Picture of author.

Sara Faring

Author of The Tenth Girl

2+ Works 338 Members 8 Reviews

About the Author

Image credit: Sara Faring at BookExpo at the Javits Center in New York City, May 2019. By Rhododendrites - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79387607

Works by Sara Faring

The Tenth Girl (2019) 255 copies
White Fox (2020) 83 copies

Associated Works

Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space (2022) — Contributor — 126 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Los Angeles, California, USA

Members

Reviews

I had not read anything by this author & was excited to read this, based on the description. Not to give any spoilers, but it is not as described. Will be reluctant to read her work in the future. šŸ˜³
 
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TammyPatrick | 7 other reviews | Jan 2, 2023 |
The beginning of this book is a 3, but the ending made me want to give it a 4.
 
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nightnur5e | 7 other reviews | Dec 15, 2022 |
I donā€™t know what it is with YA and horror, but most the time they are an absolute mess. At least ā€“ thatā€™s how I feel about it. The Tenth Girl is no exception to that rule, but I had problems with so much more than the faltering genre fit.

For starters, The Tenth Girl feels like a between-novel as far as target audience goes. Itā€™s a little too ridiculous to appeal to most adult readers, but the language and sexual themes (especially early in the book) are a bit too mature for the average YA reader. I feel like The Tenth Girl was plummeted into the YA zone because the publisher felt it would make the most money there when it would really be better suited for something-in-between ā€“ after all, the New Adult genre does exist, but the industry still feels determined to make that exclusively about steamy romances.

The characters are another problem. At best they are flat, at worst they are inconsistent and uninteresting. I was never able to really root for any of the characters in this book, because they were utterly forgettable. And itā€™s really not about relating or not relating to either Mavi or Angel. Itā€™s utter indifference because they arenā€™t rounded enough to get invested.

But wait! Thereā€™s more!

Faring was all over the place with plot. The Tenth Girl is advertised as a YA ghost story and it ā€¦ is not. It may start out that way, with ghosts and the such, but it quickly starts to jump all over the place and really ends more in science fiction than paranormal fantasy. It was supposed to be a major twist, but it was so out-of-the-blue that it didnā€™t make sense. It was less a ā€œsurpriseā€ and moreā€¦ simply confusing. Sometimes a really good plot can make up for flaws in character and writing because it keeps you curious as to what is going to happen nextā€¦ but this one absolutely did not.

Finally, I want to talk about Faringā€™s writing a bit. When I was researching this author, I found a scattering of reviews talking about racist themes and language in The Tenth Girl. Holy smokes this should be discussed more. Faring comes from Argentinian heritage and as such had an opportunity to share her culture, but instead sheā€™s created a ā€œfantasyā€ indigenous group that is one letter away from being the real thing. The entire first half of the book and the ghost story portion revolves around a bloody sacrificial ritual which is such a horrifying representation of an indigenous people! Itā€™s mentioned in detail for the first time a few chapters in ā€“ so early in the story ā€“ and is cringy thenā€¦ but then Faring repeats the story multiple times as we keep going through The Tenth Girl. This book could have strongly used a sensitivity reader because the premise of the entire first half of the book is based around some very problematic material.

Even beyond problematic themes, her writing isnā€™t good. Itā€™s so metaphor heavy and a lot of the behaviors and threads donā€™t make sense. Faring works for Penguin Random House and while I truly hope she didnā€™t get this published exclusively through having all those connectionsā€¦ Iā€™m struggling to see how such a mediocre book in every sense not only was picked up, but advertised so well. Iā€™m trying to be directly mean to Faring (I actually had the opportunity to meet her at BookCon 2019 and she was absolutely lovely) but this bookā€¦ itā€™s not good.

If this book is on your TBRā€¦ honestlyā€¦ you can skip it. Thereā€™s nothing particularly redeeming about The Tenth Girl. Those who have been with me for a while know that I try to twist books I donā€™t like as good for another audience, but The Tenth Girl is utterly mediocre in every way and insulting in others andā€¦ Iā€™m struggling to think of an audience for it. If you loved this book, I am so happy for you! But for meā€¦ yikes.
… (more)
 
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Morteana | 7 other reviews | May 29, 2021 |

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Statistics

Works
2
Also by
1
Members
338
Popularity
#70,454
Rating
3.1
Reviews
8
ISBNs
11

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