Author of over eighty books (I repeat: eighty), please welcome my first review of the works of Meg Cabot!
I'm getting the sense that some people don't exactly recognize her name. No big. She's written under two other pen names (though we're pretty sure this one's her real name, unlike Patricia Cabot and Jenny Carroll), so that's completely fine. I'm sure you know her work. For any Disney Channel fans out there, she wrote the book Avalon High was (loosely) based on - a funny, clever read I would definitely recommend. Her most famous books would be The Princess Diaries series, which has two movies starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews - even though to anyone who has read the books, these movies are a completely different franchise that just happens to have the same name. I mean, Julie Andrews is no French-speaking, cigarette-smoking, privileged Grandmère. She could never.
But as much as I love The Princess Diaries (for pretty much everything except self-confidence and math abilities, Mia is my inspiration), today we're talking about the debut book in a different series by Meg Cabot, an early-2000's seven-book read with one of her strongest fanbases ever, The Mediator series.
The paranormal series follows Suze Simons, a ghost-seeing high schooler being uprooted from New York to move in with her mom's new husband's family in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Upon moving into this über-rich town and switching to the private Catholic school her three new stepbrothers attend, the Mission, she encounters many ghosts and even another Mediator.
Today we're going to be talking about the first three books. Each book is pretty short, sometimes even feeling like an episode of Buffy season 3 - one of the show's best seasons - but after book three the dynamics change. After this review I plan on discussing book four, Darkest Hour, on its own, and then the final books will be grouped together.
While the books aren't the most challenging and could at times show their age, most of the characters were likeable, the plot was fun, and the lead ship wasn't half-bad.
First I want to talk about the moments that did not age well. Just a note, though: this is only for the first book. I think that many of the later books in this series, especially the adult(ish) fiction revival ones, are great. This first book, however, has its moments. Mostly, they're homophobic ones. It's never a major problem, but it's worth noting that a few times Suze's brother Brad uses things like "gay" or other worse terms as an insult. Of course, Brad is always painted in a mean light when he does this, but he's saying it to one of Suze's friends, Adam, and Adam is just so offended by it. Obviously, this isn't the worst thing in the world, but something about Adam caring so much if someone thinks he's queer just doesn't sit right with me. It's an easy 2000 high school mindset to have, but it's not progressive, especially when you look at the fact that there isn't a single out queer person in the series until the very end of the very last book, when we see where little Jack Slater ends up. From what I can remember, this problem is only in the first book, but it's a problem nonetheless.
The cast could also be more diverse when it comes to ethnicity. I'm pretty sure every single person is white except for Gina, Suze's bestie from New York City, and Jesse, the love interest. Other than that, no diversity on the racial front.
Something this book did seem forward with, however, was ableism. While I've never heard a person with albinism talk about this book, so I can't really say how well it's done, Suze's bestie in Carmel, CeeCee, has albinism. Again, I can't fully say if she was done well, but I can say that it's generally a minor thing for her character. Other than school bullies sucking every once in a while and having to wear long sleeves and things, it's not much of an issue or a plotpoint. CeeCee is just this really cool gal who runs the newspaper and knows how to research like a champ and has high-tech gadgets, and she also happens to have albinism. Meg Cabot didn't hesitate to flesh her out like she would any character, which I think was especially forward for 2000, even if it is a pretty low bar.
Really, all of the characters were pretty great. While I don't think I have so many thoughts on most of them, my favorites were Suze, CeeCee, Gina, David, and Jesse.
Suze was a good narrator. Not reliable - not in the least - but funny and charming. She was awkward but made perfect pop culture references (many of which, I'm sad to say, went right over my head. This book was written half a decade before I was born, after all) and was definitely relatable, even if Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, Princess of Genovia will always be my personal relatable queen. Suze is fun, though, especially since Cabot's voice shines through so strongly that I can hear traces of Mia in Suze.
I don't want to go too deep into Jesse just yet (you can find more on him in the ships section), but I just want to say that he gets two big thumbs up from me. A real stand-up guy right there.
The most impressive part of the characters, however, was the family dynamic Cabot created with the three brothers, Brad, Jake, and David (or as Suze originally referred to them as: Dopey, Sleepy, and Doc). They were similar enough that I could believe they were all from the same family while still being different people. They all had their own unique redeeming qualities as well, which was enjoyable to read about, especially when you look at Suze's interactions with them.
Although she doesn't get along with Jake at the start of the series, he really is a good guy (even if he is a little stupid). Mostly, she only spoke with Jake when he started the conversation, which he was willing to do, sometimes. Suze also had the impression that Jake hated her, but really he just didn't know how to talk to her. She wasn't in his life simply because his life was filled with other things, but when it mattered - like when she was crushed and dying under a pile of rocks - he was there to help her like a good brother would. As you might have noticed, I have a weird amount of respect for Jake, considering he's barely in the series at all. He just gives good vibes.
My favorite brother, however, is David. He is so freaking adorable, with his photographic memory facts being spewed out left and right about literally every topic ever. He's also the only one of the three to immediately jump into Suze's life. It makes sense that he would do that because of the age gap between him and the other two boys. It's clear that he never really felt a sibling connection with the two of them, especially since there aren't a whole lot of shared interests there, so Suze was a real chance for David to have a close sibling.
It also makes sense that Brad, a generally mean and idiotic high schooler, doesn't get any redeeming qualities until later in the series, when he becomes a father and has to step up. I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for Brad, who definitely knew he was a spoiled bully but didn't care enough to change himself. Most of the time in the early books, Brad was featured picking on less popular kids or fighting with Suze over god knows what. For the first three books, Brad gets a three out of ten, one measly point for each book. (I know I haven't been rating everyone, I just wanted to really enforce how much anger I feel towards early-series Brad.)
When I talk about the second half of this series, I'll talk about Paul Slater, aka the Spawn of Satan, aka the Grossest Person to Walk the Earth, but for now, he's not in it at all (the Golden Age of Mediator, if I do say so myself, although Darkest Hour is my favorite book in the series).
In general, I liked the plots of these three books. Very monster-of-the-week, with new, ultimately unimportant ghosts wreaking havoc in Carmel-by-the-Sea (fun but unrelated fact: the first time Suze used Carmel's full name, I thought it was some weird joke I didn't get, not the town's actual name). While for most book series I prefer some complicated, overarching villain, for this cute teen paranormal action/romance, I prefer the less intense, more high school-oriented bad guys - again, think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this time early season one, before all the drama with the Master. One of the main reasons that the first half of Mediator is so much better than the second half is because there is no Big Bad - especially not one like the Most Disgusting Human Being Ever, who, as much as Cabot tried to make him morally ambiguous, is a terrible person, plain and simple. The worst person, actually. And a stalker. And filled to the brim with so much toxic masculinity and just plain toxicity that it makes me sick.
Anyway. This review isn't about that gross excuse for a villain. This is about the book before we ever met him, when the villains are weird and fun and very much high school-ish. Most of the time, I felt like I could really enjoy how the plotlines played out, especially in the second book, Ninth Key, where Tad Beaumont and his family are the epitome of weird and random side characters while also being strangely endearing. Overall, the plots of the first three books get one and a half thumbs up (out of two, obviously). Not perfect but still worlds better than the Sole Reason Babies Cry.
Now my favorite part of most books: the ships. There's really only one fleshed-out ship, Jesse de Silva and Suze Simon (even though they turn into an almost-but-not love triangle once the Actual Piece of Garbage joins).
Jesse is really adorable! He tries to be so heroic for Suze all the time, saving her from fires (book six) and walking her home from a midnight Mission ambush (book one). Mostly, though, I love him because Suze loves him. As I previously established, Suze is a very opinionated, unreliable narrator. One of the most looming parts of that is how her perception of the people around her affects the reader's perception of them, most notably with Jesse. While I'm pretty sure I'd like him either way, seeing him through Suze's eyes made all of his qualities seem perfect rather than just really, really great.
I also think that Suze and Jesse go really well together. She's not the most careful or thought-out when it comes to attacking, so he either holds her back (at least, he tries to) or creates a real plan. He's always focused on learning and working, so she helps him loosen up and enjoy himself. It's easy to see (for everyone except for the Devil Himself, of course) that they're a perfect match.
The first three Mediator books really are well-made. They're a fun read, very light, not very thought-provoking. I'd recommend them to anyone looking for an escape from our ever-depressing world or a drama outlet to keep yourself from stirring up trouble. Until next time, keep reading, readers.