#it's because of the genre change i know it i KNOW it silverthorn was their last fantasy album and the rest have been sci fi

[miserywizard]

i love all kamelot albums with tommy but man they really did something with silverthorn that they haven't quite achieved since

[queer-and-dear-books]

Title: Spin Me Right Round

Author: David Valdes

Genre: YA Fiction | Sci-Fi (Time Travel) | Drama | Friendship | LGBTQ+

Content Warnings: Homophobia | Racism | Student-Teacher Relations

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

Personal Opinion: A hilarious novel about a gay boy who accidentally slips into the past to fix a tragic present. Luis just wants one thing, to dance with his boyfriend at prom. But his not-so-progressive boarding school won’t allow that. Even his mother won’t allow it. And all because of what happened to a gay kid 35 years ago. But maybe there’s a way for Luis to change that kid’s fate.

Do I Own This Book? Nope.

Spoilers Below For My Likes & Dislikes:

Likes:

- The fact that we basically got the ultimate happy ending sort of makes the stress worth it. I mean, not only is Chaz alive but he ended up marrying his high school sweetheart, Ernie. Antic Springs Academy is also the most progressive school in the country now thanks to all of Ms. Silverthorn’s efforts. And Luis’s mom is more supportive than ever of her gay son and wants him to live his best gay life with Cheng at the prom. It honestly can’t get happier than that. Not to mention the fact that Mr. Buckman is no longer a 60 year old lecher perving on teenaged girls at school. So yeah, a super happy ending.

- Luis has a great sense of humor. His conversational and parenthetical-filled POV was so entertaining, immersive, and easy to read. It set a good pace for the book and I really enjoyed it.

- Leeza is a badass for busting into the council and exposing her perverted lover to save her friends from expulsion. And to bring physical proof with her too. She really ended that man and his whole career.

- Ms. Silverthorn is the queen of this novel. She had no real reason to believe Luis nor was she obligated to protect him and yet she did. She went out of her way to protect him and Chaz from punishment and she did her best to make the school a safer place for queer students. Teachers like her are few and far in between but I absolutely adore her.

Dislikes:

- Fuck Gordo and Vin Weasel and Red and Buzzcut. Disgusting homophobes who are probably responsible for Chaz’s death in the original timeline. I wonder what had set them off though. It’s not like he kissed Luis in the original timeline so how did it lead to Chaz dying? Plus, Chaz didn’t seem like he was going to be coming out anytime soon either until Luis showed up so how did all this happen?

- The biggest issue I have is that Luis isn’t the most rootable main character. He’s self-absorbed and kind of arrogant and he has this attitude that overall makes him feel… sour. I don’t know, he just fell flat for me. Like he referred to Leeza as his best friend but they knew each other for less than a week and had maybe one solid interaction. Maybe that’s why it felt flat. They only had one week together before he went back to the present.

- Luis also messed around a lot in the past and it freaked me out so bad. Like Ms. Silverthorn told him not to fuck around and he did exactly that! And he turned out to be right for nearly outing people and shit? I don’t know, it just bugged me a lot.

- Cheng feels… flat too. He just doesn’t really have a personality because he barely showed up and he just went along with any and everything that came out of his boyfriend’s mouth. He felt like a doormat. A pretty, athletic mat. The most personality we really got was the promposal flashback which was admittedly very sweet and very perfect for an attention hog like Luis.