Furious by Jill Wolfson

Hi there!

Welcome back to the place that aims to please the reader in each and every one of you, at some point or another at least....Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we're exploring between the pages of a new addition the Young Adult genre that falls right in with one of the current trends...Greek myths.  So what's special about this one?  Well, despite having their origins in Greek, the beings featured have actually played a part in most cultures just under different names...but ALWAYS with deadly consequences.  Gather all your past hurts and lists of vengeance because the Furies are coming.  Today's book of choice is...

Furious

by

Jill Wolfson

About the book...

We were only three angry high school girls, to begin with. Alix, the hot-tempered surfer chick; Stephanie, the tree-hugging activist; and me, Meg, the quiet foster kid, the one who never quite fit in. We hardly knew each other, but each of us nurtured a burning anger: at the jerks in our class, at our disappointing parents, at the whole flawed, unjust world.
We were only three angry girls, simmering uselessly in our ocean-side California town, until one day a mysterious, beautiful classmate named Ambrosia taught us what else we could be: Powerful. Deadly. Furious.
Yes, that’s us. The three Greek Furies, come to life, ready to take our revenge on everyone who deserves it. And who doesn’t deserve it, really? We’re done with chances. We are angry. The Furies have come to town.

If you've never quite fit in.  If you've turned the other cheek more times than you can count and still came back asking for more.  If you're tired of always feeling like an outsider looking in at the sparkly world of the privileged yet undeserved...I've got a trio of gals you're gonna want to meet.

They are the modern day reincarnations of the Furies of old and they mean business....but first, they have to be called.  Called how and by whom?  Both very good questions...but perhaps the bigger picture idea we might want to tackle is WHY.  I mean it's seriously doubtful they were simply called to avenge all the wrongs committed against themselves and others like them, right?  Right.  That part of the equation though remains partly in shadow til the ball is rolling so fast down the hill, there's nary anyone brave enough to stop it.  Well, almost no one.  Moving on...

The idea of the story and the characters overall, I was good with...the execution of it all, not quite as much.  First things first, the story.  Imagine being in high school once again.  Now imagine (or remember depending on where you stood on the social food chain) all the ill comments thrown your way, disgusted stares, taunting glances and words that injured more than you would let on....now imagine being able to turn the tables on said taunters and make them realize the folly of their ways.  Oh, did I mention that there was the chance that more than a simple lesson would be learned and that you could actually drive them further than repentance?  But you know, what's a little misstep here and there after all the terror they inflicted, right?  Hmm.  I think some people would have serious issues with that level of power and it's certainly something the girls have to contend with here as well, a point I'm glad the author didn't merely gloss over and something that went into the moral side of the story as well.  Which wins out in the end?  You'll have to read it to find out but suffice it to say that things don't remain pretty and goddess-like for very long, after all a taste of vengeance is satisfying....but it can easily become an unquenchable thirst.  Back to those characters...

The three girls chosen to represent all the anger and retribution the world has to offer are certainly fitting, especially when the areas they represent or control are revealed.  The lives they lived up til now were anything but ideal making them even more prone to explode when all their defenses are down and the need to blend in is removed.  Alix was a strong person even before things changed, only now she could do something more about the prejudice and injustice in the world.  Stephanie was the activist even in a household where environmental destruction was a part of the progress they enacted, only now she didn't have to simply chain herself to a tree to make a statement.  Meg, the quietest of the group and yet as I'm certain you've heard before, still waters run deep.  She internalized A LOT but once her need to survive was turned into a right, there was no stopping her.  Like I said, a great trio for the rolls that needed filling....at least at first.  *ahem*  Moving on to the not so positive side....

There were things in the story, things that would happen further down the line that were beyond obvious and not simply because I'm outside the "teen" range either.  It was frustrating because the characters were made oblivious to it even though it was staring them in the face.  I understand being blinded by fury but even taking that into account, things were rough.  Also, there was quite a bit of drinking, drug use, and a pretty humiliating first experience between the sheets and while I'm no prude, it didn't seem like the story should delve quite THAT far into those aspects, making them the reasons that events twisted one way or another.  It didn't feel like it needed to depend on that being the catalyst to make things progress, or maybe it was just that I had higher hopes for it than that.  Anywho...

In the end, it's a story about striking that balance in life between the have's and have not's, the happy and the sad, the moments of glory and moments of utter despair. It's a reminder that no one in life is perfect, and that's okay in a big way.  Something that A LOT of folks could use a reminder of.  Though not one of my favorite picks this year, I'm not sorry I read it and I did enjoy it for the most part.  It's just not something I'd be seeking the muses assistance out in order to repeat the experience once again.  It is what it is.  Take from it what you will.

ARC for review courtesy of Ksenia Winnicki at Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title as well as their ever growing catalog of bookish wonders, be sure to stop by the publisher's site, check out their blog, pin them on Pinterest, like them on Facebook or follow along on Twitter.  This book celebrated its book birthday this past April with a blog tour spectacular via Henry Holt and Company, seek thee out a copy on a bookstore shelf near you.


Until next time...happy reading!