User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
A fast-paced and deeply satisfying read.
Squad is a story fitted with the sharpest teeth that chomps down on the patriarchy, and I adored it with my entire vicious heart.
Rating: really liked it
2.5 rounded down.
This Pretty Little Liars meets Teen Wolf meets Mean Girls graphic novel has fantastic illustrations, interesting if stereotypical, characters, and some interesting, yet at times flawed, social commentary.
First of all, the illustrations: the drawing style was giving me retro vibes (think Archie comics) which was super cute, really pleasing to look at, and made the story super enjoyable. One standout was the character drawing: the main characters are all gorgeous, and the illustrator really captured that from their features to their hair to their outfits.
The plot is a bit predictable and unoriginal, although this is kinda a given for how short of a story it is. I read it all in about an hour, and while it was a dynamic story to read, I knew pretty much everything was going to happen before it did. But kudos for the sapphic rep!! I wasn't expecting it, and really loved it as a sapphic reader.
Now for the social commentary: this is where the story started to get murky. The story has a lot of anger for toxic masculinity, and it semi-based on women avenging the behavior of predatory men via murder.
This aspect was great, and I loved it, however the story's "commentary" (if you could call it that) on racism... very much lacking. First of all, I'm a white reviewer, so keep in mind that I'm coming at this issue through that lens and I would very much be missing something, however the Asian main character and Black side character consistently had micro aggressions thrown at them, especially the Black character, by their own friends, which remain unchallenged throughout the story. It struck me as very weird that they would be included, but not expanded upon. The readers are assumed to know "this behavior is micro-aggressive," so while the racism is somewhat subtexted as bad just by human logic, it's never said to be out of the ordinary in the book. I don't think such micro aggressions belong on a YA book without being properly expanded upon; otherwise what's the point of including them? The Black side character was also sidelined SO MUCH during this story despite being a REALLY important aspect to the plot.
The main characters are also very obsessed with being skinny and dieting, which remains unchallenged. It's very stereotypically "mean popular girl" trope behavior to be obsessed with your weight, but I feel like in 2021 we shouldn't still be exhausting this trope without challenging it.
Overall, the illustrations were great, I loved the sapphic representation, and the story was entertaining, however the unchallenged representation of racism and fatphobia really killed my enthusiasm for this book.
Rating: really liked it
To cut right to the heart of things,
Squad is like if Mean Girls was a sapphic werewolf story about group dynamics and quite literally devouring toxic men. And it’s marvelous. Written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and wonderfully illustrated by Lisa Sterle, this is a chilling and thrilling graphic novel that attacks sexually aggressive masculine culture and shows there is power in friendships that serve as support groups. The book reads like a late 80s/early 90s after-school Halloween special, emphasized by the Archie Comics-like artwork crossed with 80s horror aesthetics, and is such a fun ride. Flowing beneath the high-stakes werewolf feasting plotline are some really great themes about friendship groups, rape culture and mother-daughter relationships in this tense graphic novel that is sure to shock and awe.
The nostalgia elements of
Squad were a real winner with me. Everything from the art direction to the popular-girl clique cliches of this book brought me right back to childhood watching horror films aimed just above my age group that we’d conspiratorially watch at sleepovers after the parents went to bed. Yet the target age group for this book (high school aged) won’t feel lacking without the nostalgia boost (it’ll likely have a ‘vintage’ appeal though) as this is just a solidly written horror spectacular. It surrounds a female empowerment theme, yet takes a dark edge as these girls accept supernatural powers for the price of having to feast on human flesh every full moon. The wolf pack, with its whole set of lore and passing of the alpha torch once one graduates and moves on to start a new pack in college, has a strict set of rules and only hunts the ‘
worst’ of their peers to eat. This tends to be abusive popular boys who rape drunk girls at parties.
The story takes a sharp turn when the Squad's rules get broken and disappearances start to form a pattern investigators are looking into, but the whole revenge plot leading up to this is just really fun and strikes a blow straight into toxic masculinity. Famous people are parodied as their meals, such as the reference to a devoured Bart O’Kavanaugh to mimic the false name given to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in one of his friend’s memoirs about sexual escapades and likely assaults, as well as a nod to a character named Weinstein. The book uses abusive men as their monthly feasts as a fun and damning commentary to deal out consequences on abusive behavior, but this is mostly just plot fuel for an examination of clique dynamics and the feeling of getting in over your head.
Also, did I mention this is a sapphic story? There is a very adorable love plot that brews within this book complete with a tear-jerking coming out scene. The book also plays with the mother-daughter relationship in an interesting way, having fun with the narration aspects of the book with scenes that narrate the coded meaning behind conversations between the two. It also places the story in the aftermath of a divorce, furthering the theme about the destructive nature of toxic relationships.
This is such a fun graphic novel with plenty of thrills that is perfect for spooky season but is just as entertaining any other time of the year. The art is fun and equally as engaging as the creepy storyline. This is fast paced, packed with plenty of depth and nuance and just well orchestrated in nostalgia-inducing glory. Just an all around good time.
4.5/5
Rating: really liked it
I had never heard of this graphic novel before but one of my lovely Patrons sent it to me and wowowowowow do they know me better than myself.
I didn't read the summary, just dove right in and I'm so glad I did. The summary spoils too much and I was genuinely surprised by so much of what the summary gives away.
A rich clique of girls that resemble Bunnies or Heathers? Okay, cool, whatever. But they turn out to be werewolves that kill insidious frat boys??? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP! I'm already head over heels. But then you add to that sapphic elements? I'm signed, sealed, delivered.
This had me smiling, gasping, laughing, and clapping.
I adored it and I can't believe it's a standalone. I need MORE!
Rating: really liked it
Had so much fun reading this! If you want a graphic novel that's like Teen Wolf but sapphic and with more morally grey characters, pick this one up!
Rating: really liked it
I came for the vibes - dark YA graphic novel, queer girls, werewolves, and preying on horrible boys! - and honestly?
Squad delivered.
Beautifully and vividly illustrated,
Squad is about new girl Becca who is adopted by the popular girls in her new school - except the popular girls are actually werewolves who prey on gross boys who take advantage of girls. Ultimately, a compelling graphic novel about friendship, peer pressure, group dynamics, power, and how hunger and powerlessness can tear people apart.
Squad won't offer compelling or cutting discourse on sexism and subverting the patriarchy, but that's okay. Rather, I thought
Squad felt like a wish fulfillment fantasy that explores: what
if we were more powerful and we didn't have to be afraid? What if you were a werewolf, an apex predator, and nothing could touch you or hurt you?
Squad has fun with these questions, and I found it vicious and satisfying.
Rating: really liked it
"You know, you gotta be careful around bitches." pg. 63
I have conflicting feelings about this book. There were things I liked about it, and things I didn't enjoy. This is VERY close to five stars for me. Just on the cusp of tipping over into five stars.
BASIC PREMISE:Becca starts going to a new high school and gets taken in by the most popular group of girls, much to her surprise. One night they reveal to her that they are werewolves, and she can either join them as a werewolf or she will be killed and eaten by them. She happily joins. What happens next is not so happy.
FEMINISMOKAY. I love feminism and I am a strong feminist. I love feminist works and seeing feminism interpreted and reinterpreted, especially in the horror genre. I think it's fascinating. What Tokuda-Hall is touching upon here is very powerful. Teenage girls taking matters into their own hands by murdering and consuming rapists. I don't have a problem with this concept, it's quite interesting, especially Tokuda's realistic setting, realistic teen characters and realistic dialogue and interactions between the girls.
However, the book isn't long enough or meaty enough to do this topic justice. We have a lot of untapped potential, basically Tokuda-Hall is just brushing the surface of this topic.
Perhaps it's the format. Graphic novels are nice, I don't have a problem with them, but they (if they are a single-volume deal) are not long enough to really get into the nitty-gritty the way a novel can with 300 or even 300+ pages of sheer text. Because of the graphic novel format, Tokuda-Hall is not able to truly dive in and examine the feminism (or lack thereof) of the girls, the rape culture and it's overarching effects on campus life, and the intricacies of female friendships.
Becca's mom is also interesting, someone who is a slave to diet culture and is a grasping, rather bitter divorcée whom Becca looks down on and despises. The interplay here is realistic and fascinating. Becca scorns her mother for being weak and pathetic, valuing thinness and money and trying to ingratiate herself with her daughter. It seemingly escapes her attention that Becca is similar, changing herself to fit in with the popular girls, who - surprise surprise - also value thinness and exhibit shallow behaviors. Becca is just as fake as the mom she sneers at. Becca is just as grasping, insecure and shallow as her mom is. But of course she thinks she is better than her mom and her mom just 'doesn't understand her. God!' type of deal.
WEREWOLF and FEMINIST THEORY:
The lycanthropy is also not explored well. We are not really given much explanation on werewolves, what the 'rules' are surrounding werewolves, how they can be made and unmade, what requirements they are for turning, how packs function, how packs interact with other packs.
Tokuda-Hall only brought up details suddenly, when they were necessary for the plot. World-building-wise, this is a fail. Something like L.J. Smith's Circle novels does this better.
Suddenly, being (view spoiler)
[unmade (hide spoiler)] is brought up. You know it's going to be a key feature in the plot, but it's been months. Why has no one mentioned this earlier? Suddenly, the old alpha shows up. Suddenly, you realize the (strange and unaddressed) reality that there isn't a single male werewolf in this book. Or, actually, any positive male characters at all. There are NO positive male characters in this book. Actually, there are really no males in this book at all except snippets of rapists and sometimes innocent high school boys whom the girls slaughter.
The book is, in my opinion, sloppy and could have been constructed in a better way. Perhaps this is not possible with the graphic-novel format, however. It's self-contained, so there isn't any other materials to glean information from. We need a manga series, basically, to cover all that Tokuda-Hall should be covering in here. Or, you know, a novel.
Is (view spoiler)
[Arianna really a bad alpha? Or was Allyson killing her for some other reason? Was this just an excuse for Becca to eat Arianna's heart and become human again? Personally, I think so. I think this whole set up was just a ploy of the author's to get Becca to be human again. (hide spoiler)]SLOPPY REALISM:
In a way, Tokuda-Hall's sloppiness is a boon. Things are not neat and tidy for the girls - neither are they in the real world. Becca and her friends and her mom are not perfect people, or even necessarily good ones - that's realistic. Murdering people over and over again is a messy business, and eventually the consequences will catch up with you - messy and realistic.
The way Tokuda's sloppiness doesn't serve her is when it's obvious she's glancing over some important points and information. Or when she skips huge time periods to fast forward to the good stuff - perhaps necessary for this platform but not good for plot.
LACK OF MALE CHARACTERS and LGBTQIA+(view spoiler)
[
Becca is a lesbian. I exhibit no surprise, probably 90% of the graphic novels I read have LGBTQIA+ main characters. It's a huge trend right now. If you are paying attention, you will notice how much Becca blushes around Marley right from the beginning of the book. So the idea they end up together is not off the radar.
An interviewer for the SF Chronicle brought up lesbianism as a refuge when he was interviewing Tokuda-Hall. I find this kind of idea repugnant, I was brought up by my schooling to believe lesbians are lesbians and 'becoming a lesbian to escape men and escape the (oftentimes completely horrifying) reality of dating males is a retro idea and a damaging, hurtful one to lesbians who want to fuck and love other women because they are attracted to other women sexually and romantically.' I was taught that this is a damaging and incorrect way to view lesbian women, akin to Ian Fleming writing Pussy Galore (a lesbian) having sex with James Bond and being 'cured' by having sex with 'the right man,' she was only a lesbian because she had been mistreated by men. A good dicking will fuck that right out of her. I still believe this is a damaging myth around lesbian love.
However, I CANNOT blame Brandon Yu for bringing up this topic. I can't blame him. The book features NO men except for a spate of rapists and a few occasional 'innocent high school boys' who are on-page for a split second. Dating other women seems like an obvious solution to escaping this complete cesspool of male disgustingness. I'm sure that's not WHY Tokuda-Hall made Becca a lesbian, but she should have put some fucking men in this book. I understand what she's trying to do. I understand her message. I even understand why she did it, but the way it's set up is not doing her any favors. By presenting men as some kind of evil, rapist, predatory, immoral group of people it's no wonder the idea of homosexuality as a refuge is brought up by an interviewer after reading this book. You wouldn't want to date a man in this world Tokuda-Hall has created. To be fair, it's very much based in reality and in Tokuda-Hall's own high school experiences and her viewpoint as a sexual-assault survivor. But throwing a good (or at least decent) man or two in here would have made it a better book on a lot of levels, IMO. Make Becca a lesbian! Sure. Fine. But perhaps have at least one side character (he doesn't even have to be a main character) that shows men are people, too.
I understand that othering men serves her purpose, maybe her purpose has been served just to her liking, who knows. Maybe she wants the reader to see men as a completely alien 'species,' unrelated to humans who are all females. Maybe that is her intent, to say that men are so separated from decency that they don't even enter the equation anymore. It's not my way of looking at things, it's not my personal interpretation of feminism, but perhaps it ties in more with her message in this book. (hide spoiler)]"I'm not taking relationship advice from someone who's never even touched a dick." pg. 97
THE RACISMThe racism is actually spot-on. Very subtle, very realistic and very on-point. I was extremely impressed. This is how to do it.
I also LOVE how Becca (view spoiler)
[ends up having sex and being in a romantic relationship with a girl who is casually racist. Or mildly racist? Or doesn't realize she is racist. (hide spoiler)] I have no idea how to describe the intricacies of racism, and believe me, it is very intricate. Not simple. This is never addressed, and that in itself is a GLORIOUS decision on Tokuda-Hall's part. Not only is her DEPICTION of racism and casual racist comments COMPLETELY ON POINT, but how other people choose to deal with racism, or, more glaringly, NOT deal with it and just completely avoid the subject is VERY ACCURATE. I can't heap enough praise on how racism was dealt with (or not dealt with, as it goes) in this book. So true to life, very good job on Tokuda-Hall's part.
TL;DR Absolutely a fascinating premise that I would love to delve deeper into. Unfortunately, the format Tokuda-Hall has chosen doesn't lend itself to deep structural analysis. I would have preferred a traditional-format novel for this topic. Not because I despise graphic novels, but because I feel it would have done the concept more justice. I struggled with this one. Although I admire Tokuda-Hall's ideas and creativity here, I did not find it deep enough or nuanced enough to really satisfy me. I didn't like the ending, which felt too neat. A too-neat ending for a surprisingly realistically sloppy book. Definitely read it - I would recommend this one. But with caveats. It's not perfect. It's not deeply soul-satisfying in the way it could be. At least, not in my opinion.
RELATED MATERIALS:
Blood Moon https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265752/
Ginger Snaps https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210070/...
American Werewolf in Paris. "She's stolen my heart." https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118604/...
Mean Girls https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/...
The Secret Circle books by L.J. Smith
Jennifer's Body https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1131734/...
I guess Buffy on some level, but that's a stretch.
Bring It On https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204946/...
Link to the SF Chronicle interview:
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/book...
NAMES IN THIS BOOK(view spoiler)
[
Thatcher m
Becca f
Marley f
Heidi f
Arianna (RiRi) f
Amanda f
Chad m
Bo m
Mackenzie f
Franklin m
Ro f
Bart m
Amber f
Chastity f
Allyson f
Jack m
Lisa f
Jessica f
Sherry f
Edna f
Alan m
Jerry m
Karen f
Tim m
(hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
I ended up really disliking this! And I hate that, partly because this is one of the few graphic novels where the art isn't distracting me with all its extra-ness and the colors don't make me hate my eyes. But I feel like the "patriarchy-smashing" message got extremely lost along the way. The girls kill predatory boys... until they don't. And we as the reader just *have* to know that the lead character is a small size 4. Yet the main character's mom is vilified for how toxic diet culture rules her life. Also, as other reviewers have mentioned, there were various microaggressions toward the characters of color. The one in particular that sticks out in my mind is when the MC is told she looks like a mermaid, but Asian.
I know feminism can be done well in entertainment because I feel it was in
Sabrina. This book was on the right track but some things were mentioned and then left unaddressed, which came off as tone-deaf. Since I expected a super-feminist work, it just didn't work for me.
Rating: really liked it
This YA graphic novel was a bit darker than I was expecting, but not in a bad way. Becca is the new girl at a posh school and is surprised when the popular clique recruits her--literally, they're a werewolf pack who need a fourth member.
They prey on the predators, satisfying their monthly hunger by eating shitty guys they pick up at parties. Things get a lot more morally grey when one of their boyfriends is accidentally killed and they're forced to look for food outside of their usual places.
Great vintage horror vibes in both the art and storytelling; the drawings are kind of Archie comic style but polished.
There's also a cute coming out, sapphic romance, and an intriguingly complex portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship where they never say what they mean.
I appreciated how all the women characters aren't crafted with likeability or niceness in mind. They felt very authentic!
This book gave me strong Buffy vibes, capturing my imagination in the way it gave teen girls the physical power to fight the patriarchy as embodied in entitled rapey teen boys. It felt cathartic and empowering to read like Buffy has often made me feel. There are also shades of The Craft in the girls' relationship and power dynamics with one girl being the leader.
Rating: really liked it
Okay. So what if
Mean Girls was making out with
Pretty Little Liars and then
Teen Wolf came along and bit the living shit out of them and then it was the full moon and now they all have to eat human flesh once a month?
Then you'd get
Squad.
This was fantastic. I loved the artwork. I loved the characters. I loved the bloody amoral juiciness of the squad and the girls and Becca going along with it because she wanted to belong so badly. And I love that in the middle of all the gory flesheating and hunting was a delightful coming-out story.
Full RTC.
I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review
Rating: really liked it
This graphic novel is The Craft meets Mean Girls meets Werewolves... plus it’s gay. In short, it’s awesome.
Rating: really liked it
Honestly, I'm not really sure how to talk about this one.
Squad is a Sapphic werewolf horror graphic novel that focuses on a group of teenage girls who plot the revenge of young men who attempt to take advantage of young women. The premise of the story is interesting, but the characters are a little more difficult to assess. They are supposed to be a tight knit group of friends; however, the microaggressive behavior that occurred between the characters was a hard pill to swallow. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be reminiscent of the characters from
Mean Girls but it took me slightly out of the story. Nevertheless, it is fast-paced and easy to make it through and I also enjoyed the artwork.
Rating: really liked it
I read The Mermaid, The Witch, And The Sea by: Maggie Tokuda Hall and really loved it I was so excited for Squad to come out, I preordered it and everything. The storyline was pretty basic (which was fine) it had a Mean Girls/early 2000’s teen movie vibe to it. The problem with the story, for me, is with how the only main Black character, Amanda, was treated. It felt to me like Amanda was unfairly targeted, and whose treatment felt like micro aggressions. I didn’t particularly like the ending either (no spoilers) it really didn’t make sense to me with the characters. With a few small things this went from a great, cute sapphic graphic novel about a group of were-girls taking their power back, to a meh read.
Rating: really liked it
Disclosure: I won this Advance Reader's Edition in a Goodreads Giveaway.
Heathers with fur. Teenage werewolf vigilantes get a twofer as they strike out against toxic masculinity and sate the hunger that drives their hunt. I wanted to cheer them on, but the story is awkwardly told (in script and art) and has characters crossing lines that take redemption out of reach.
Rating: really liked it
Actual rating 2.5/5 stars, rounded up because I liked the artwork a ton
Squad was a well designed and interesting graphic novel about werewolves that I liked enough but certainly didn’t love. Though the artwork, design style, and color scheme intrigued me, something about this book’s plot was just too surface level and borderline cliche, especially if you’ve seen Heathers, Jennifer’s Body, and Ginger Snaps. I love all three of those movies, and I feel like this book was just a mashup of those films with a heavy dose of Mean Girls. The sapphic relationship also felt like it came out of nowhere and lacked a heartfelt development and the story was just too short. In all honesty I feel like most of this book’s issues could have been fixed by making it longer.
Plus the plot was just way too predictable, and I also found the characters ultimately committed irredeemable acts. Sure I was onboard with them killing and eating rapists, but at a certain point they moved into just killing any boy/man they could, and that was where I found my support for them to disappear. It went from feminist justice to full on murder, which the two main heroines find wrong but then they never address it again.
Perhaps teen me would have loved Squad, but adult me didn’t feel like it had enough substance for this to be a memorable story or one I would want to reread. It was good for a one time read.
