User blog:Danasta/HSS:Review book 1

= HSS Book 1 Review =

INTRO
Hey guys, I am Danasta and this is my book review blog on High School Story. This is my first blog so leave your feedbacks in the comment section. This is one of my favorite book because it was the first book I played and it always has an interesting and sometimes over the top plot .... cough cough book 2!. It also has many memorable characters like Emma, Michael, Caleb, Maria and Luis (who else were you expecting). High School Story has 3 books so this review will cover the first book.

PLOT SUMMARY
HSS involves an MC (boy or girl your choice really), who is new to a Oliver Berry High School. Your character makes new friends, join sporting activities, makes a couple of enemies and gets ready for homecoming with a special someone. Overall just a typical high school story with the Jock (Caleb), Bad boy (Michael), Shy girl(Emma), Girl who seriously needs anger management classes (Maria) and more. The main conflict of the book for the most part wasn't Hearst or any other external force, but rather it's the students of Berry. Think about it, Emma's insecurities and loneliness, Caleb getting over toxic relationships, Michael hiding his inner self, the inner turmoil in the band: Ezra vs Aiden, cheer-squad(Mia's jealousy of Sydney) and the football team (Caleb vs Brian). All these conflict start out as something petty and peaks at the football game against Sotton High. The result a terrible loss for the football team and the lack of a Q.B, a divided band, an injured cheer-squad captain, and worst of all a school with broken morale (Maria would learn that the hard way.). Everything seems hopeless but with the help of the MC things would change. A wild pep rally to cheer everyone up, convincing Michael to play Q.B on the football team, pranking Hearst and the final game against Hearst (Best moment of the book and probably the series as a whole). Then after all the drama you go to homecoming with your LI and prepare for a cold winter quarter. The time frame of the game is probably 2 months (Aug - Oct).

I would say this books is diamond dependent because it's critical in relationships with friends, LI, and school spirit. Asides from that I would say diamond dependency is 7/10 to understand LI's more. Now to the characters

CHARACTERS
A book can have a great, bad or Queen B plot, but the characters are the ones that can save or tarnish a book. High School Story book 1 is full of interesting characters that go beyond the typical high school stereotype and give us a proper introduction to them. In this characterization, I will focus on character's role, arc, impact on the story. Ranked from Good, Meh and Lame.

Good: Went beyond their role (8-10)
Emma (Important Character): Emma plays the part of the shy girl with a nice attitude. A role that sounds bland and simple on the outside but through the story it's what makes her special. Emma's arc was overcoming loneliness and low esteem. Before she met the MC, she had no confidence in herself because of her family issues at home and being bullied by the likes of Brian ; like how he humiliated her and chose not to invite her to his party because of her high school status as a loner.

However, your MC inspires her to be more bold. Her first step was joining the MC to sneak into Brian's party where she became part of your friend group of Michael, Maria, Adrian, Caleb and Julian. She joins a club activity with your MC and makes a lot of friends there and even gets a boyfriend, if your MC chooses to join the school gamers for a night-out gaming session she gets to date Luis. Throughout this she is seen mostly with the MC at the start, but overtime it becomes an option to do activities with her

Although, she makes a lot of improvements there were still some set backs like when her crush Caleb turned down her request to be his girlfriend. Despite that she managed to keep her composure when Caleb was there and broken down after he left. This scene made me feel sad and angry at Emma. I felt bad when she was sad, but I was angry when she asked him out. Why? He just got dumped by Zoe and you saw how sad he was common girl.Asides from that Emma has a good character and really gives off a bubbly and sweet vibes and gets flustered if you choose to flirt with her, so I will give her an 8/10

Michael: Michael on the surface plays the typical bad guy role. He isn't a bully unless you provoke him even Brain scared to get on his bad side. Before his arc tho already played a lot of prominent roles in the story like the Caleb retrieval arc and the pep rally arc. In those scenes, he always gives off a chill whatever vibe, which annoys characters like Maria. His attitude maybe seen as. "Me I don't care about Berry. '''I ain't no Caleb, Emma, Maria or Aiden. I am Michael Rad Dude Harrison I don't give a berry fudge about this school, now where's my motorcycle." - Michael Harrison 2022.''' It is also backed the fact he hangs with the anti-hero group of Wes, Koh, and a blue-haired girl. On the surface it seems to be true, but his character arc tells you otherwise.

It starts when Caleb notices Michael throwing skills in the park. Caleb asks if he could fill the vacant Quarter Back role, but Michael declined his offer. He even shows up for the Q.B trial as a spectator; he said all the trial participants were fodder and says the football team would need a lot more to win against Hearst. Things really take a turn when Ollie the tiger gets vandalized. Then a different side of Michael is shown in this scen

Michael shows outrage, when Ollie the Tiger gets vandalized. No, I you heard me right Michael was disappointed about the incident!!!. This show another side to Michael. He reveal why he doesn't want the Q.B role, which was because he was sacred of becoming another Brian (self-entitled prat). If you chose to listen to his backstory, you will get the whole context. In a nutshell, he does care about Berry, but he just doesn't show

Meh
Maria

Ms. Isa

Awful
Brian

Zoe