The Mad Hatters Young Adult Book Club is made up of four teenagers aged thirteen and up. Every month during the school term we explore both fiction and non-fiction targeted towards a young adult audience.
This is the first year we have run YA Book Club, and due to school-related commitments and a few lockdowns, meetings were somewhat sporadic. We were able to read and discuss the first four books, and delayed some of our term four reads & ratings until 2022.
Each month, book club members read a new book and rate it on a 5-star scale:
1 star = not-so-good/didn’t finish; 2 stars = okay; 3 stars = good; 4 stars: great; 5 stars: excellent.
Book #1: Game Changer by Neal Shusterman (Walker Books)
Our first read of YA Book Club was Game Changer by Neal Shusterman. Members knew Neal Shusterman from his popular Scythe series, and were interested in the alternate reality concept of Game Changer. While members agreed the concept was original, they also agreed that the story could have been more interesting if it had been from the perspective of one of the supporting characters (or even written in multiple perspectives.) Nevertheless, Game Changer stirred a thought-provoking discussion about history, social issues and alternate realities.
Rating: Two ★★★, two ★★½, one ★★¼, and one ★★ ratings.
Book #2: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Hachette)
Inspired by the recently-adapted Netflix series, we read the first in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. While only one in the group had read the book before, others had read Leigh Bardugo’s other works, including Six of Crows. There were book vs. show comparisons (with some annoyance about book characters removed from the show, as well as the show’s choice to mix the plots of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows.) The plot, characters and world-building were well-liked, but everyone agreed that as the debut novel of Leigh Bardugo it was nowhere near as well-written or original as her follow-up works in the Grishaverse, including Six of Crows (Six of Crows received a lot of love).
Rating: One ★★★★, three ★★★ , one ★★.
Book #3: 100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze by Clayton Zane Comber (Harper Collins)
100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze received mixed reviews from book club members, owing to the members not initially picking up on Xander’s ASD & social anxiety traits, including his difficulty with social cues. A few of the girls admitted that while they sympathised with Xander, they also had difficulty identifying with him, as they admitted that some of his actions towards his love interest would have made them uncomfortable if they had been in her shoes.
(Note: We also read this book for our adult book clubs the same month and it was adored by the older audience – which was precisely the opposite reaction I was expecting!)
Rating: One, ★★★★, one ★★★, one ★★, one ★.
Book #4: This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (Bloomsbury)
Four our next read, book club members voted for This Poison Heart. The general consensus was that they liked the main character, her relationship with her parents (as well as the inclusion of parents in the events of a YA novel, rather than sending them away/killing them off) and the small-town setting. Confusion around the ending and the motives of some of the background characters received minor criticism. Members agreed they would be interested in reading the sequel.
Rating: Two ★★★★, three ★★★.
Our last three books of the year, Small Favors, The Ones We‘re Meant to Find and Within the Ward, remain mostly unrated, due to book club absences and difficulty finishing the books with end-of-year school commitments. When we are able to meet again in 2022, we will review and rate the books in our 2022 edition!
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