I played this game while a ton of great and not great things were happening in my life, so this review will be 90% vibes and 10% actual critical thoughts.
The great
It’s always awesome when we get gender of choice books and the story allows for it, and while I mostly play female with she/her pronouns MCs (because I’ve played MORE than enough games with male he/him characters in my life) yay for inclusive options!
The (Black) MC sprites: BRO I COULDN’T DECDIDE ON A DESIGN AT FIRST IT WAS STRESSFUL BUT GREAT SKGJJHJFG. I loved the hair options too, seeing as most previous books don’t seem to see the point in offering more than one afro-textured style lol.
MC themselves: Yeah, I like YA stories at my big age 🤷🏽♀️ But I really love this MC just for their wit, personality (which we could kind of influence through dialogue choices) and how they sound their age. The last part sounds pointless but trust me, I’m sick of teen characters sounded older and mature for no reason other than to appeal to adult audiences...
The LIs/Sexuality (because I ended up talking about both so they’re combined!): So I quickly decided that I wouldn’t pursue Donovan (grumpy and soft and sweet as he was LOL) but Tyler, Donovan, and Stevie ALL have my heart in the palm of their hands!!!! And the individual dynamics they have with MC made it so easy for me to replay chapters sometimes 3 or 4 (or 5 🥲) times JUST to capture all the different dialogue changes! And lemme tell you, it was exhausting and 100% worth it. Thank you so much writer team for your efforts!
Side note but playing as an enby or male MC while romancing Tyler also gave different dialogue (as most ppl playing the book knew probably). Y’all that was a treat to see sexuality acknowledged in this book. Also also also, with all the biphobia STILL running rampant in the world, it was super nice to have Stevie, Donovan, and Tyler (determinant) have their bisexuality specifically mentioned, and therefore make it clear they weren’t player-sexual.
(Hell even with Gabbie!!! Not that she was clear on her labels BUT she fell under the LGBT umbrella and that was amazing to see someone who was still figuring herself out. And Joanna and her side plot?? God it was a bit painful but I also think it was handled with the care it needed. I’m so glad she was able to get out of her parents’ home and cut ties with them.)
Also confirming in chapter 16 that Stevie has been in a poly relationship before, hey y’all hey y’all wanting good rep, did y’all peep that?? I hope y’all did! (though I figure probably not because it’s a teen book and I haven’t been checking the tags but I don’t think much of the fandom was checking for this book 🥲)
The mystery/plot: A bit of this will spill into ‘the meh’, but as someone who is painfully dense when it comes to guessing mysteries and is often along for the ride, for the most part, I truly enjoyed the story! It was definitely closer to Ride or Die than HSS/CA or M2FL in terms of tone, but obviously I didn’t mind it. We were dealing with a murder after all...
Side characters: Brett made my blood boil!!! The track team can catch these hands!! Perdita I love your sibling relationship with MC to the point of tears!!! Millie you had me going for a HOT minute but I guess you was alright in the end!!!
And on and on and on... Yeah, the side characters helped add depth and weight to the story even when we focused on the main “Scooby Squad” 😂
The meh
~some of these are nitpicky, some of these are actual concerns, also I’m running out of steam so this section will be short~
masc MC body clothing choices: it never fails, I look at some of the outfit options and I wanna cry. And then I’m wondering if I should restart with a femme MC just to not look a hot mess 🤧 the struggle y’all
Perdita’s disappearance: You have to obtain all the clues to get the bittersweet bonus scene in the end, so it actually hurts a little bit to think about what you’re missing if you don’t. That being said, I keep flip flopping between if I’m satisfied with the ending or if it still grates on my soul and my nerves 😂 On one hand, there really are mysteries out there that don’t get solved, and family hurts that never heal. And we do get justice for Gabbie.
On the other hand, we spend time (and diamonds!) on little clues here and there on our fictional sister and in the end, it adds up to smoke and mirrors. There is no true closure. MC can either say they won’t stop looking or they will forgive and let go. And I don’t have the words to articulate why this ending leaves me so cold, but I just know that I’m not a huge fan of it.
I suspect a sequel would be in the works (where maybe we do get answer about our sister and the case that took her) but they were cut and this tweet affirms my suspicions (from one of the MAH writers)
https://twitter.com/catherinevalman/status/1588628334619287553
The killer: ...I ain’t gonna lie, I was kinda disappointed /confused that April was the killer? Like it made sense ( I guess) but it didn’t?? Again, don’t have the words to articulate why I feel this, but just know I feel it. I don’t want to call it lazy writing, because I don’t believe it’s that, but it maybe this decision falls a bit on the weaker side??? I don’t know. (also, not sure how I feel about villainizing the disabled person...? ALSO what was that crap about the clue on ‘the patients of the murder drug skewing older’??? did we just throw that out so we could frame April?? Ugh, y’all I don’t knowwww.)
One last thing, I was certainly seeing a bit of rage having this lil white girl coming after my Black boy with such vitriol and false sense of vengeance. I was as the kids say, triggered. Even with the chapter disclaimer. AND THE YT TEARS SHE SHED?!?!?!? girl stop embarrassing yourself, it’s giving Amy Dunne from Gone Girl (and we do not have enough time to get into my complicated beef with that character aHA)
Final things
Usually, a big sign of how much I love a book and hold it in high esteem is the replayability. I truly believe this book has high replayability (especially if you weren’t a NUT like me and replayed individual chapters a bunch of times ahaha)
So. I love this book and its potential for me to start a new game. But for now, I crave fluff because I’ve got enough angst and strife to deal with right now 😂
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