#Review - Girls with Razor Hearts by Suzanne Young #YA #SyFy

Series: Girls with Sharp Sticks # 2
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Release Date: March 17, 2020
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: NetGalley/Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Science Fiction

It’s time to fight back in this second novel in a thrilling, subversive near future series from New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young about a girls-only private high school that is far more than it appears to be.

Make me a girl with a razor heart…

It’s been weeks since Mena and the other girls of Innovations Academy escaped their elite boarding school. Although traumatized by the violence and experimentations that occurred there, Mena quickly discovers that the outside world can be just as unwelcoming and cruel. With no one else to turn to, the girls only have each other—and the revenge-fueled desire to shut down the corporation that imprisoned them.

The girls enroll in Ridgeview Prep, a private school with suspect connections to Innovations, to identify the son of an investor and take down the corporation from the inside. But with pressure from Leandra, who revealed herself to be a double-agent, and Winston Weeks, an academy investor gone rogue, Mena wonders if she and her friends are simply trading one form of control for another. Not to mention the woman who is quite literally invading Mena’s thoughts—a woman with extreme ideas that both frighten and intrigue Mena.

And as the girls fight for freedom from their past—and freedom for the girls still at Innovations—they must also face new questions about their existence…and what it means to be girls with razor hearts. 

Girls with Razor Hearts is the second installment in author Suzanne Young's Girls with Sharp Sticks trilogy. It’s been a few weeks since Philomena (Mena), Sydney, Annalise, Brynn, & Marcella escaped Innovations Academy after learning a devastating secret: they're not human. Coming to terms with the fact that they are AI, created by men to be controlled and dominated by men, they are devastated and shell shocked. The girls now have one goal in mind, revenge. But, they are also trying to learn about the school's investors so they can destroy them.

Although traumatized by the violence and experimentations that occurred there, Mena quickly discovers that the outside world can be just as unwelcoming and cruel. Who can she trust? She basically leaves Jackson behind to move to Connecticut. Jackson was badly injured in the previous installment, but does make an appearance towards the last part of this story. Annalise is really suffering. No spoilers, but you should really have read the previous installment in understand why she struggles so much more than the other girls.  

Leandra Petrov, who used to be one of the girls, urges them to flee to Connecticut where they meet yet another piece of the large picture, Rosemarie. Mena and Sydney enroll in Ridgeview Prep, a private school with possible connections to Innovations, to identify the son of an investor and take down the corporation from the inside. But with pressure from Leandra, who revealed herself to be a double-agent, and Winston Weeks, an academy investor with his own machinations, as well as the appearance of Lennon Rose who is very much alive, Mena wonders if she and her friends are simply trading one form of control for another. 

Not to mention the woman who is quite literally invading Mena’s thoughts—a woman with extreme ideas that both frighten and intrigue Mena. If Mena and the girls can identify the (4) main investors in Innovations through the sons that go to school at Ridgeview, they could shut down Anton Petrov and his friends for good. But, first they have to deal with sexism, misogyny and good old racism towards Sydney. The boys of the school are truly able to get away with harassment, sexual assault, and suffer no consequences from anyone.

It's fair to say that both Mena and Annalise struggle with PTSD. Since this is from Mena's perspective, the author dives into her memories, not only from Innovations Academy, but other memories as well.The book dives deeper into the secrets behind the girls, the rotten foundations of the world, as well as the history of the Essential Women's Act which is still reverberating through society.  The author, unfortunately, has a tendency of adding in her personal views to the story which I take exception to. Which is why my rating is what it is. I understand that you hate men, but it's an unfair characterizations that is dragging the #MeTwo movement through the swamp. I am going to call this series subversive feminism and walk away.

 

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