Let us review what this book claimed to be in the blurb, "Kens is the gay Heathers meets Mean Girls, a shocking parody for a whole new generation." Kens is not a tasty blend of these two iconic master pieces. Kens is, for all intents and purposes, a very bad parody of Heathers that includes plenty of identical scenes to Heathers and the characters are clearly all based on the characters in Heathers but unfortunately this parody doesn't manage to capture a single ounce of its charm.

Tommy is clearly meant to be Veronica, but he lacks any wit or personality that would make him likable as a protagonist her. He's bland, impressionable, pathetic and why do we care about him. Blaine is a cut for cut JD. Literally, nothing is changed but the fact that he's gay and less clever because the other characters are so dumb Blaine doesn't even need a concrete plan. He'll just tell them "hey, you should kill yourself," and they agree immediately.

I also have so many concerns with how Raziel consistently portrays gay teens in his work. When I look back on When Everything Feels Like the Movies my main issues was that the protagonist used being gay as an excuse to be a shitty person. Things are the same here. The Kens sexually assault people, are promiscuous, use all kinds of drugs and are generally the WORST stereotypes you can imagine about gay teens. I know they're supposed to be bad but they're just clearly written to shock and disgust. They don't feel even near real, it makes the story ridiculous.

This book just wasn’t for me, while I see what the author was going for as a message it just wasn’t the way to go for me. I really liked the idea of a retelling of Mean Girls and that’s what originally made me request this one. The writing style really took me a while to get used to, but eventually I learned to appreciate it. I loved the fact that there was so much diversity as well.

There was a ton of pop culture references in the book and I just don’t feel like it was hitting the mark, for me personally. I felt more like all of these references were being thrown at me, where as maybe not trying so hard may have worked better.

The whole plot point at the end (sorry can’t spoil it here), was just outrageous to me. I cringed so much while reading the book as a whole I thought there was no way it would be able to hit me any more, but wow…. It did. I get that the author was using dark humor, satire etc. but for me it just wasn’t working. I was simply mortified, throughout most of the book.

“Straight out of Satan’s doll factory. Soul sold separately.”

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Penguin Random House Canada. I don’t usually remark on the quality of digital ARC copies, since format and editing errors are to be expected, but this one is especially (dare I say intentionally?) bad. The words NOT FINAL ADVANCE READERS COPY are interspersed throughout every page in the middle of paragraphs, in the middle of sentences, and sometimes in the middle of words. It was hugely distracting, like having someone shout in my ear every other paragraph, and it made it difficult to focus on the writing or pacing. I understand advance readers get paid in free books, but I think it’s a requirement that the copy be, you know, readable. I’m tempted to write my review with the same intrusions, but I decided I’m only petty enough to think about it, not actually do it. Some discussion of NSFW content ahead. Trigger warnings: homophobia, racism, violence, guns, suicide, severe illness.

Kens is the story of Heathers (1988), if the Heathers were plastic surgery-obsessed gay men who rule their high school through a combination of black cards, blow jobs, and bitchiness. Their social media reigns, and every score or faux pas in the school ends up on their Tumblr. When a bored Ken decides they need a new project, they take Tommy from a life of invisibility, give him a plastic makeover, and introduce him as the newest Ken. When his new love interest, bad boy Blaine, and Tommy accidentally kill one of the Kens, well… it’s not like he had a soul anyway, and death has made the Kens more popular than ever.

This is a highly crude and offensive novel, and clearly meant to be. Its flippancy toward issues of gay suicide and oversexualization, police violence against people of color, AIDS, and school shootings is breath-takingly awful. There’s hardly an issue Kens can’t make a joke out of, and it’s not funny so much as appalling. Yet I’d hesitate to call it a satire. Satire includes a lesson or some sort of social/political critique, and I can’t see what there is to be gained by satirizing gay men and drag queens. If Kens wants to make fun of the 1% who are dependent on their plastic surgeries and prescription drugs to make it through the day, then I’m all for it. But I’m hesitant at the idea of satire that’s aimed at populations that are already marginalized. At what point is it just reinforcing some truly horrible stereotypes? The television adaptation of Heathers didn’t work because it made genderqueer, POC, and fat girls into villains, when these groups already face discrimination on a daily basis. I can’t help feeling that Kens makes the same damning mistake. It’s entirely possible that I missed the point though, and I’d be interested to see well-thought-out interpretations from someone who didn’t totally hate it.

The novel relies heavily on shock value as humor, and I don’t have a lot of patience for shock value. It’s a cheap, one-time trick that loses its potency the more it’s used, and Kens pretty much never quits. I can’t tell if the writing is any good because it’s buried under crude jokes and a landslide of slang. I miss the days when I didn’t know what “thot” means and had never heard the word “hunty”. I generally feel that slang dates a novel really fast, so while Kens seems trendy (in the worst way) right now, teens are going to laugh at its archaic language in a few years. The transitions between scenes are often abrupt or awkward, as ending a scene on a bit of pithy dialogue usually is. The plot is a flat knockoff of Heathers with only a few deviations and none of its charm.

I’m not going to pretend the three Ken characters are anything more than a compilation of the worst gay stereotypes mashed up with the mean girl tropes of the original film. They’re soulless and hyper-sexualized, with little care for anything besides vodka for dinner and the number of likes on their latest social media post. Tommy has none of Veronica’s spine, and his transition from wanting to be as famous as the Kens to just wanting his school to be a nice place is clunky and under-developed. Blaine is an even flatter J.D. without a bit of his appeal or (albeit warped) justification. J.D.’s methods are twisted, but the film allows us to understand his reasoning. Kens doesn’t bother giving Blaine the same development. I wish we’d gotten to see more of Tommy’s friend, Tutti, an overweight girl who turns down a free plastic makeover and does fierce makeup tutorials. Unfortunately, she’s relegated to the sidekick who’s forced to laugh every time Tommy and the Kens do or say something horrible to her.

The end spirals out of control much like the original film, with the twist that the rash of suicides following a Ken’s death is centered wholly on gay teenagers– a group that already suffers from discrimination and high suicide rates. There’s nothing funny about it, and the novel doesn’t give us time to mourn. Tommy and Blaine set up the single black character to be gunned down by a policeman, the resulting funeral which is then presided over in blackface, and that issue is skated over as well. People who enjoy dark comedy and shock value may be able to get past the insensitivity of most of Kens’s topics, but I’m not one of them. If the idea was to be as offensive as possible, then congratulations. It worked. I’ll be steering a wide path from Reid’s writing in the future, since it obviously isn’t for me.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

Heterosexuality is so last season: Kens is the gay Heathers meets Mean Girls, a shocking parody for a whole new generation. Every high school has the archetypical Queen B and her minions, in Kens the high school hierarchy has been reimagined. Willows High is led by Ken Hilton, and he makes Regina George from Mean Girls look like a saint. Ken Hilton rules the school with his carbon-copies, Ken Roberts and Ken Carson by his side. It can be hard to tell the Kens apart, though there are minor differences in each edition, all Kens are created from the same mold. They come freshly minted in plastic straight out of Satan's doll factory, soul sold separately. Tommy Rawlins can't help but compare himself to the shimmering images of perfection that glide through the halls. He's desperate to fit in, but in a school where the Kens are queens who are treated like Queens, Tommy is the uncool gay kid. Soon he is presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a Ken, just as a tall dark handsome new boy Blaine catches his attention. Has Blaine arrived in time to save Tommy from the Kens? Tommy has high hopes for their future together, but when their shared desire to overthrow Ken Hilton takes a shocking turn. Tommy must decide how willing he is to reinvent himself, inside and out. Is this new version of Tommy everything he's always wanted to be or has he become an unknowing and submissive puppet in a sadistic plan?



Based on the description of the book I was really excited for this read, I haven't seen Heathers but I really enjoy Mean Girls everytime I watch it. I also liked the idea that homosexuality was the desired sexual orientation as opposed to heterosexuality. It was even interesting to see people pretending to be gay to fit in, it was just such a different perspective. The entire idea was just so interesting and exciting.

The only issue was the execution of the story. I didn't like the writing style, all of the sentences were really short, so instead of having one sentence, it would be broken up into four. This made reading the story incredibly choppy and really pulled me out of the story. The writing was just so distracting that I had a really hard time actually focussing on reading. Instead, this book just made my head hurt trying to understand the story and character motivations. A lot of the plot was fairly perinatal from the beginning which made it less exciting to read but it ws still satisfying knowning that I was right about Blaine's character.

I also had an issue with the content I know it is a satire and it's poking fun at our society but it comes off so serious and over the top. I honestly spent half of the book thinking is this book trying to be serious or a satire, and I knew the answer based on the description but I should have been able to tell based on the book. The book handles so many complex issues including hero worship, body image issues, suicide, and obviously plastic surgery. I don't think it handles any of them particularly well which is a shame because there is so much opportunity within this book to really handle these issues and it just didn't. The hero worship wasn't discouraged by anyone if anything it is encouraged, even the adults worship these teens it's just mind-boggling, I know it's supposed to be over the top but this is just so much. There is a difference between being exaggerated and being completely unrealistic which is what this is.

So one of the biggest themes in this book is body image and plastic surgery. I understand it is exaggerated and eventually, some of the characters have a change of heart but it still just hurts my heart that every single character had a warped body image, and were ok with drastic plastic surgery in teenagers. Drastic surgery honestly shouldn't be acceptable for anyone unless they are of sound body and mind and fully understand the risks and possible complications and have fully thought through their decision. But in teenagers, it is especially unsafe because they are still growing and developping physically and emotionally and it is damaging to both, especially where in this book they are made into copies of Ken Hilton. Tommy's surgery was done without any sort of consultation or discussion of what he wanted or what would be best for him which is so problematic. One character did turn down plastic surgery to lose weight because she thought people were supposed to be body positive but she still worshipped the Kens and what they stood for at the same time. In this situation, the adult who was also the doctor said that if that was her mindset she was too much work for him to fix, which infuriated me so much.

The next thing is the focus on suicide an I don't even know what to say about it other than the fact that it was essentially suicide worship which is completely not okay.

I feel like this book is trying to be edgy and divisive. Which if that is the goal it totally succeeded people are either going to love or hate this book and I just happen to be on the dislike end of the spectrum. I didn't like it but I didn't dislike it enough to not finish it.

I stArted reading this and hated it then I loved it then I hated it, but I can say I've never read anything quite like it! I feel like people will either love it or hate it! After finishing I'm still confused lol Thank you netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review!

I was interested in this book primarily because it advertises as a gay retelling of Mean Girls (and Heathers, too, but I haven't seen that one so it does not matter in this case) and man, did I get disappointed all over again (You may remember me being disappointed over the novelization of Mean Girls which wasn't compelling, either)! For starters, I want to say - how does one manage to make an outdated movie like Mean Girls even worse? By stuffing in as many offensive tropes and events as possible; I honestly had a tough time with that warnings banner above. I would get it if it was a smart satirical novel with black humor, which I am guessing was its intent, but it ended up using those tropes for cheap shock value.

So the protagonist, Tommy, a gay kid who pretty much flies under the radar, gets a chance to be one of the Kens, the gay Mean Girls squad, who are so obsessed with looking like Ken dolls, they even get surgical procedures done to 'match'. Tommy undergoes a cosmetic and soul surgery, drinks the Kool-Aid, and transforms into a Ken, only to crash and burn on their first outing. The Heathers angle kicks in with a love interest who tries to get Tommy to help him take revenge on the Kens, with a body count. After that, it progressively gets worse, and if I am being vague here, it is only because I have been fighting opposing impulses to wipe this from my brain and to remember enough to write this review. (This is why you take notes while reading!)

Kens is exaggerated, sure, and often makes the characters dramatic for emphasis, but I don't exactly see what it was trying to achieve with it. The depiction of gay characters is so over-the-top, I want to scream stereotyping here. They all are only obsessed with drugging and boozing themselves into a stupor, and maintaining their social media presence. It then proceeds to make a joke out of social justice movements, and suicides by having copycat suicides erupt after the death of one of the Kens. Like, I get this materialistic and vain town doesn't care for anything else and the story wants the reader to realize the depths of the shallow pond that is their brains, but FFS, have it all mean something! Even the protagonist is a sheep who doesn't improve much until the end. His romance arc or whatever was NOT in any way a satisfactory conclusion to whatever this mess was.

In short, a disappointing tribute to pop culture.

It's obvious what author Raziel Reid was trying to do with Kens: create a mirror image of the movie Heathers but with guys and gays rather than girls and heteros. The problem is that Heathers had a very sly take on American culture that resonated in its wit. Not so much with Kens; here we have the concept taken so far as to be a) unbelievable and b) unlikable. This isn't clever and reads more like a bunch of teens got together to figure out the most offensive way to retell Heathers. It's potty humor and immature - lacking a lot of the wit and, dare I say, charm of its inspiration.

The Kens rule the school: wealthy, plastic-surgeon beautiful, and the perfect Ken dolls. When Blaine arrives in school, he convinces Tommy that the Kens really aren't 'all that' - and that they need to be eliminated as a result.

The book reads like someone binge watched every season of RuPaul's Drag Race and then sat down and wrote a story using only dialogue from that show. There's a dictionary in the beginning just to make sure you know what a hunty, BBD, baphomet, etc are. This type of approach worked for Amy Heckerling with the Clueless movie (a retelling of Emma with contemporary lingo) because we genuinely liked our protagonists and the colloquialisms were such a huge and fun part of it. With Kens, the dialogue feels forced, unrealistic and as plastic as the "Ring Magic Ken" doll that these leads emulate. I hated every character in the book and didn't for a minute buy any of the dialogue. Where Heathers was a dark take on American high school culture, this book is a trite version of Heathers. It's a xerox copy ad nauseum where all the bold lines have become indistinct and the details completely lost.

Honestly, it's a vulgar, infantile, stupid, and pointless story. And I guess it's kind of sad that all the bad guys had to be gay. I felt they could have been narcissistic and still made the same point. It's was just too much where quality would have made up for the whole messy quantity. I do not recommend this book at all. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

This is an offensive book. Like, oh Dear God what the hell is this sort of offensive. But that's kinda the point. Kens is the blackest of black comedies I've ever come across. There isn't anything too political, too inappropriate, too much for this book to tackle. It's glamorous, it's disgusting, it's blasphemous, it's insensitive, it's plastic, and it's just so much more. You could write a thesis on this book and still you just wouldn't be able to grasp it's scope unless you sit down, know what you're in for, and read the damn thing.

And boy did I.

Be forewarned. You will most likely get offended by this book. There's a lot, A LOT, of just terrible things in this book. But that's the world Reid created. This hyperglam, plastic wonderland of cocaine and selfies is so over the top that it shoots the moon and becomes it's own creation beyond anything marketing could have come up with. If you're aware of that this book is, then you'll most likely have a better time then if you were left in the dark. This isn't suppose to be a super serious, issue driven book. It's a balls to the walls black comedy about awful people.

And that's where this book really grasps me. All the characters in this book are meant to be awful. They're meant to be the worst of the worst, because that's the world they live in. Willows is a terrible, ugly place, and that in turn affects the residents. Tommy, our protagonist, is only slightly better then the Kens, who are somehow even worse then their spiritual predecessors the Heathers. People will hate this book, but for me, it was everything I wanted from the author. Something dark, something glamorous.

Kens is to Heathers is what Rent is to La Boheme, an updated take on a previously existing work. Kens take a lot of plot points from Heathers, the throwing up at a party, the double date, the slushy, and so on and I can see how some would find it off putting, almost plagiarizing. But I found it more of a send up to the film that an actual rip off. Sure, I thought Reid could have maybe rewritten a scene or two, but it didn't bother me overall.

This is like a gay pop-culture horror novel and by god did I love it. I just hope that others know and enjoy the book for what it is and not what they want or think it should be.

The tag for this title sounded fun... "Heathers" and "Mean Girls" are fun, iconic movies that were clever, hilarious, and subversive. Sadly, "Kens" does not fall into that category. The set-up sounded intriguing, but the poorly drawn characters and the pedestrian writing leaves much to be desired here. It was almost as if the writer hacked into a teen blog's comments section, saw how they talked, and regurgitated it onto the page before forgetting what was read...but forgot to create engaging characters around it. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this one, and it takes a lot for me not to finish a book.

Much love to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC.

"Heterosexuality is so last season: Kens is the gay Heathers meets Mean Girls, a shocking parody for a whole new generation."
If that ain't the truth I don't know what is. I adore the movie Heathers and this is everything I love about that movie plus it has glitter AND gay boys!!!!!!

"Kens don't have actual blood in their veins. They have glitter."

This book is hella screwed up and highly addictive! So much fashion and bitchiness and adorableness it had me raging through the pages.

"Straight out of Satan's doll factory. Soul sold separately."

This was all kinds of fun to read in the most ridiculous sort of way. You will not find a deep plot or fabulous writing, and you will likely be offended and/or disgusted at least once, but you will be entertained!

"Your reality check bounced."

This was a book I was looking forward to, but I tried and couldn't read this. The copy had random words scattered through the sentences with great frequency.

Kens is described as Heathers meets Mean Girls with a gay twist, but the writing reminds me more of the reviews I've read of Tyra Banks' Modelland. The jokes are bawdy and crass, which isn't bad in itself, but they're just too obvious to really land. The humour seems better suited to a South Park scene or an SNL sketch -- it's so reliant on shock value that it loses its impact when dragged out for a full book.

Kens attempts to be a satire/parody on celebrity culture in the Instagram age, but isn't quite sharp nor incisive enough to be effective. At times, it's hard to tell what the target of its humour is -- for example, I assume one of the Kens being a drag queen named Sandy Hooker who wears a necklace of bullets is supposed to skewer people like Ken, who appropriate tragedy for likes, but it's a sight gag that also seems to poke fun at the Sandy Hook tragedy itself.

Or when a suicide video going viral sets of a trend of copycat attempts, I can see how Reid takes the trend of videotaping dangerous stunts for views to the extreme for parody's sake, but I can't help feeling like the story sneers not just at the celebrities who knowingly encourage dangerous behaviour, but also at the people who follow suit. A lot of the dark humour in Kens tries to punch up, but ends up inadvertently punching down at the same time. In a way, it almost feels worse, that while the story deliberately tears down the Kens of this world, the countless, often nameless, other characters end up as mere cannon fodder.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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This review will go live on my blog October 2, 8 am ET.

This was a book I was looking forward to, but unfortunately wasn't even able to read it. I'm not sure if all copies were like this, but the copy I tried reading had art/text not final and advanced reader's copy in the actual text of the story. Since it was like this, it took me out of the story and I was unable to finish it.

You know when you can practically physically *feel* something trying too hard? That was the case with Raziel Reid's Kens. There was no substance or effort made in fleshing out characters or making an enjoyable story. The sole purpose of this book was to shock people, and while the low-hanging fruit and weak shots at topical controversies like Black LIves Matters have certainly shocked some other readers, I found myself sighing and rolling my eyes. I felt similarly while reading WHEN EVERYTHING FEELS LIKE THE MOVIES, but it was creative and evocative enough that it warranted 3 stars and a promise to check out the author's other works.

I would have given this book two stars (one star for the base score, and other for the creative attempt at queering Heathers), but because both Heathers and Mean Girls are two of my favorite movies of all time I had to dock one. This wasn't a parody or satire, it was an uninspired copy-and-paste job.

Reid has certainly gotten the reaction he wanted with the amount of pearl-clutching surrounding this book, but when you get past the easy-to-criticize surface shock value stuff, you're just left with a below average book that lacks substance.

Oh my god, what was this book?

Such a ridiculous and boring read. I normally love these types of books (mean girls) but this book was so over the top, while, somehow managing to be as boring as possible.

Ugh!

Let us review what this book claimed to be in the blurb, "Kens is the gay Heathers meets Mean Girls, a shocking parody for a whole new generation." Kens is not a tasty blend of these two iconic master pieces. Kens is, for all intents and purposes, a very bad parody of Heathers that includes plenty of identical scenes to Heathers and the characters are clearly all based on the characters in Heathers but unfortunately this parody doesn't manage to capture a single ounce of its charm.

Tommy is clearly meant to be Veronica, but he lacks any wit or personality that would make him likable as a protagonist her. He's bland, impressionable, pathetic and why do we care about him. Blaine is a cut for cut JD. Literally, nothing is changed but the fact that he's gay and less clever because the other characters are so dumb Blaine doesn't even need a concrete plan. He'll just tell them "hey, you should kill yourself," and they agree immediately.

I also have so many concerns with how Raziel consistently portrays gay teens in his work. When I look back on When Everything Feels Like the Movies my main issues was that the protagonist used being gay as an excuse to be a shitty person. Things are the same here. The Kens sexually assault people, are promiscuous, use all kinds of drugs and are generally the WORST stereotypes you can imagine about gay teens. I know they're supposed to be bad but they're just clearly written to shock and disgust. They don't feel even near real, it makes the story ridiculous.

This is shot for shot a Heathers rewrite that's worse than the television show. It tries to modernize but Reid either doesn't actually understand how social media works or doesn't care. Seriously these rich kids couldn't even afford a domain for their blog? The scenes that aren't just Heathers scenes with slight rewrites to be more shocking are entirely pointless and slow. It's shock porn and nothing else. I'm disgusted that anyone considers any of Reid's work anything else. This isn't good, or edgy or funny it's pathetic. Reid couldn't even imagine an original story this time.

Parodies are meant to be funny or say something. Usually, you don't parody something that is already a comedy but it can be done well on occasion. Reid has nothing to say with this book. He's critiquing an exaggerated world he made up, there aren't really people this terrible in this high of a concentration. Reid throws #blacklivesmatter and gay suicide off as "jokes".

This is not a book I would recommend to anyone. It's not positive LGBT+ representation. It's not a funny parody of Heathers, if you want to read a gay Heathers I'm sure there are fanfics that do it way better. There is nothing original here. This is a book that simply wants to get a rise out of readers and isn't even successful because it contains nothing original. Satanism, drugs, plastic surgery, suicide, murder, gratuitous sex etc. It's all somehow bland, but there's definitely enough that I wouldn't want kids reading this.

I rarely actively hate a book, but boy do I hate this one. At BEST it's a trashy read to make fun of because there are parts it's almost so bad it's good. I honestly can't tell you why this book was written. I'd give it 0 stars if I could. It has nothing to say and is a waste of time.

I started off really enjoying this book but found myself skimming towards the end as the book grew repetitive. I also started off enjoying the satire and the peek into teen culture but found it becoming insensitive in many places. I couldn't find anything funny or redeeming about school shootings. I would not recommend this as a YA book at least not for younger readers. This book belongs in a university pop culture course where some might be interested in the social commentary. For people interested in LGBTQ2IA+ literature there are much better choices out there.
Thanks to Raziel Reid for the thought provoking book and Penguin Random House Canada for the Advanced Reader Copy.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I am not sure what to feel about this book. There is so much going on inside of my I am shaking as I trying to type this. This is painful to write as it was to read. It comes off as a snapshot of our world today, but it is all the worst parts. It seems to poke fun and almost look down on all the societal points that it is trying to make. I did not find any of the jokes in this funny. There were points I wanted to slam my laptop shut and not continue to read. The bullying, shaming, drinking, drugs and all just because a bit much for me to handle. I did finish the book but it did not live up to what was blurb. I wanted so much to like it, but I am being honest and I did not enjoy it at all. It hurt my heart and damaged my soul. 0 Stars.

I really did not like this book at all. I made myself finish it. The first few pages that are a glossary of terms in the book should have been a tip off that I would not like it, because I didn't really even like the glossary. I thought it was actually pretty terrible bordering on appalling. There are so many things in the story that I didn't like, that I can't even begin to name them because the book is basically a mockery of all the issues prominent in high schools today. Not a fan of the writing and the characters were not well-developed at ll. I loved Heathers and I was hugely disappointed with this book.

I picked this novel up based on the interesting cover and the plot. I would recommend this to other YA readers because of the plot.