therantingkrowi

[therantingkrowi]

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[therantingkrowi]

So... Lesbian Academy

I was on Wattpad, just casually looking for a decent story to read when I stumbled upon one called Lesbian Academy. The author was well-liked and had quite the following, plus it had a couple million views, so I decided to give it a chance. It all went downhill from there. Characters. An essential part of any story. If your characters are basic and boring, your story will go nowhere, right? Well, the characters in Lesbian Academy are FAR from developed. Let's get started.

Mars has no personality- Oh wait, she does, the cliche oblivious main character who makes dumb decisions and wants to save the day. Definitely not overused at all. On top of that, somehow she has 5-6 different women pining after her? I mean, sure, it's called Lesbian Academy for a reason, but there are tons of women to choose from that actually have a personality. Why her, the new girl with no substance? WHY??? Everyone seems to find her stupidity endearing. HOW? And how the hell does she not realize Blue and Lillith are into her until they say something? Are you THAT dumb? What even was her goal? To get away from her homophobic parents? Sure, but when she's actually at the academy? What does she want? Besides looking for "Ms. Hazel Eyes" which we'll get to in a second. Seriously though, what is her goal? She doesn't have one. What does she want? What is she looking for? I read all those goddamn words and I still don't know what motivated her, or anything about her except for surface stuff. Her parents are unsupportive, her sister is cool, she fell for some girl at a summer camp, and yep. That's it. Overly sensitive sometimes. No interests, no hobbies, no personality traits that make her interesting in the slightest. And she's the protagonist. 

Lillith was a step up from Mars, she actually showed emotions that made sense. However, she could easily be described as a watered-down version of Draco Malfoy. She had reasonings behind her actions, her movements, but she was incredibly bratty and did the bare minimum. Why is that praised? The bare minimum? Anyways. She was cold towards Mars for irrational reasons, she only showed real feelings towards Mars when she was under a spell, and they never bonded in any way. They didn't share anything deeply personal, they didn't establish any kind of common ground, they didn't do anything but argue and have prolonged eye contact, which was out of place. I just don't get how these two could ever like each other. Lillith had her emotional problems, she didn't trust easily, and she's emotionally immature. Very into fighting and code. Violent too.Things like that. Mars isn't. Though I can't tell you much about Mars as a person, it's clear that she isn't into those things, she isn't violent, and she's also emotionally immature, which I'll explain in a second. In what world would these two be a thing? Why? HOW? They're both immature, so their relationship would be incredibly unstable. Mars appears to be sensitive and easily offended, and Lillith is definitely an offensive person. She even said herself that she wouldn't be able to be "gentle" or whatever. Why are they a thing??? WHERE'S THE CONNECTION? That's not how you do the enemies-to-lovers trope. At least, not the good, well-established way.

Blue was my favorite character for sure. She was smart, kind, and emotionally mature, something no one else was. She was quite understanding and really had layers. She knew how to be passionate, how to fight for what she wanted, she was quite determined, and she was there for Mars, even after she found out she was in love with Alya. She was a good person without being boring. A cliche? Perhaps. That's why it's sad that she's the best character. Everyone else was that bad. She didn't change over the story, there was 0 development, but that's because she already had her shit together to begin with. While everyone else was busy shipping "Lars", I was busy shipping "Blars" since they were so cute together. Blue knew Mars from the camp too (Wow, such a coincidence and definitely not oddly convenient to give this character a reason to like this limp noodle of a character.) because Mars saved Blue from drowning. I get it, that's a big thing to do for someone, but seriously? Can't you guys be friends and not fall into the love triangle trope? Please? No? Fine. Oh wait, it's not a love triangle. It's a love hexagon in this bitch.

Alya. Ah, Alya, the character Mars is somehow still in love with. She's a real bitch from what I gather. She leads Mars on, then tells her she'd forgotten all about her after all these years, which is really quite understandable, but it's how she says it, even when she knows Mars is hurting. She still has the audacity to "protect" Mars from everything and everyone, even when she stomped on her heart. She's so inconsistent. Maybe it's because I didn't read the whole thing, but I read almost to the end. I'd feel like trash if I actually wasted my time reading the last 15 chapters. I read 47 boring chapters, deal with it. Anyways. Why would she go from running away with Mars to telling her she feels nothing for her? Why would she ignore her and then turn around and ask her to dance? Why? And why was Mars "in love" with her, even after 6 years? I know, sometimes that's just how it is, but they were 13. You can't properly and maturely love someone while you're so young. They only knew each other for around 3 months, it was a summer camp. You can't love someone truly when under those circumstances. Her secrets probably gave her a bit of character development, so sure, I'll give her that, but she still sucked as a character. I wouldn't care if she was killed off, even though she was a ghost.

With the (main) characters, the only one I actually felt anything for was Blue. If any other character died, I'd shrug it off and keep pushing for Blue to get a happy ending. She's an incredibly interesting and strong character, almost too strong to be a side character, or a love interest that doesn't get the girl. And for such dumb reasons! Obviously, the author can do what she wants with her story, but Blue got the short end of the stick for no reason. Why not Lillith or something? She didn't deserve Mars, then again, both characters are boring, so never mind that. 

The plot was good, I guess. It was basically Divergent and Harry Potter smashed into one book, but whatever. I like the idea, just not the execution. I wish Mars were more interesting, after all, she's the main character. We're supposed to feel what she feels, but you can't. She feels nothing herself, except for "Oh no, who will I choose?!" and "Alya, notice me!" That's it. 

Kudos to the author for writing that incredibly long thing, though. I couldn't have done it. Plus she's got a ton of reads on it, but it's Wattpad. That doesn't say much. Not trying to be an asshole, just expressing an opinion. I'm in no place to come after someone's story when I'm no expert.