Straight up, I will forever and always love books about the Furies, the avenging Greek goddesses, because I LOVE reading about stories of revenge and people getting their just deserts. YET, not all of the stories starring the Furies are created equal. Furious by Jill Wolfson fell flat, despite my exuberant excitement for it. While I did connect with the main character somewhat, because she has a sad backstory, I felt that something was off with the writing style.
Meg is a foster kid and pretty much a victim of the system. She’s in and out of awful homes, finally landing in one that’s tolerable, but still the lady she lives with, Ms. Leach treats her cat better than she does Meg. School is even worse. Meg was quiet, but then one day she takes it into her head to ask one of the popular guys to mini golf with her. Embarassment ensues. Even worse… Meg nods off in class and wakes up chanting about how she hates everyone. So, people pick on her for a reason. HOWEVER, she has a gay BFF named Raymond who clearly has his shit together and is pretty much above the high school drama thing. But, Meg is an idiot and not content with her awesome BFF, so she’s easily “seduced” by the powerful Ambrosia. Ambrosia is one of those girls who might as well be perfect, anyways, she is hell bent on revenge and brings together Meg, Alix – a tough surfer, and Stephanie – a white girl with dreads, to be Furies. Supernatural things happen. Pandemonium ensues. And so, Furious explores how we define justice – is it an eye for an eye, or is it something more?
I tried really hard to feel more than pity for Meg, but alas, that did not happen. Like, I get that Meg’s life is THE WORST, but I thought it didn’t go the full nine yards as to how bad foster life can be, and again, I say that as someone who has heard plenty of stories about what goes on locally, and I am sure, what goes on everywhere. I also thought Meg was pretty idiotic about the whole situation and never once stopped to consider why the popular girl was all of a sudden interested in her and two other misfits. Like, she just did not have that skeptic instinct. I guess, I just thought Meg was a bit naive for someone with her background. She also gets very emo, and okay I KNOW I KNOW she has a reason, but still, I just had a very hard time really empathizing with her instead of feeling pity.
To be one hundred percent honest with you, I thought the writing in Furious felt as though it trying too hard to sound relevant to teens, but sort of failing. HOWEVER, I could be wrong, because I am an old so what do I know about what is relevant to the youths. I just spent a lot of time rolling my eyes. I guess the prose just really fell flat to me, not because it’s awful or overly descriptive, but because it’s not really anything too special ya know.
There IS a romance in Furious. There is kissing. But, lol, the romance doesn’t entirely make sense to me. Well, I guess it sort of does, BUT I never wanted to ship the characters or anything. I wasn’t like oh yes these characters just have to make out or I shall die. Nope. The chemistry just did not seem to be there between the two characters, instead it came off as kind of cheesy.
Because pretty much every book has it’s audience and because I probably sound like I hated Furious by Jill Wolfson, I just want to put out there that I did not hate the book. I read it very quickly, like the pacing is legit and fast and it does not get boring. I was never feeling the need to put it off to go do other things, so keep that in mind. Furious is not at all AWFUL or the WORST, you guys. If I was to recommend this to a specific sort of person or situation, I would say this book would probably work well for actual high schoolers who might not be in the ‘in-crowd’ and also, I think this book would be great to read if you are on a vacation and looking for something light, but not contemporary.
Disclosure: Received for review from publisher
Other reviews of Furious by Jill Wolfson:
Book Brats – “simply fell short of my expectations”
IceyBooks – “slowly dies down to a boring mess of words”
Midnight Book Girl – “Bring it on, Jill Wolfson, I will read all your books!”
If you liked Furious, you might like Fury by Elizabeth Miles.
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I completely understand your feelings, it’s easy to dislike a book but that doesn’t mean you flat out hate it. Sounds like this one was a bit all over the place – and I totally feel guilty when I know I should feel sorry for a character but all I feel is annoyed.
The cover reminds me of the movie poster for The Craft. That’s a shame it wasn’t amazing. I hate when a book is based on a myth I love and then isn’t executed as well as it could be.
I don’t know why, but I have such a hard time getting into books where the MC becomes friends with this super popular person. You kow, because we all know what’s coming. Maybe I just have a hard time relating to that.
Sorry to hear this wasn’t as good as you were hoping.
I’ve been hearing a lot of the same thing about this book. I don’t think I’d like Meg very much either. If she grew up in an unpleasant foster system then I don’t think she’d be so naive. She’d know better. Though, I could see how, if she just really, really wanted to fit in, she might delude herself into thinking all would be OK?
I love Greek mythology, but I don’t think I’ll be picking this one up. Plus, the cover isn’t really appealing. Sorry this one disappointed you 🙁
I’m generally a sucker for books that incorporate mythology, and books that incorporate Furies are always of interest. Sadly, I don’t think I’m quite taken with this one, even just based on the summary alone. I’m sorry you ended up not enjoying it as much as you’d hoped to!
I think it’s interesting how you weren’t like in LURVE with this one but still liked the subject matter and kept with it to the end.
The mc sounds frustrating, but I wonder if knowing that going in might give the reader a bit more patience for her?