I can tell this is not my cup of tea. It's set in a future that I can't pin down and the text speak makes me want to scratch my eyes out! I won't be buying this one either...too much like too many others.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Book Group for the opportunity to read and review The Takedown by Corrie Wang! The Takedown is a futuristic realistic fiction story dealing with the overwhelming use of social media and all of the issues that go along with it. Kyla is in the popular clique of the prep school she attends until someone shares a video on social media of Kyla being intimate with a teacher. The story is all about her innocence and trying to figure out who did the posting. She wants to get to the source and get rid of the video that has potentially scarred her reputation and future permanently. The story also involves forgiveness and introspection. 4.5 stars for the ability to give readers food for thought and for making it about a topic most people are interested in these days.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. The Take Down is a great YA book, it also serves as a warning about attitude in school and what happens when you decide the friend you have had since grade school just doesn't fit in with your new friends.
Kyla Cheng is the popular girl in school, with a gorgeous boyfriend and a posse of girlfriends who hang on her like a bee to a flower. That is until a video surfaces of Kyla and a teacher that literally blows her world apart. Suddenly Kyla's so called friends are taking a step back,not believing that the video might be fake.Meanwhile people are watching it, it hurts Kyla's chances at getting into a good college, being valedictorian of her high school not to mention how frustrating it is for her to get the video removed from the internet. The remainder of the book is Kyla trying to track down her cyber bully,the person who uploaded the damaging video, who communicates with her, but is not identified until the end, which will surprise the reader.

This book first came to my attention because one of my favorite authors (Ryan Graudin) has been raving about it. Unfortunately, I found it to be pretty disappointing. First off, the setting is this really strange, future New York but it’s not really apparent that we’re in the future until a few chapters in. Was it necessary for the book to be set in the future? I don’t really think so. It just made it confusing because I had to learn about a completely new set of technology, social media, etc. And the way they talk was also really strange. It’s like…they would swear, but without the vowels? It was just super weird–I don’t actually think the English language is going to evolve like that.

Kyle, the main character, is not likable. I didn’t feel sympathy towards her or bad for her in any way. She just wasn’t likable and she didn’t really experience any growth. So if that was the goal, then the author definitely accomplished that. But if it wasn’t, then I think she needs to rethink how she writes her characters in the future. Kyle was just really entitled and selfish the whole book. She’s so focused on “me me me me me me” that she doesn’t notice anything that the people around her are doing. Her life is crashing down and she feels like everyone around her needs to be worrying about that as much, if not MORE, than she is.

The secondary characters were just okay. I didn’t really like any of them more than I liked Kyle. I also didn’t like that her brother was also named Kyle. The author gave a reason for that and I understand why it was “necessary” for the plot, but…just no. Figure out another way to accomplish that plot point because having a brother and a sister both named Kyle is just too weird and confusing.

The plot was also just okay. I’ve read a lot of books that are supposed to be a type of mystery, but there’s no way for the reader to solve it on their own. I’d like to read a book where the reader can take an active role in solving the mystery along with the characters. As it is, most books that involve a mystery just expect readers to sit back and enjoy the ride. This book was no different. Sure, there were clues. But in the end, there was really no way for the reader to decide who the “bad guy” was with any certainty. We just don’t get all of the facts until the very end. We’re left trailing the main character instead of working alongside them.

Overall, I was disappointed by this book. There were too many elements that just weren’t working for me. That being said, this book does have a rating of 4.03 on Goodreads, so take my review with a grain of salt I guess. I didn’t like it very much, but you might still enjoy it.

Overall Rating: 3
Language: Moderate
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: None
Sexual Content: Heavy. Nothing very explicit, but this book is all about a sex tape so it’s talked about a lot.

Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.This book first came to my attention because one of my favorite authors (Ryan Graudin) has been raving about it. Unfortunately, I found it to be pretty disappointing. First off, the setting is this really strange, future New York but it’s not really apparent that we’re in the future until a few chapters in. Was it necessary for the book to be set in the future? I don’t really think so. It just made it confusing because I had to learn about a completely new set of technology, social media, etc. And the way they talk was also really strange. It’s like…they would swear, but without the vowels? It was just super weird–I don’t actually think the English language is going to evolve like that.

Kyle, the main character, is not likable. I didn’t feel sympathy towards her or bad for her in any way. She just wasn’t likable and she didn’t really experience any growth. So if that was the goal, then the author definitely accomplished that. But if it wasn’t, then I think she needs to rethink how she writes her characters in the future. Kyle was just really entitled and selfish the whole book. She’s so focused on “me me me me me me” that she doesn’t notice anything that the people around her are doing. Her life is crashing down and she feels like everyone around her needs to be worrying about that as much, if not MORE, than she is.

The secondary characters were just okay. I didn’t really like any of them more than I liked Kyle. I also didn’t like that her brother was also named Kyle. The author gave a reason for that and I understand why it was “necessary” for the plot, but…just no. Figure out another way to accomplish that plot point because having a brother and a sister both named Kyle is just too weird and confusing.

The plot was also just okay. I’ve read a lot of books that are supposed to be a type of mystery, but there’s no way for the reader to solve it on their own. I’d like to read a book where the reader can take an active role in solving the mystery along with the characters. As it is, most books that involve a mystery just expect readers to sit back and enjoy the ride. This book was no different. Sure, there were clues. But in the end, there was really no way for the reader to decide who the “bad guy” was with any certainty. We just don’t get all of the facts until the very end. We’re left trailing the main character instead of working alongside them.

Overall, I was disappointed by this book. There were too many elements that just weren’t working for me. That being said, this book does have a rating of 4.03 on Goodreads, so take my review with a grain of salt I guess. I didn’t like it very much, but you might still enjoy it.

Overall Rating: 3
Language: Moderate
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: None
Sexual Content: Heavy. Nothing very explicit, but this book is all about a sex tape so it’s talked about a lot.

Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I cannot in good conscience read and review this book as it has been brought to my attention that this book contains micro aggressions and fetishizations of POC.

https://twitter.com/theshenners/status/852711837816819712

The Takedown by Corrie Wang instantly reminded me of Mean Girls meets Pretty Little Liars with a slight bump to the near future. This novel sounded intriquing and suspenseful, two of my favorite qualities to find in a book.

The Takedown follows Kyla as she maneuvers her life of college applications, holding space in the mean girls, popular crowd, boys, and more. Unfortunately for her someone is out to get her. From moment one in this book you can feel the tension building. You know something is happening, but you aren't sure what. It almost seems too obvious, but I found myself on the edge of my seat waiting to see what it was and how it was going to effect everyone. In this case, the ripple effect from the first incident is tragic for Kyla. She watches helpless as her life starts to fall apart.

I found myself hating Kyla and her friends, but also caring for them. I didn't want to see all these horrible things happening to them, but I felt that some was karma building up and overflowing. I kept guessing who could be behind it and I was pleasantly surprised when I found out who. The characters Wang developed were strong, multi-layered, and fun to read about. They really drew you in. I also loved that on top of the main story line, there were other side mysteries going on. It gave a depth to this novel that most are missing. The only thing that bothered me was the way the teenagers talked to each other in "IM" speak. It was distracting at times, but this was minor enough to not effect the overall enjoyment of the story. Plus I think it was part of the point of the futuristic, obsession with technology.

This book is perfect for young adults, teenagers, or anyone looking for a suspenseful, thoroughly enjoyable read then pick up The Takedown. You won't regret it.

This book was a bit of a roller coaster. There were times the main character was likable, unlikable, but she was always a sympathetic character. The backlash she faced was awful, more so as her relationships began to crumble.

I greatly enjoyed the diversity featured in this book and displayed on the cover. It is sure to circulate in my library.

I tried hard to like this book. It just doesn't work for me. As the character says at the beginning of the publisher description, she is not likable. Not at all. And it's very difficult to care about a character that isn't likable. This book will probably appeal to some teen readers, with its near-future setting and ideas about the directions social media might take, and its depiction of all the nastiness that a high school social hierarchy has to offer. But it just didn't ring true for me. Tedious, boring, and tiresome are the words that leap to mind. I read half of it and then gave it up.

The Takedown is such a quick, fun, and compelling read. It has smart dialogue and Gossip Girl style drama. There is an excellent mystery (better make that two) at the center of the story that will have you flipping the pages. The near-future technology is fascinating, while also being completely believable. The world-building feels pretty advanced for a debut author. You will lose yourself in this world and it's completely worth it. There is a bit of romance mixed in for good measure. The characters fall on the mean girl side of the spectrum, but they are still so fun to read about no matter how unlikable they are. Fans of Pretty Little Liars will absolutely want to check The Takedown out. Get it now!

Glossary of technology terms:
Doc - Phone or tablet device used by everyone. Also called personal holographic devices, they contain holomirrors to look around so the user doesn’t have to turn their head.
Quip - Similar to Twitter
Woofer - World Wide Facial Recognition (WWFR -- pronounced Woofer)
ConnectBook - Similar to Facebook
Hey, Neighbor! - Facial scanning app that opens a person’s ConnectBook page
G-files - Similar to Google. It is an online record of everything available about a person.

The novel opens on the morning a sex tape of Kyla and her English teacher is released, but Kyla claims the girl in the video isn’t her. No one seems to believe her, particularly as there doesn’t seem to be any video editing software available that would have the ability to create such a realistic looking video. Another thing is that her teacher is young, attractive, and hasn’t come out to say that he isn’t in the video. There was a surprising lack of parental or police involvement. That seemed like it should have been the first direction the book went, but it took a large portion of the book to even have the police mentioned.
The setting is near-future Brooklyn and privacy is at an all-time low. There are elements of Fahrenheit 451, in that technology is not just taking over but has a firm hold on society. Adults and children alike are completely dependent on their devices and they have the ability to use facial recognition to scan the people around them in order to bring up their online presence, mainly their ConnectBook profile. An example of how this can be a bad thing: “But she must have Hey, Neighbor!-ed me first. Her CB profile showed that she was watching my video. Ten clicks later, my Doc dinged as I was tagged in a pic--sitting as I was still sitting--above the caption: That sex vid girl sitting across from me on the D train...I was too busy Hey, Neighbor!-ing other people to care. It was just her. The next person and the next and the next--in fact, the entire car of nearly sixty people--were watching my video. Chains like this were common. But I’d never been the subject of one.” I thought this was an interesting way to deal with the loss of privacy and shows the way such technology can feel like an invasion rather than a blessing. Sometimes, we just want to exist and leave the internet behind and while almost all internet scandals fizzle out the moment a new one hits, the technology in this book keeps them relevant forever.
One really interesting element that I think could have had a bigger “a-ha!” moment was the enlightenment of the main character and her views on feminism. A large portion of the book continually ties back to ideas of feminism and slut shaming, partially because of how the other students and her school responds to the sex tape, but also through an anonymous online blog that applauds her sex tape. The girl that runs the blog gained so much online notoriety because she posted provocative photos of herself, which feels very Kardashian. Kyla often calls that girl a slut and shames her, much to the irritation of her friend Audra that holds the blogger in esteem throughout the book.
I liked that there were so many different facets of feminism such as role models, being comfortable with sexuality, being assertive vs being considered abrasive, the knee-jerk reaction of women to apologize for nothing, and yet something holds this back from being really feminist positive. It might be the divisive way the main character approaches characters far more comfortable in sharing their sexuality as wrong and disgusting, and yet she feels misunderstood as though they are trying to pry her out of her “prude shell.” There is no one shaming Kyla for not wanting to be as sexual. It never really feels like Kyla overcomes her desire to knock down the blogger she despises. For someone that so desperately wants to be accepted, she spends far too much time judging other women.
This is definitely a book for teens already familiar with current technology. Everything is slightly renamed, but still recognizable and can easily get overwhelming if the reader isn’t up to date on the latest trends. However, I really got the feeling the main should have been a character in their first year of college rather than still in high school. Between the sex tape with a teacher and the amount of slut shaming that goes on, there was also quite a bit of almost swearing (letters removed to only partially spell out curse words, alternative words, etc).
One really positive thing I have to say is that I loved how much diversity was in this book. Kyla is French and Chinese, her friend Sharma is Indian and Jamaican, Fawn is Irish and Filipino, and there are a couple other characters with really diverse backgrounds. There is one section that talks about her dad being a former member of Chinese gang turned librarian and he has knuckle tattoos REAW (Read ‘Em and Weep) which I loved. I also like how unlikeable Kyla was. She was a no nonsense, conceited girl that knew she was attractive and didn’t try to pretend she was anything else. She didn’t cower away from confrontation or get tongue-tied around cute boys. She operated on a different level, which she acknowledges and credits her confidence from being part of debate and even makes remarks about not being the girl that can’t find her words or trips on something into the boy for a “meet cute,” and I found that quite refreshing.
All in all, I can see why this book got so much advanced praise and I do think that there is a need for a book of this caliber, but this did not live up to the potential. I was disappointed with the lack of growth for the characters and felt like this could have had an impactful message. It could have been a great modern feminist work, but misses the mark there as well.

Somewhat chilling reminder to look up from our phones every so often. Beyond that, this was a great YA with a little romance, a lot of drama, and a hefty dose of suspense mixed with whodunnit. I loved it.

The Takedown equals genius. It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel because, honestly, most of them just aren't this GOOD. And trust me, I've read a lot of them.

It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel because most of them just aren't this GOOD. This is a cautionary tale, of sorts, about what can happen when you make an enemy on the bloody battlefields of high school and that enemy uses social media to bring you down. How do you fight back? How do you even determine who the enemy is?

Who will like The Takedown? Teenagers, anyone who's been bullied/cyberbullied, lived in NYC or Brooklyn, been shut out of a clique, anyone fascinated by hacking or future tech. In other words, it has broad appeal. Wang coins futuristic teen slang and makes it sound not only believable but contemporary. Much of it was sheer genius. The phones, acronymed PHDs, morph into Docs, naturally. Quip streams, Woofer filtering, and YurTube are everyday tech.

The most fun I've had reading a book in a long time. Consternation face. This isn't Connie Wang's day job.

My Thoughts: What if tomorrow you woke up and your personal image was smeared? To make matters worse, it was not by your own doing. I don't mean someone just spread a nasty rumor about you, but what if it was more...like video? In a society where we believe what we see, how would you be able to refute the evidence against you? You know it isn't you on the video, but how do you prove it?

These questions are how Corrie Wang was able to captivate my attention (and keep it) within the opening chapters of her debut novel, The Takedown. This book was difficult to put down. It left me reading late into the night - craving information, and needing to know who had it in for our lovely protagonist, Kyla Cheng. Who would do such a thing to her?! As the story unfolded I found myself deeply enthralled by this wonderful, cautionary, coming-of-age tale every young woman in our social-media-centered-world should read.

Would I Recommend This Book?
Absolutely! Especially if you are a fan of the series Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. I felt The Takedown was a bit reminiscent of the dynamics within the beloved PLL series. But, hey, even if you aren't a fan of the Liars, this book is still worth checking out.

What happens when you step on one too many sets of toes? One of the IT girls at school, the brilliant and beautiful Kyla has it all and she knows it. Set many years into the future, Corrie Wang’s THE TAKEDOWN proves that high school won’t change too much through the years. Electronic gadgets are far superior, and no life is complete without a plethora was ways to communicate without actually dealing with too much face to face human contact. People talk in “computereeze.” Text short-cuts have become part of the language, but cliques never seem to change. Teen friendships are still used for political gain and true friends can be dropped on a whim.

Kyla doesn’t care if you like her or not, she says so, but what she discovers when someone starts a smear campaign against her is that people really DO need people and true friends are hard to come by. When push comes to shove, it takes a stranger to break into the social sites and give her the hater’s name. But was it a hate crime? Was the hater alone or has someone seen an opportunity to knock Kyla down a peg? Kyla is determined to find the last piece of the puzzle that has ruined her life, as she discovers that when one door slams in your face, another is just waiting to be opened.
I honestly can’t say I like all that Kyla did or said. She has a habit of treating those closest to her like disposable commodities. She was determined and strong-willed, I must say that for her!

Lots of futuristic angst, self-centered emotions and the “talk” of the times did kind of drive me crazy, making me wonder if this is the way we are headed! Corrie Wang did an excellent job being consistent with her characters, love ‘em or not, they never fell out of character! This book is going to be a hit for sure, it just wasn’t a total hit for me.

I received an ARC edition from Disney Group on exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Publisher: Disney Hyperion (April 11, 2017)
Publication Date: April 11, 2017
Genre: YA Mystery
Print Length: 384 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

As someone who spends too much time blogging and on social media, I was drawn to issues raised in this book: lack of privacy in a connected world and what could go wrong as tech advances make it difficult to tell reality from forgery. The story's main character, Kyla, is the kind of girl you want to hate, the popular girl that struts down the corridor at the start of school arm in arm with her besties ignoring all around her. But when a forged sex video turns everyone against her, you can't help but sympathize, and want her to catch her hater.

The feminist story raises several important issues. Why does no one, even her best friends, believe Kyla when she says the video is a fake? Why is the hottest guy in school not called a slut for his serial romances and that thing he can do with his thumb while the Kyla is universally shunned after the video is posted? What are the consequences of not reading those long, tedious disclosure clauses when we sign up on social media sites? Would we be able to take down a video that showed us in an unflattering light from a social media website?

Teens are warned to be careful in their use of social media every day, but the possible consequences of weak, infrequently changed passwords are portrayed credibly in this story. A must-read for those wary of identity theft and social media attacks, and those who should be. Also a reminder of the golden rule because what goes around, comes around.

The review will post on Monday.

I expected The Takedown to be glossy and superficial. I was partly right - this is a fast paced story of mean girls and revenge peppered with futuristic slang. But it is also a sharply observed, unapologetically tough look at girls and friendship and social media. It's set in the not-too-far future, a world where social media and technology have eroded privacy and wormed into our lives to an even greater degree.

Kyla's not a likable character. She's a Queen Bee who rules her foursome of friends with an iron fist and a sharp tongue. Yes, she has enemies, but a girl doesn't get to the top of the social heap in a New York private school without making some. One day during senior year, Kyla sees a weird countdown on her phone. After the minutes tick down, a mysterious someone releases a video of Kyla having sex with a teacher.

Kyla may be guilty of social crimes, but she isn't the person in the video. One interesting thing this book pulls off is making Kyla pretty unlikeable until the video drops. But when everyone turns on her and believes she's guilty, I started feeling sorry for her and rooting for her to succeed. If anyone could track and trap someone guilty of revenge porn, it's tough-as-nails, take-no-prisoners person like Kyla.

A few weeks ago, I read another book that dealt with issues of female friendship, female sexuality and revenge. I thought that book alternated between buying in to stale notions of women and sex, and repeating stale platitudes.

Unlike that book, The Takedown takes lots of commonly-held ideas about women and sex and friendship, then turns them around and around so that the reader can examine them from a multitude of angles. Kyla's role model in the book is the female president of the United States, and she scorns an anonymous girl who posts "bra and panty" videos of herself online as a slut. Is a woman who willingly releases her own sexy videos of herself a feminist heroine, or a victim of a culture that objectifies women? Kyla is tough and brutally honest in her relationships with others -- does that make her a "mean girl?" Why is there a double standard that forces women to "be nice" or be deemed unlikable?

I cringed sometimes at Kyla's interactions with others, but really enjoyed watching her pursue her tormentor with ruthless determination. As she fights to find the person who faked and posted the video, she learns a lot about how others view her and has to come to terms with her own strengths and weaknesses as a person.

Really enjoyed this and look forward to what Corrie Wang writes next!

The Takedown is a surprisingly strong debut. It's equal parts mystery, prep school drama, feminism, and exploring relationships. Set in a very possible future (advanced tech, female president, otherwise normal), it's a healthy exploration of today's problems through tomorrow's tech. Wang builds her future world with care, showing rather than telling except when absolutely necessary. The speech patterns, especially of teens, are slightly more influenced by Internet chat styles, which seems viable. But it's not overdone.

Kyla is a great character. She's an accomplished popular girl and despite that introduction, the book wants you to like her. She's the main character and I don't really think she's an anti-hero(ine). Maybe I'm just not reading the right books, but I think this is the first time I've seen a popular girl as a main character.

I have a variety of issues with the way some of the more sensitive topics in the book were handled, but I think it's worth reading.

This will go live on my blog on April 20. Kellyvision.wordpress.com

Kylie's life is mostly perfect. She's one of the popular kids at school and she has a pretty swoon-worthy relationship with Mac. They're just friends but it's clear that things are about to move past platonic. And then a video of her having sex with her English teacher goes viral.

Except it's not Kylie. So...how to prove it?

This book is insanely fun. It's set in the future, where technology and social media have progressed far beyond what they are now. And the way things have gone are both interesting and plausible.

Watching Kylie try and figure out how to stop the damage and figure out who set her up and why (and how) is really interesting. I had my suspicions (no telling how accurate they are).

If you like hacking or social media stories or things like Pretty Little Liars, you will adore this book. I certainly did.

Recommended.

Kyla Cheng appears to have everything going for her; she's the girl you want to be (or maybe the girl you want to hate). Among the top of her small Brooklyn prep school's social food chain (and top of her class), Klya has a long way to fall, and boy does she ever. When an explicit video of her and her teacher goes viral, Kyla gains instant, yet unwanted, fame. The catch? Kyla says the video is a fake and wants to know who would do this to her, a high school girl who won't even date because she's so focused and driven. The fallout ensues, as Kyla tries to pick up the pieces of her life and figure out whom she can trust, how she can repair her unjustly damaged reputation, and learn how she can recover from this takedown. Being so connected and relying heavily on technology, everyone's a suspect.

Part cautionary tale, part high school social commentary, Wang delves into a world where technology rules. The pacing and paranoia of this book grabbed my attention and held on right from the start. As Kyla begins to reevaluate choices she's made, readers will empathize with how challenging teenage social circles can be. Though Kyla's story is a bit extreme, there is little privacy these days with so much handheld technology. Hopefully teen readers will remember this important lesson as images and videos are rarely truly gone.

When I described the book to my students, they thought it could easily take place today, but the characters seem slightly more connected than the today's teens. Reading The Takedown reminds me of reading Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, only it seems less of a distant future. Like Fahrenheit 451, The Takedown is certainly a possible, scary future. Whatever you're looking for, this book has it all: Mystery, drama, technology, romance, parent/teen relationships, and it packs a satisfying punch!

Overall, I liked this book. There were things I liked, and things I didn't, but overall it's solid.

The Good: At its core, The Takedown is a futuristic novel about modern feminism. A cyber terrorist creates a video using Kyla's image allegedly having sex with her teacher. Kyla becomes instantly famous as her life unravels. She has the envy and sympathy of her friends, the disgust of her crush, the disappointment of her parents, and the seeming end of her academic and professional future. In this modern New York City, people's whole lives are attached to their "docs" and all images of a person are merely a click away from anyone in the world. Kyla decides to track down her hater and reclaim her identity. Inspired by a woman president, her nerd-chic turned fashionista mother, and a small crew of "mean girl" friends, Kyla contemplates a young woman's ability to own her sexuality. Kyla has to sift through her own judgments in order to get clear about a woman's right to choose modesty or sex positivity. The novel is diverse - it's an ethnicity soup. The only character who actually wears his ethnicity is Kyla's crush, Mackenzie Rodriguez, who speaks Spanish and English interchangeably. Somehow everyone magically understands him. Best character of the book was Kyla's dad. A former leader of a Chinese gang in Flushing Queens turned swaggalicious librarian was what I never knew I needed in my life. I'd like to order 300 copies of THAT book, please!

The Bad: The language is written in an SMS vernacular. This seems fun at first, and then it gets confusing - especially when there are a lot of characters and initials of characters used - and lots of text messaging. If you put this book down for a second, you'll feel like you need to re-read or keep a journal of names to keep up with who is who. It doesn't help that many characters have similar initials, and the main character, Kyla, has a brother named Kyle...UGH! This is a who-done-it...and I kind of wanted to fast forward parts.

This is a book with a unique and timely message. Revenge porn and the sharing of nude pics that were meant to be private is a real thing. I don't think I've read a book tackling this subject in this way. It does make for an interesting read, and I'm sure a lot of teens will find this book satisfying.