I'm going to preface this by saying this book wasn't terrible, it just had so many of my pet peeves that I finished it out of spite so I could rant about it :)

For starters, substituting TikTok and Instagram with 'TicTac' and 'Instagrafia'. OMG. If you are an author writing about a world that you MADE UP, surely you can create a name for a fake social media or even a good substitute name that doesn't blatantly copy ones that already exist.

Secondly, the author tries to include Gen Z terminology in the book and it is so obvious that it is an adult trying to talk like a teen because first of all, nobody says 'Take the L' and 'My guy' unironically or in real life, STOP. (Yes those were direct quotes from the book) This also happens with swearing where in 2 paragraphs, the author suddenly realises the characters could swear so they say shit and bitch 5 times in one paragraph and then never again. At least be consistent. I feel like swearing was included to make this book YA when it should be Middle Grade.

This leads on to my next irk of the author implying or stating something, then spending the next paragraph using the same sentence written differently to explain it. Just because this book is aimed at younger readers doesn't mean they don't have critical thought or the ability to understand context clues. If mansplaining was a book, it would be this one.

My next complaints are directed at Teo and Teo only. In every argument you were in, the other character would make good points and your only comeback was 'oh so it's because I'm Jade'. NO, it's because you don't have any training.
For example. in the third round, Teo tells Xio 'Just try not to get tagged' and then literally a PAGE LATER when Teo asks Aurelio for advice and he replies 'don't get tagged', Teo says 'oh great, thank you, that was so helpful' as if he didn't LITERALLY JUST GIVE THE SAME ADVICE TO XIO.

Lastly, I didn't like the scoring system because

it tried to justify having Teo at the top and Xio not last despite neither of them having training and failing almost every challenge. Also, what's the point in having multiple trials where you could be in the first place before the last challenge and drop all the way down to last. If the rankings for the other trials don't matter, the only point of having multiple trials is to make the plot interesting

.

Overall, this book wasn't awful, but should definitely be Middle Grade, not Young Adult. But just because a book it targeted towards younger audiences, doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by older people too. This book has really important representation and I think will help a lot of people but the writing could have been executed better.