I rated this book before I read most other, more recent reviews on Goodreads; before I fully grasped the many, many problematic issues and aspects of it.
However, I'm keeping my rating of 'Youngblood' to two stars instead of one or zero, because, well, I've read far worse, and I still found it to be addictive and somewhat engaging in its writing, and it does bring up a few good, progressive points, if in a 'Baby's First Liberal Woke Steps in the Late-2010s-to-Early-2020s' kind of way (though I admit it is preachy, and the story doesn't live up to its potential, and ends up perpetuating the bigotry it criticises in a number of ways - rendering it all hollow and empty, like the author is a hypocrite or isn't putting in the effort, when it shouldn't be a hard requirement at all). Its take on the vampire society premise is unique, as well. So I don't think 'Youngblood' is entirely without merit.However however, even leaving aside its baffling problematic content, it is a very flawed YA book for 2022.
Nearly all of the characters are insufferable, idiotic and frustrating. Like, what are they, sitcom fodder? Why are they thinking, doing and saying such stupid and nonsensical things?!
There are rom com clichés and contrivances that were dated in the late 90s; involving the LBGTQ community doesn't magically make them okay, in fact it makes them worse, when using negative, problematic clichés that everyone hates - yeah, it's not doing a long marginalised and maligned group of people any favours. It's not "mixing it up" - just stop using them already!
What little plot that exists doesn't go well with the slow pacing, structural issues, and the repetitiveness/characters-going-in-circles-and-being-hypocrites-and-never-learning-anything-like-they-have-self-imposed-amnesia, of everything. It feels padded out to reach the over-400-page quota.
And dear gods and goddesses, SO MANY TYPOS! Just like so many other books I've read in recent years. Can publishing houses not afford editors anymore? Hell, no one has to be a professional proofreader to spot these typos, and they are beyond inexcusable. What is modern literature coming to, when cutting back on the simplest, most basic things like editing has gotten this bad?
Also, I've got to add something that I haven't seen other reviews mention: one of 'Youngblood''s very few openly queer characters ends up brutally murdered. They become a dead plot device; the main thing that kick-starts the wafer-thin plot. That's the "murder mystery" mentioned in the blurb, and it happens halfway through the book! (Not that the "good" main characters think it is murder at first, so phenomenally braindead are they that they believe it when they are told it was an accident and the victim did it to themself. A barely conscious amoeba could see right through it and know it makes no sense!). So on top of its mountain of other well documented issues, 'Youngblood' uses the Bury Your Gays trope. It exists to motivate the two queer main characters, and the straight characters who far outnumber them.
It's 2022. I'm done with this shit. Everyone should be just done with this shit.
Yeah, maybe two stars is too generous, too forgiving. But it is how I feel at the moment. Am I merely spent on the energy for righteous rage, so sick and tired I now am of the world? Regardless, I cannot in good conscience recommend 'Youngblood' to anyone, and I deeply regret spending money on it.
'Youngblood' - an obviously flawed published novel, obviously in need of extra work - and proofreaders and sensitivity readers - before reaching print. That it didn't receive those things and was released in its current state anyway is a testament to how depressingly low (and cheap and lazy) the publishing industry - and other entertainment industries around the world - has become. Yet another victim of the ultimate evil that is capitalism.
Capitalism, the real life vampirism.
And dear gods and goddesses, SO MANY TYPOS! Just like so many other books I've read in recent years. Can publishing houses not afford editors anymore? Hell, no one has to be a professional proofreader to spot these typos, and they are beyond inexcusable. What is modern literature coming to, when cutting back on the simplest, most basic things like editing has gotten this bad?
Also, I've got to add something that I haven't seen other reviews mention: one of 'Youngblood''s very few openly queer characters ends up brutally murdered. They become a dead plot device; the main thing that kick-starts the wafer-thin plot. That's the "murder mystery" mentioned in the blurb, and it happens halfway through the book! (Not that the "good" main characters think it is murder at first, so phenomenally braindead are they that they believe it when they are told it was an accident and the victim did it to themself. A barely conscious amoeba could see right through it and know it makes no sense!). So on top of its mountain of other well documented issues, 'Youngblood' uses the Bury Your Gays trope. It exists to motivate the two queer main characters, and the straight characters who far outnumber them.
It's 2022. I'm done with this shit. Everyone should be just done with this shit.
Yeah, maybe two stars is too generous, too forgiving. But it is how I feel at the moment. Am I merely spent on the energy for righteous rage, so sick and tired I now am of the world? Regardless, I cannot in good conscience recommend 'Youngblood' to anyone, and I deeply regret spending money on it.
'Youngblood' - an obviously flawed published novel, obviously in need of extra work - and proofreaders and sensitivity readers - before reaching print. That it didn't receive those things and was released in its current state anyway is a testament to how depressingly low (and cheap and lazy) the publishing industry - and other entertainment industries around the world - has become. Yet another victim of the ultimate evil that is capitalism.
Capitalism, the real life vampirism.
Link here to the 'Youngblood' Goodreads page, where its negative reviews with their righteous, justifiable concerns can be read.
Final Score: 2/5
Final Score: 2/5
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