4/5 stars
Girls with Sharp Sticks was the sci-fi feminist story I didn’t know I needed.
(Just kidding. I always know I need feminist stories)
I don’t actually read very much sci-fi. I’m usually pretty open to any genre but sci-fi is not really my jam. I’ve been burned too many times (Replica, The Thousandth Floor, Monument 14, etc), but I couldn’t resist this title. I’m branching out!
Disclaimer: I didn’t actually realize this was a sci-fi book until I was like halfway through but whatever. I definitely thought it was a mystery book when I picked it out.
Anyway, back to the point I lost somewhere along the way. Girls with Sharp Sticks is a wild ride and I need the second one right about now.
THE PLOT (OR SOME OF IT)
Mena is at a boarding school. All of the sketchiest things happen at boarding schools. Mut Mena Loves her school and Appreciates everything that it is doing to make her a Good Girl. Warning flags pop up immediately for the reader that something unsavory is happening at this school. Cue the *mystery* *intrigue* and *suspense* as my girl Mena starts to wonder what is up at her school and who she really is.
dun dun dun
MENA, OR A CHARACTER THAT I ACTUALLY CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT
Listen. Mena was kind of struggling for the first part of the book. I wasn't a fan. I was wondering when the sharp sticks were going to come out because Mena was as bland as milquetoast. But then The Plot happened and it turns out Mena is seriously cool. By about a quarter of the way in I was cheering every time she talked.
THE MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP IN THE BOOK: FRIENDSHIP
Don't mind me I'm just staring into the endless eternal void wondering if I will ever read another book that has such a focus on female!! friendships!! as Girls with Sharp Sticks. Mena and her girls - Sydney, Lennon rose, Marcella, Annalise, and Brynn - have such an incredibly close bond. They all lean on each other for support and love each other so so much and this friendship is really the core of the book.
YES THERE ARE FLAWS
Most of Mena's friends were pretty one-note and the writing was nothing special. It's not a blow-you-away-this-is-the-greatest-book-you-have-ever-read type of book. But it's still very solidly good.
I was incredibly invested in this book and in Mena. Girls with Sharp Sticks had MYSTERY it had ACTION it had GIRL POWER it had SCI-FI STUFF and most importantly it had A VERY GOOD TITLE.
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