Castor Starr reviewed They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman
Review of 'They Wish They Were Us' on 'GoodReads'
3 stars
TW: implied self harm, hazing, attempted assault
3.5
Three years after her best friend died, Jill is ready to take charge of her senior year and then get away from it all. But that proves harder than expected when the alleged killer's sister reached out to her. And when her friend's plan to make this year different- less brutal than the initiations into their selective Players normally are- seems to get forgotten before they can even start. This was supposed to be her year, but suddenly it feels like nothing is under her control.
This is basically a dark academia-lite story, and I think younger teens with an interest in that vibe but who haven't really interacted with dark academia before could really dig this book. However, for me it fell kind of flat.
I did like Jill's relationship with her brother, and how his inclusion to The Players affects …
TW: implied self harm, hazing, attempted assault
3.5
Three years after her best friend died, Jill is ready to take charge of her senior year and then get away from it all. But that proves harder than expected when the alleged killer's sister reached out to her. And when her friend's plan to make this year different- less brutal than the initiations into their selective Players normally are- seems to get forgotten before they can even start. This was supposed to be her year, but suddenly it feels like nothing is under her control.
This is basically a dark academia-lite story, and I think younger teens with an interest in that vibe but who haven't really interacted with dark academia before could really dig this book. However, for me it fell kind of flat.
I did like Jill's relationship with her brother, and how his inclusion to The Players affects her. I thought their sibling bond was the one thing in this book that felt genuine and her desire to help him fighting her desire to protect him combine into something actually really compelling. It's a thread that continues throughout the story and does keep the tension up, even as it falls in other places.
Along with the tension, I do think the mystery itself was pretty good. I mean, not unsolvable or all that surprising. But the red herrings are well done and getting to know Shaila better did make me feel more invested in figuring out exactly what happened to her.
I actually think that the parts of the book outlining Jill & Shaila's freshman year were some of the best of the story. It's definitely where people felt the most likable, since in the present tense they're more 2D and hard to care about.
Mostly, things just didn't match up to the height of mystery or wrong doing that I was expecting. The Players themselves are way less dramatic than I envisioned. They're basically a corrupt fraternity with a hazing problem. But not a hazing problem like you see in non-YA books, or even on the news, just... vaguely messed up dares. And for what? Test answers? I genuinely was let down by how down to earth that whole thing is. I would have loved for them to be unbelievable and blessed, but they just felt like student counsel with an edge.
I also thought the ending was lame. I mean, nothing revolutionary happens and it all sort of feels like someone giving up "delusions of grandeur". I'm letdown by Jill and her dreams, and I'm letdown by the lack of catharsis.
As a mystery this works well, and I can see people really having fun with it, but it never went far enough for it to really hook me.
