**** MINOR SPOILERS ******

I absolutely LOVED the first book in this series...Girls with Sharp sticks....very Stepford wives, meets Dean Koontz Frankenstein. I was so excited to resume this series....I had put it on hold for my October reading list....but, I never stopped thinking about it and gazing at the other 2 books on the bookshelf..haha.

I have to admit to being a shade disappointed.....its still good....but not as dynamic as the first book.

Young goes way more " girl power" in this second installment.....being of the female persuasion myself.....I certainly have no problem with stories geared toward women empowerment and strong female characters. That said, I'm not a fan of books that read like a feminist anthem.....not that this series goes that hard...but, I fear its headed in that direction.

While the girls from Innovations definitely have a reason to be bitter and hold resentment toward men.....I'm not completely pleased with the insinuation that there are no " good men".

Unfortunately, since leaving the academy the girls have encountered nothing but mysogonystic men and the weak spineless woman who support them and pertuaute their behavior. I don't think that's an exactly fair portrayal of our modern society.

So far Jackson.... a teen male helping the girls, and Menas potential love interest....and a few other minor male characters have proven true and dependable.....and Mena herself still isn't sold on the " women should dominate" ideology....so I'm hoping the story arc will shift slightly in the next installment.

Overall I still really enjoyed this and I'm completely sold on Suzanne Young as a talented and influential writer....on to the next book! ( )

Less interesting than the first one but still a very good read. ( )

"Girls with Razor Hearts" was the sequel to "Girls with Sharp Sticks" and even though it wasn't as good as the first book, I still enjoyed it. The girls have now escaped Innovations Academy and throughout this novel they had to face questions about their existence and fight for their freedom, which kept me reading. I loved that the girls were just as close and compassionate as they were in "Girls with Sharp Sticks". Mena, Sydney, Marcella and the others were tenacious, nurturing and resilient, and their loyalty to each other was unwavering and inspiring.

However, men continued to get a bad wrap. While I like that this series shows what many women have to face in a man's world, and I am all for women empowerment, I think the message is harsh and it is wrong to generalise that all men are bad and the solution is to dominate and destroy them. In fact the only decent male in the series seems to be Jackson and I am holding my breath, hoping he doesn't turn on the girls.

That said, "Girls with Razor Hearts" was an entertaining read and I am looking forward to reading the last book in the series. ( )

teen fiction (artificial intelligence, feminist AF, adventure)
potential triggers: sexual harrassment, assault
a fun distraction, and easy to pick up again even though I mostly forgot what happened in the first book. ( )

Suzanne Young's Girls With Razor Hearts is an angry book. Not only is Ms. Young angry but her characters are angry, and she provides enough examples of rape culture and sexism to make you angry. Normally, I would consider this type of story cathartic, finding comfort in the knowledge that I am not alone in fuming at the injustice of it all. This time around though, I found it all a bit much.

Take this passage discussing men in general:

"'They had a president who bragged about sexual assault,' she continues. "Cabinet members who were arrested for domestic abuse, a secretary of education enacting policies to protect rapists!" Her voice ticks up, but she visibly calms herself. 'And still...,' she says in eerie calm. 'No one stopped them. They're sick creatures, Mena. They're a horrid species.'"

Or this one:

"Why is everyone so willing to lie all the time? And it's those lies that are so insidious. The way society pretends these terrible things aren't happening -- their racism, their sexism. The way they pretend it's just us overreacting."

The entire novel includes punchy, rage-inducing commentary about society like these two quotes. What makes Girls With Razor Hearts frustrating instead of refreshing though is the fact that there is a lot of raising awareness but very little in the way of action.

In many, many ways, Girls With Razor Hearts reads like a typical Suzanne Young novel. It contains very strong female characters more politically aware than their counterparts and ready to fight the status quo. Unfortunately, it is bordering on bitter as it lists every possible instance of gender inequality, rape culture, and overt sexism by both men and women. I am hoping that the third novel in the series will include more action against such injustice. Most women I know have been furious since 2016. It is time we get something that will provide us examples of how to fight against such behavior rather than another example of what we need to fight against.