, her motives don't always make a lot of sense.
The second biggest issue is the heavy reliance on coincidences and contrivances to keep the story moving along. The worldbuilding is fun but shallow, and often felt governed by the needs of the plot. None of the supporting characters seem particularly involved in their own lives; they kind of just orbit Lennon, existing only when and how she requires them to. (Here's one non-spoilery example: the school empties out over Christmas break, but when a major incident brings Lennon back to campus early, her friends turn out to have abandoned their own holiday plans for flimsy reasons and are waiting in the dorm to rejoin her adventures.) Multiple cast members become involved in the secret happenings at Drayton in ways that don't make sense and are literally never explained, just so that Lennon can have her big moment of shock and betrayal when she learns what they've been up to. Likewise, there are major plot developments that get dropped as soon as Lennon's done emotionally reacting to them, never to be resolved.
I was also disappointed by the way Lennon's struggle with corruption was handled. This is more a personal taste thing and less a critique of the author's writing skill, but I don't have a lot of patience for stories that sell themselves on a promise of the hero being tempted by the dark side, only to make sure that every dark thing they actually do has a simple reason behind it that absolves them of anything hard to forgive. It's something I come up against quite a lot in my preferred corners of fandom, too, so there's obviously plenty of audience for stories that embrace the aesthetics of evil while side-stepping its ugly realities. I'm just always hoping for something a bit thornier, and it's even more frustrating when a story so particularly rich in opportunities for moral quandary takes the easy way out. This is a book where the system of magic revolves around forcing your will onto others; where students are explicitly groomed for future positions of power, where they can manipulate global events in the interests of the school's donors; where Drayton's whole history is poisoned by a deep, insidious racism to which 'don't worry, our Black heroes one-up the current administration in the end' is only the most partial of antidotes. I don't know. There were a lot of tantalising hints of a genuinely dark and challenging story here, but they didn't amount to much.
I don't know. I feel like I'm ripping this book into far smaller shreds than I actually mean to. Like I said at the start, I enjoyed it. I think if anything it suffers worse for that: if the good parts were less good I'd have moved on without thinking much about the weaknesses, but because there are so many things I really like about it, the flaws are that much more annoying.
- Her power is specialer than everyone else's.
- Her adviser, Dante, is super hot.
- Magic is almost as dangerous to use as it is to have used against you.
- Something deeply sinister is going on with the school, and no one wants her to know the truth about it.
The single biggest problem is that Lennon is a YA protagonist in a book that's very much not YA. At the start of the book we're given a whole pile of information about her immediate backstory and told what her main character traits are supposed to be, but the backstory is minimally relevant and the character traits are barely apparent in her actual on-screen behaviour. She's bland. Blank slate-ish. Weirdly passive. Other characters are drawn to her for no obvious reason and become deeply attached with little encouragement. The plot mostly just sort of happens to her, and when she does make use of her agency, her motives don't always make a lot of sense.
The second biggest issue is the heavy reliance on coincidences and contrivances to keep the story moving along. The worldbuilding is fun but shallow, and often felt governed by the needs of the plot. None of the supporting characters seem particularly involved in their own lives; they kind of just orbit Lennon, existing only when and how she requires them to. (Here's one non-spoilery example: the school empties out over Christmas break, but when a major incident brings Lennon back to campus early, her friends turn out to have abandoned their own holiday plans for flimsy reasons and are waiting in the dorm to rejoin her adventures.) Multiple cast members become involved in the secret happenings at Drayton in ways that don't make sense and are literally never explained, just so that Lennon can have her big moment of shock and betrayal when she learns what they've been up to. Likewise, there are major plot developments that get dropped as soon as Lennon's done emotionally reacting to them, never to be resolved.
I was also disappointed by the way Lennon's struggle with corruption was handled. This is more a personal taste thing and less a critique of the author's writing skill, but I don't have a lot of patience for stories that sell themselves on a promise of the hero being tempted by the dark side, only to make sure that every dark thing they actually do has a simple reason behind it that absolves them of anything hard to forgive. It's something I come up against quite a lot in my preferred corners of fandom, too, so there's obviously plenty of audience for stories that embrace the aesthetics of evil while side-stepping its ugly realities. I'm just always hoping for something a bit thornier, and it's even more frustrating when a story so particularly rich in opportunities for moral quandary takes the easy way out. This is a book where the system of magic revolves around forcing your will onto others; where students are explicitly groomed for future positions of power, where they can manipulate global events in the interests of the school's donors; where Drayton's whole history is poisoned by a deep, insidious racism to which 'don't worry, our Black heroes one-up the current administration in the end' is only the most partial of antidotes. I don't know. There were a lot of tantalising hints of a genuinely dark and challenging story here, but they didn't amount to much.
I don't know. I feel like I'm ripping this book into far smaller shreds than I actually mean to. Like I said at the start, I enjoyed it. I think if anything it suffers worse for that: if the good parts were less good I'd have moved on without thinking much about the weaknesses, but because there are so many things I really like about it, the flaws are that much more annoying.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-14 03:55 pm (UTC)"This is more a personal taste thing and less a critique of the author's writing skill, but I don't have a lot of patience for stories that sell themselves on a promise of the hero being tempted by the dark side, only to make sure that every dark thing they actually do has a simple reason behind it that absolves them of anything hard to forgive."
*nodding enthusiastically*
Nobody really leans into the darkness anymore. Actually, let me rephrase that: I think a lot of authors, and their fans, DO lean into the darkness, but they have such a wildly different view of what that "darkness" even means than I do that it's frustrating to watch.
For example, I recently read The Love Hypothesis after learning that it started as a Reylo AU, and . . . *siiiiiiiigh.* It was also a fun read, for the most part, but I kept thinking, "No. This guy is NOT Kylo Ren." Yes, it's an AU. Yes, it's romantic fluff. No, it's not supposed to be "dark" or even this thing we're calling "Dark Romance" which is kind of like Gothic without any of the stuff that makes Gothic interesting. The hero in this story is actually very kind, he's just a bit awkward and antisocial. What I have to wonder though, is if that's how the fandom surrounding this pairing sees the original character?? Which is just wrong???
That's a bit of a tangent, sorry. But I think it is part of this trend where I keep seeing "dark" characters that are either irredeemable assholes, OR actually decent people who have good reason to do whatever the author is calling "dark," but not much of the challenging moral grayness I actually look for in that sort of thing.
I am wondering: Why is the protagonist called "Lennon?" Were her parents huge Beatles fans? Is the author a huge Beatles fan? Is this just one of those Not Like Other Girls names that seem to crop up everywhere nowadays?
I'm glad you enjoyed this book! But it does sound like choices were made, if you know what I mean, lol.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-14 08:42 pm (UTC)wizardpersuasionist and goes off to have adventures at a weird topsy-turvy boarding school cut off from the mundane world. It's about as 1:1 as you can get.It's so apt that you bring up The Love Hypothesis, because Reylo fandom is my most perpetual source of disappointment on this issue. You can split the fandom in two along the exact line you've described: half of them treat Kylo Ren as this implacably malevolent Dark Fuck Prince type character, while the other half insist that he's a lovely young man, really, he's just sad and socially awkward and needs the patient love of a woman to uncover the heart of gold beneath his paper-thin exterior of snark and black clothing. (The ship is popularly compared within the fandom to Pride and Prejudice. Say the words 'Space Darcy' and any Reylo will know what you mean.) It's really hard to find fic that addresses what I consider to be Kylo's actual moral failings and actual redeeming features. FWIW, I love Ali Hazelwood's novels, but only if I pretend they have nothing to do with Star Wars. I've never been able to get into her fic because our understanding of the characters is just too different.
No explanation of why she's called 'Lennon' is ever offered or even gestured at, no. No one notices that it's an unusual name. No one makes a single Beatles reference. She's just Not Like Other Girls, I guess. It really doesn't do much to allay those YA protagonist vibes I was talking about.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-15 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-15 03:12 pm (UTC)Yeah, probably! Honestly, knowing me, I might mishear it as "Lemon" and wonder if they were fans of 30 Rock, lol.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-16 01:27 pm (UTC)"The ship is popularly compared within the fandom to Pride and Prejudice. Say the words 'Space Darcy' and any Reylo will know what you mean."
Haha, that's amazing, because I was about to mention that "Adam" seemed more like Darcy than Kylo! But yeah, there's a difference between Frosty but Kind, and whatever psychological demons Kylo/Ben/whatever you decide to call him is fighting all the time.
And I'm with you--I'd love to see someone really unpack that. I think he's a fascinating character, but the fandom is saturated with, well. gestures to your points
It was fun playing Spot the Other SW Characters while reading though. I kept going, "Hm, okay, so this one's obviously Finn, so if Ali's a StormPilot shipper, that means THIS one is Poe, and oh look, that must be Hux!" That was entertaining. And I did enjoy it, but yeah, the Reylo elements are not really aligned with what I found compelling about their dynamic in the movies.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-16 11:04 pm (UTC)