Synopsis:
In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes discovers he’s dying. And it isn’t even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.
Nick and his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange—yet curiously familiar—man is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn’t exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia’s in grave danger, though she doesn’t know it yet. She needs Nick’s help—now.
He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in his way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.
Challenge accepted.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
PSA: One of the main characters is a bisexual girl and another is a gay boy of color. Don't sleep on this one y'all!!!
I truly believe that Mark Lawrence can't write a book that is anything short of excellent. That being said, however, I'm not always the right audience for every single one of Mark Lawrence's books. I think One Word Kill is going to be the book for a lot of people, but it wasn't for me. So while objectively I can say this is a really fantastic novel, personally I enjoyed it but didn't love it.
Despite the Stranger Things vibes of this, One Word Kill is undoubtedly original and unique. A lot of times, whenever a book is similar to something else, it usually means it's a less good version of the original thing. But this novel stands firmly on its own feet. Besides the 80s setting and cast of young teens, One Word Kill is nothing like Stranger Things in terms of characters and content. So if you like Stranger Things, there's no doubt in my mind that you'll adore this.
Probably my favorite thing about this novel was how Lawrence challenged the views Nick had been socialized to hold by his predominantly white and straight all boys school. Nick reads exactly like how you'd expect a teenage boy to sound, including all the problematic views surrounding women, race, and LGBT+ people. But whenever Nick expressed one of these views, he was shut down by either his friends or himself and then educated or reflected on why his thoughts or behaviors were hurtful. To me, this was some of the most important character growth I've ever seen a teen boy protagonist undergo. Mind you, all of these moments were little moments and didn't hinder or affect the plot at all, but it means a lot to me that Lawrence felt they were important enough to include not just once, but several times.
While overall I think the story of this novel is strong, I have very mixed feelings about the villain. The main cast of boys and Mia are so wonderfully distinct and fleshed out, whereas the villain was just evil and didn't have much of a personality beyond that. It also makes me uncomfortable that the villain seemed to be characterized as evil because of his "craziness," without any explanation as to what that means. Is mental illness affecting his actions? Is he just selfish and mean? I wish the villain had had a clearer motivation for his actions because otherwise, it forces the reader to believe the main characters calling him "crazy" or "psycho" and paints a really stigmatizing and problematic view of mental illness, if the villain is mentally ill at all. However, Mark Lawrence is very obviously trying to write diversely and comment on issues surrounding marginalized identities, so I trust that he'll listen to feedback and improve in his future works.
Overall, this was a great book with lovable characters and a cool plot. I didn't love it, but I will definitely be reading the sequel!
I truly believe that Mark Lawrence can't write a book that is anything short of excellent. That being said, however, I'm not always the right audience for every single one of Mark Lawrence's books. I think One Word Kill is going to be the book for a lot of people, but it wasn't for me. So while objectively I can say this is a really fantastic novel, personally I enjoyed it but didn't love it.
Despite the Stranger Things vibes of this, One Word Kill is undoubtedly original and unique. A lot of times, whenever a book is similar to something else, it usually means it's a less good version of the original thing. But this novel stands firmly on its own feet. Besides the 80s setting and cast of young teens, One Word Kill is nothing like Stranger Things in terms of characters and content. So if you like Stranger Things, there's no doubt in my mind that you'll adore this.
Probably my favorite thing about this novel was how Lawrence challenged the views Nick had been socialized to hold by his predominantly white and straight all boys school. Nick reads exactly like how you'd expect a teenage boy to sound, including all the problematic views surrounding women, race, and LGBT+ people. But whenever Nick expressed one of these views, he was shut down by either his friends or himself and then educated or reflected on why his thoughts or behaviors were hurtful. To me, this was some of the most important character growth I've ever seen a teen boy protagonist undergo. Mind you, all of these moments were little moments and didn't hinder or affect the plot at all, but it means a lot to me that Lawrence felt they were important enough to include not just once, but several times.
While overall I think the story of this novel is strong, I have very mixed feelings about the villain. The main cast of boys and Mia are so wonderfully distinct and fleshed out, whereas the villain was just evil and didn't have much of a personality beyond that. It also makes me uncomfortable that the villain seemed to be characterized as evil because of his "craziness," without any explanation as to what that means. Is mental illness affecting his actions? Is he just selfish and mean? I wish the villain had had a clearer motivation for his actions because otherwise, it forces the reader to believe the main characters calling him "crazy" or "psycho" and paints a really stigmatizing and problematic view of mental illness, if the villain is mentally ill at all. However, Mark Lawrence is very obviously trying to write diversely and comment on issues surrounding marginalized identities, so I trust that he'll listen to feedback and improve in his future works.
Overall, this was a great book with lovable characters and a cool plot. I didn't love it, but I will definitely be reading the sequel!
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