Review: Euphoria Kids by Alison Evans
Euphoria Kids is an enchanting, whimsical, refreshing #loveOzYA fantasy, and is the third novel written by Alison Evans.
Coming into Euphoria Kids, I knew that it had witches and it had trans and non-binary characters in it, and that was all. Whilst reading, I was not disappointed- it was so cute and heartwarming, and free of a lot of romance- something you don’t see in a lot of modern young adult literature! I also felt that the story was definitely more character driven than world driven, which I actually really liked.
Whilst I feel like Euphoria Kids could be read by anyone, it focuses on a group of teens (Iris, Babs, and boy) who are just trying to find themselves in the world. We first meet Iris, our non-binary main, who was born as a plant child and her mums- Clover and Moss (I love these plant names). Iris goes into a lot of detail about a faerie friend, Saltkin at the start of this book too, which is cute because who doesn’t want a faerie friend from the garden?! Iris feels pretty lonely, and wishes for friends, and Saltkin essentially grants them that wish, which is pretty cool.
Enter Babs, one of the trans characters in the book. Babs chose her name because it sounds like an old person’s name (rightly so too). Babs claims to be made of fire (in a literal or figurative sense, I’m not sure- but she warms up the others), and turns invisible at times- no thanks to a witch who cursed her when she was younger. This invisibleness was kind of sad as she claimed to be so isolated, and only two people (prior to Iris) could see her- her mum and the witchy cafe owner friend. To me, Babs felt like such a mum once Iris finds Babs on the school bus one day after Saltkin grants Iris’s wish! I also found it kind of sad to learn that Babs is forced to look after her mum, who has a chronic illness, but I do appreciate the disability rep here!
Boy, another trans character, who hadn’t found his name until near the end of the story, to me, felt like the glue that kept the group together, and was a sweet addition to the group, and I love the diversity, given that the boy’s dad is Middle-Eastern.
I also enjoyed reading about Saltkin, and I felt that they got really very salty (which was definitely super funny in my eyes) whilst Babs was trying to search in the forest and the fae and dryads knew about a danger there and Iris didn’t listen to them. I also loved the inclusion of other magical things such as the spells from the cafe lady and Babs’ mum, as well as the dryads. Also I love how in the book, time wasn’t well understood, as if time was also magic- as seen by Iris’ comments about how it sometimes only took mere minutes to get to the bus stop, and sometimes it took a lot of hours!
As a fluffy read where you just accept things that are happening, this definitely lives up to the ‘perfect for Studio Ghibli fans’ quote that is on the back cover! Overall, I really enjoyed the whimsicalness of this story, and I loved how all the parents were super accepting of the main characters, something we often don’t see in your typical young adult books.
Rating: 4.5/5
This review is also published on The Nerd Daily (link here)
Coming into Euphoria Kids, I knew that it had witches and it had trans and non-binary characters in it, and that was all. Whilst reading, I was not disappointed- it was so cute and heartwarming, and free of a lot of romance- something you don’t see in a lot of modern young adult literature! I also felt that the story was definitely more character driven than world driven, which I actually really liked.
Whilst I feel like Euphoria Kids could be read by anyone, it focuses on a group of teens (Iris, Babs, and boy) who are just trying to find themselves in the world. We first meet Iris, our non-binary main, who was born as a plant child and her mums- Clover and Moss (I love these plant names). Iris goes into a lot of detail about a faerie friend, Saltkin at the start of this book too, which is cute because who doesn’t want a faerie friend from the garden?! Iris feels pretty lonely, and wishes for friends, and Saltkin essentially grants them that wish, which is pretty cool.
Enter Babs, one of the trans characters in the book. Babs chose her name because it sounds like an old person’s name (rightly so too). Babs claims to be made of fire (in a literal or figurative sense, I’m not sure- but she warms up the others), and turns invisible at times- no thanks to a witch who cursed her when she was younger. This invisibleness was kind of sad as she claimed to be so isolated, and only two people (prior to Iris) could see her- her mum and the witchy cafe owner friend. To me, Babs felt like such a mum once Iris finds Babs on the school bus one day after Saltkin grants Iris’s wish! I also found it kind of sad to learn that Babs is forced to look after her mum, who has a chronic illness, but I do appreciate the disability rep here!
Boy, another trans character, who hadn’t found his name until near the end of the story, to me, felt like the glue that kept the group together, and was a sweet addition to the group, and I love the diversity, given that the boy’s dad is Middle-Eastern.
I also enjoyed reading about Saltkin, and I felt that they got really very salty (which was definitely super funny in my eyes) whilst Babs was trying to search in the forest and the fae and dryads knew about a danger there and Iris didn’t listen to them. I also loved the inclusion of other magical things such as the spells from the cafe lady and Babs’ mum, as well as the dryads. Also I love how in the book, time wasn’t well understood, as if time was also magic- as seen by Iris’ comments about how it sometimes only took mere minutes to get to the bus stop, and sometimes it took a lot of hours!
As a fluffy read where you just accept things that are happening, this definitely lives up to the ‘perfect for Studio Ghibli fans’ quote that is on the back cover! Overall, I really enjoyed the whimsicalness of this story, and I loved how all the parents were super accepting of the main characters, something we often don’t see in your typical young adult books.
Rating: 4.5/5
This review is also published on The Nerd Daily (link here)
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