I really thought I was going to like this book, but I simply didn't. There are so many issues with it, starting with a few and getting worse and worse.
To begin with, it's so easy to guess how the book ends after Linus is introduced in the first few chapters. A simple character that always follows the rules ... what else could happen other than him changing and/or having an 'epiphany' about the fact that rules and laws aren't everything? Argh.
The first thing, and probably my biggest issue is with how creepy the book came across in several situations. I thought it was weird that one of the main characters literally shared a private room with one of the children but ignored it because I was waiting for the actual reasoning behind it or an explanation, which never happened. In general, very little gets resolved in this book.
The second time I got creeper vibes was when Linus was talking to Sal about him showing his room, telling him that he, "Doesn't need to do anything he doesn't want to do." In connection to that I should probably mention that the book is a collection of superficial sayings, 'inspirational' life quotes, hipster tropes and so on. At times I felt I was scrolling through a tumblr blog from 10 years ago reading through this book. All the adults know better and seem to be preaching shit to each other and the children every chapter. It felt awkward and was way overdone.
Another situation that felt off and completely out of place for me was Linus and Arthur talking about 'hearing sounds from one of the children's rooms', referencing masturbation. I'm far from prude, but this felt invasive, unnescessary and downright creepy, again. I literally grimaced during that passage.
Since we're already talking about Linus and Arthur ... to me, there was nothing. Absolutely no chemistry. The book feeds you little mentions of Linus finding Arthur attractive, beautiful, him liking the sound of his voice or how he moves and does things, but it had absolutely no effect on me. Especially since it comes out of nowhere. He's barely interacted with him and those thoughts suddenly pop up. He barely knows this guy and is absolutely smitten. Again, it felt superficial and pretty silly.
Before I move onto the other characters, big fucking TW for fatphobia. Linus' weight is mentioned again and again in negative ways. The way he looks at himself, the way society perceives him. That he's not sporty, that he's not thin, that he doesn't fit into clothes, that he shouldn't have too much to eat or sweets and the like. It is mentioned so many times that after a while you're just waiting for it to come back up. I couldn't help but roll my eyes, but this content could absolutely be dangerous to children or especially young teens struggling with their perception of themselves; which you know, is a thing for basically every teen at some point. The short mention of Talia saying that there's nothing wrong with being round doesn't protect you from the criticism, Klune. Especially since she's a gnome. Linus weight comes up again and again after, the way it's written is pretty disgusting at that point.
The character of Helen, the town's major, came out of the blue for me and was WAY too supportive, quickly. It made absolutely zero sense, especially with how prejudiced the town as a whole was towards magical beings. With a soft major like that, I doubt people would've voted her into office. I doubt that a simple interaction with Talia would've had that huge of an impact for her to be not only supportive, but protective of children and beings she barely knows. No explanation to why the towns people were so negatively prejudiced either. No connection to the former orphanage's "master" either. What the heck.
Talking about magical beings, this is probably the first and only fantasy book I've read and disliked. Maybe because the fact that they're magical has very little impact on the story, since it's so flat. That might even be the point of the book, that you could project it onto (other) minorites in general ... but if you're trying to sell it to me, don't call it fantasy and magical when there's very little of it.
The reasoning for 2 instead of 1 star is the fact that I did like a few of the characters and how they were described. The children are likable in general. Zoe, Phee and Chauncey are precious. Even though I liked both Zoe and Helen I thought the ending of the story and them two getting involved felt again, out of place, out of nowhere. Just don't include it if you don't have time for the buildup. It feels empty (and tokenizing) to include relationships that way.
The ending of the book felt rushed, diminishing all the issues raised within the book, especially with DICOMY. We also never find out about any of the schools or the futures of the (registred) magical beings that were part of the system in the past.
The writing style is simplistic and super repetitive; the characters regurgitate the same stuff over and over again. It's easy to follow and obviously geared towards Young Teens or even younger children, and I get where the 'simple, wholesome' description in a lot of people's reviews comes from. Because it is indeed simple. 'Wholesome' is very subjective. To me the book, the writing and the content was weak, downright annoying and uncomfortable.
