Review by Booklist Review
It's true: everyone loves a character who's a little bit bad. In the case of these 13 tales, that's often a lot bad: collection editor and contributor Ameriie pairs 13 authors with 13 BookTubers tasked with creating stories that feature infamous villains from literature and fairy tales. The concept here is that the BookTuber provides the prompt, the author writes the story, and then the BookTuber provides commentary. Some prompts are more detailed than others, and inevitably, the best stories are often from the simplest plots: standouts include Susan Dennard's Shirly and Jim (a young Moriarty), Cindy Pon's Beautiful Venom (Medusa. Go!), Samantha Shannon's Marigold (Erl Queen retelling in nineteenth-century London), and Andrew Smith's Julian Breaks Every Rule (A psychopath in a futuristic setting). A diverse array of high-profile authors are showcased (i.e., Renée Ahdieh, Adam Silvera, Victoria Schwab, Nicola Yoon), and the inclusion of the BookTubers is an interesting idea that allows for a range of perspectives. The concept alone is enough to draw readers, so stock up it's never been so fun to be bad.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-This anthology about villains capitalizes on the fascination with the subject but fails to explore the reasoning behind it. The stories in this unwieldy collection, edited by YouTube sensation Ameriie, are inspired by BookTuber-provided prompts. Some prompts are vague, such as "A young Moriarty" for Susan Dennard's "Shirley and Jim," which presents a modern (and female) Holmes meeting Moriarty for the first time at boarding school. Others are bizarrely specific, such as Renée Ahdieh's sci-fi "The Blood of Imuriv," which resulted from the prompt "The grandson of an evil, matriarchal dictator who tried to rule over the universe wants to follow in her footsteps and accidentally loses his temper, killing his sibling in a game of chess." Thus, the entries vary in quality, making this cross-genre volume less than cohesive. BookTuber contributions range from personality quizzes and literary criticism about the tales to personal essays related to the prompts. Standouts include Soman Chainani's "Gwen and Art and Lance," which is written entirely in texts and emails among the titular characters as Gwen tries to manipulate Art into taking her to prom amid unwanted overtures from Lance, and "Death Knell" by Victoria Schwab, which offers a nuanced meditation on what it means to be Death. There are no redeeming qualities for most of the villains here, and for the most part, there's a lot of superficiality. One notable exception is Cindy Pon's poignant "Beautiful Venom" (prompt: "Medusa, go!"), which makes the Greek myth relevant to modern readers as they watch Mei Feng become Mei Du in Pon's tragic retelling with a Chinese setting. VERDICT A weak but marketable work that will appeal to fans of the contributing authors.-Emma Carbone, Brooklyn Public Library © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Thirteen YA authors, including Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Andrew Smith, and Nicola Yoon, pen short tales from the perspective of a villain, either a famous scoundrel or one of their own invention. Each tale is followed by brief commentary from a "booktuber," a feature which adds little to the volume. Some of the tales are clever; none is really memorable. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Are villains born evil, or do life circumstances force them to choose a dark path?Thirteen book bloggers challenge as many young-adult authors to write stories about the villains we love to hate. There are reimaginings of familiar fairy-tale and mythological villains alongside the nefarious adventures of the newly infamous. Benjamin Alderson's challenge to Cindy Pon"Medusa. Go!"yields the origin story "Beautiful Venom," which places the Greek myth in an Asian setting (the collection's only sign of racial diversity). Samantha Shannon's "Marigold" is an "Erl-Queen Retelling in Nineteenth-Century London" that grants the primary female character agency denied Victorian women in real life. "You, You, It's All About You," by Adam Silvera, introduces "A Female Teen Crime Lord Concealed by a Mask." Slate, that story's villain-protagonist, deals in mind-altering drugs in order to gain control of her life after an abusive childhood. Nicola Yoon's chilling "Sera" is a "Gender-Flipped God of War" story about a young woman with terrifying powers who becomes deathly ill when she suppresses her true nature. Each story is followed by commentary from the blogger who set the challenge. Some react with thoughtful critical pieces, while others take a creative, metafictive approach to the fruits of their authors' labors. Some stories don't quite meet their challenges, but overall, this anthology is an explosively entertaining joy ride of villainous goodness. (Short stories/fantasy. 13-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
