The thoughts I have on the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, by Holly Jackson, particularly Killjoy
Hello Potentially Happy Readers! It’s Jemina! And I’ve been told my opinions can be spoilers, so read at your own risk! Here be dragons! Or murders, I guess…
Killjoy is a novella to the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, which I read over the summer. (Here’s a comparison for those who might not know: novellas are to book series, spin-off tv shows to movie sagas.) And, I’m writing about this book because it’s a book I’ve both read recently, and could write about.
Essentially, Killjoy’s protagonist, Pip Fitz-Amobi, is a soon-to-be high school senior, as well as a detective, and she’s been invited to one of her best friend’s murder mystery birthday party. Halfway into the party, she becomes drawn into the plot and decides to make it her job to solve the mystery of the night. Her character is, in my opinion, an interesting spin on the Mary Sue archetype, as she’s a work addict (and later on an addict to other things), an empath, and gets emotionally invested easily. But she’s not perfect, and you can tell in the writing that is very intentional.
My thoughts are: Ant and Lauren are annoying. That’s a good detail, considering their behavior in most of the series. That shows good writing. Also, the characters are very consistent. Also great writing, I hate it when writers retcon things impulsively and don’t put enough thought into books. Cough, -Akata Witch-, COUGH
On the series itself, it was pretty good. I don’t have many complaints on the writing quality, that was mostly flawless. You can really tell there’s a lot of thought put into the detail work. But the series isn’t my favorite; for me, it didn’t really live up to the hype. In truth, I am a little afraid to complain too much about this series, as I definitely have a few of my friends who hold these novels in very high esteem.
Nevertheless I considered the endings to both Killjoy, and As Good As Dead, (the last novel in the trilogy) very unsatisfying. Another complaint I have is that while the romance written throughout the series is mostly fluffy and cute, there’s not a lot of chemistry to be found. What I mean is, the topic and idea of romance is very present, but there’s not much realistic buildup. I would go into more detail, but that runs the risk of spoilers. Essentially, Holly Jackson is not my favorite author whose first name is Holly. That honor goes to Holly Black, whose The Folk of the Air series I will likely cover in another blog somewhere along the year...
On the bright side, I love the portrayal of trauma! It’s very detailed, you can really relish in the pain. Not to make light of PTSD, but sometimes I find reading it refreshing. Also it’s realistic.
To conclude: I highly recommend this series. Generally, it’s pretty great. After you read it, come find me and we can rant/rave about it together.
-Cheerio, Jemina Feng
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Hey Jemina! I really liked your post & your writing tone! Many people had suggested I read this series before, but I never really had an idea of what the books were about, your blog helped a lot! It can be annoying when books have rough endings, and it's even worse if the book had an excellent plot, and you ended up left in no where:( But overall this book sounds like an exciting read! I'll pick it up someday! Sidenote: If you really enjoy murder mysteries, you should check out The Devotion of Suspect X(which might be my next post :D )!
ReplyDeleteHi Ruijing! I'm glad you liked my blog, but I don't feel like I did a great job of encapsulating the story of the whole series, so here's a little of what the first book is about. Pip is a senior living in a town marked by tragedy: 6 years ago, two high school seniors named Andie Bell and Sal Singh died. Everyone thinks that Sal murdered Andie and then committed suicide, but Pip doesn't think so. She starts to investigate the cold case with Sal's living brother, Ravi, and they find the real killer all along.
DeleteJust to clarify, the events of Killjoy take place before the main trilogy! The books in chronological order are Killjoy, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Good Girl, Bad Blood, and As Good As Dead.
DeleteJemina I just wanted to let you know that without even checking who wrote this book review I somehow knew it was you (you have a very distinct way or writing that's actually petty similar to the way you talk) and the whole review was playing in my head with your voice. What I'm trying to say is great job writing in an interesting and distinct way.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad it read across this way, I was mostly writing this in a dazed COVID-affected state of being, but I still hoped there was some ~personal flair~ Thanks for reading!
DeleteHey Jemina, awesome awesome review. The topic of your review really caught my eye, because, as you know, I'm in the process of reading that first book. This novella review felt similar in the way that I thought about the Hunger Games franchise (the movies because I never ended up reading the books ☹️), about how I really liked the beginning with the first and second movies, but also with how the adaptation of the last two (Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2) fell short, and did not live up to the quality of their predecessors. I think of those last two movies how you described 'Killjoy' and 'As Good As Dead's endings, unsatisfying.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a lot about A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, but I had no idea there was a sequel! You're very good at explaining your gripes with the book, too. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI have read a good firls guide to murder and I have been wanting to check out tho others in the series so this is a good reminder to do that.
ReplyDeleteIt is so fun to read your writing because of the true genuineness in its tone because can tell that it is coming from your own voice. As for your thoughts on this novella, the level of analysis, comparing the writing of "Killjoy" compared to others that you reference (Akata Witch and The Folk of the Air series) is both good, in the sense of being able to annoyed at a character that isn't real, but also just not your preferred kind of writing. Thanks this descriptive and enjoyable blog Jemina!
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