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lilyharvord · 2 years

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Is Red School good?

I have a lot of thoughts in regards to Red School, the further removed I am from it (that is the longer its been since I read both parts) the more I loath it. There's just a lot wrong with it and I guess since I've come so far and I've digested both parts after a year it's time to make a list of all the reason I hate that thing.

1. We'll start with the cover.... I should have known this whole thing was going to be C-/D+ at best with those cover. I know people who only have a year of photoshop experience who could have done a better job. You couldn't have paid me to buy that hard cover or a physical copy of that thing.

2. The art is.... subpar. Sometimes the characters looked good, most of the time they did not. I told someone that Maven's face literally said "🔻" on every page and that he looked like a knock off version of Severus Snape 🤢. His eyes too? Are you serious? And the reason for why they didn't give him blue eyes is such a fucking joke. The artist had one job, literally one job. AND CAL, my son... my darling boy, on the week of his birth was done so goddman dirty. I mean, WHAT THE FUCK VICTORIA. There were NEGATIVE things attractive about him. I dont even wanna talk about the bare chested fight scene with a 14 year old. I dont wanna talk about it. I dont wanna talk about that (BUT IT IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE POINTS ON THIS LIST). MAVEN WASN'T EVEN ATTRACTIVE. And dont get me started on Malibu Barbie Mare Barrow (I will say, at least she has "brown" skin 🙄 we love the bare minimum being done). Every girl in the story looked the same, except for the minor characters in Skool...which is maybe a problem but I haven't read A Skool of Gud and Evile so I dont know those characters. I felt bad for them too tho. The ONLY character who looked good (as she deserves) was Evangeline. My Queen looked like an absolute fucking badass, but that's it (even though she in on way shape or form looked asian in descent but that is a battle for another day 😒). the Skol characters seemed to fair better than the RQ ones on every page and I was just tired by the end.

3. The story is... meh. It's fine. It's entertaining. I get that it's supposed to just be "fun" or whatever. But it's so strange. And i know people are gonna be like "Oh but Lily, it's a cross over! It's meant to just be a giggle, and entertain us"... and that I say to you: I KNOW FANFIC AUTHORS WHO COULD HAVE COME UP WITH A MORE BELIEVABLE REASON FOR HOW THOSE CHARACTERS GOT THERE AND A MORE BELIEVABLE STORY LINE. Also... like... what is the time line??? Cause if you read Reed Skool, the ending makes 0 sense in the context of Red Queen. And I get that is was probably hard to mash those two worlds together and come up with a believable plot... but are you serious? Two New York Times Best Selling authors? And they decided on Zombies? Zombies? For real? My god they could have done better.

4. The characters... are just off. There is something off. I dont know if it was because all I had been doing for over 2 years since broken throne was writing and reading fanfic but man... there was just something off. Maven was not charming (period) he was sullen and sort of... I dont know already tipping toward whatever he was in glass sword? At least he was interesting in RQ, in this he was like a cardboard cutout. Mare had 0 personality. Her main personality trait was staring out windows dramatically and making innuendo comments (there is literally a bit of dialogue where she tells maven "at least we're not eating each other" with like a suggestive smile in reference to her, Cal and Maven. i threw up in my mouth). And Cal... oh lord I dont have the strength. For a moment, I actually believed the people who called him a brick wall with no personality in RQ because he had NEGATIVE personality in this thing. WHERE WERE THE PUNS? WHERE WAS THE PINING AFTER MARE?? He spends the whole time... like not saying anything important at all. I couldn't tell you one line of dialogue that he said. He doesn't even really talk to mare and they're in like 50 panels together. Maven doesn't even really have a conversation with Mare? and he's in even more panels with her. HE SPENDS MORE TIME FUCKING FLIRTING WITH THAT BLONDE CHICK FROM ASOGAE. I swear to god, if that thing hadn't been a PDF on my phone I would have thrown it across the room.

5. There is literally an entire 2 pages wasted on this stupid moment where Cal and whoever that guy is from Skol of Gud and Evile where they take their shirts off and have a fucking wrestling match in the middle of a ballroom in front of 100s of people... I... I had no words. I think I actually cringed and made an ugly face about it. The boy is 14 in the book, I googled it. Why the fuck is Cal a (21 year old) fighting bare chested with a 14 year old who looks like he's 30? Man I dont know, but I cannot believe Victoria green lighted that. Greenlighted a level headed military strategist who is a GROWN MAN having a dick measuring match with a 14 year old like it's middle school. And dont get my started on how they drew Cal in that scene. Annie has posted that panel on here and I actually can't look at it. I...I was so upset. I was upset on behalf of Mare and the entire fandom.

6. There is a fucking joke where this skinny dude can turn into a buff werewolf and then when he changes back he's butt naked in front of everyone. Like... was that supposed to be funny? Was I supposed to laugh there? Oh shit, my bad. 😒 Why was that in there? What was the point of that?

7. The "twist" is just... for real Victoria? You who championed the whole; SUPRISE GUESS WHO THE BAD BUY IS twist and you went with what you did. I was so disappointed. And again, it makes 0 sense in the context of RQ.

8. This is personal to me but Mare and whoever the main girl is in Skool definitely should have been Bi for each other and that's on that. They had more chemistry than Mare had with Cal or Maven.

Reed Skol was clearly a cash grab... or an attention grab. A means of keeping both fandoms on the hook while RQ rode the coattails of ASoGaE since it was already announced it was getting a TV series. It was a very poor grab too. There were 100s of better ways this could have been done. 100s of better ways Victoria could have kept our attention. They could have done a RQ graphic novel set like Sabaa Tahir is doing for an Ember in the Ashes that details Prequel-esq type stories. We could have had a set of those stories that were Red School's length in graphic novel format: One story about Mare and Kilorn in the Stilts or Mare and Shade with Kilorn in the Stilts. A story about Farley and her sister in the Lakelands. A story about Iris in the Lakelands. A story about Maven and Thomas where we learn what happened at the front with them. A story about all the young Silvers in the Palace were we would see all their interactions when they were younger. We could have just gotten a fucking RQ graphic novel in general. I would have dropped 60+ dollars on a hardcover graphic novel version of RQ. Instead we got whatever the hell Reed Skol was supposed to be. It honestly pissed me off, and I'm glad I didn't spend a single penny on it. Would have been a waste of money. Glad I didn't buy that special package with the interview with the authors either... Victoria would have faced my wrath over both Broken Throne and Reed Skol if I had.

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