3.75

This book sort of bridges the gap between YA and middle grade. Azar is 14, and while technically a high schooler, therefore making this YA, she’s so young that the book often reads much more like a middle grade novel. This is neither a good or bad thing, simply something you may want to be aware of before you pick up the book.
This was cute! Azar was a spunky narrator. The cast of friends were diverse and personable. The disability rep was phenomenal. But let’s dive in a little bit deeper, shall we?

Azar on Fire follows 14 year old Azar Rossi, a music loving teen with vocal damage due to severe colic as a baby. When she accidentally damages $1000 worth of school property, her principal gives her an ultimatum—pay the school back, or join the battle of the bands.
Since Azar can’t afford to pay the school back, she must gather a band and enter the competition. Being a performer may be her dream, but being in a band is a lot harder than Azar expected.

The representation in this book is amazing. Azar is both disabled and multiracial (Argentinian, Iranian, and Italian). I believe both of those experiences are #ownvoices, though I’m not sure in the case of the disability rep. The raw and knowledgeable way in which it was written led me to believe that it must have been written by someone who experienced these things, and though there is no author’s note, Olivia Abtahi mentions her ENT doctor in the acknowledgments.
Azar is also demisexual, which we learn through an interaction between her and her cousin Roya. To me, this scene felt really random and out of place. It was never hinted at or mentioned before this, nor was it mentioned again. It was one throw-away scene in the middle of the book that sort of came out of nowhere. Now, I am demi, and I appreciate the rep, but I wish it had been even just a little bit more pervasive throughout the story. The way it felt so awkwardly plugged into the story cheapened the representation for me.
The larger cast of characters is similarly diverse. Roya, Azar’s cousin and best friend, is Iranian. Her bandmates are also all POC, except for Eben, the lead singer and love interest, who is the only cishet white person in the main cast. Matty, the guitarist, is Argentinian and gay, and Nadim, the bassist is an Arab exchange student (I don’t remember the specific country he is from).

The plot and pacing of the book were fine. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible. I was never super engaged, nor did I ever have the desire to DNF the book. There were a lot of throwaway scenes and things that happened in the book that I thought would become recurring themes later on, but didn’t. They added nothing to the book or the story, and just kind of felt… weirdly inserted. Azar’s demisexuality is one example of this. Another is Azar’s visit to Eben’s house where she learns his mom is a famous internet blogger who posts about him a ton on the internet for views (sometimes in a way that is exploitative and a violation of his privacy). That made me go what? It was completely out of left field and didn’t mesh with who Eben is as a person. He and Azar never addressed it in conversation. It never comes up again. It was a whole thing that I couldn’t stop thinking about for the rest of the book, waiting for it to become relevant again, only for that to never happen.

Azar goes through some serious character growth throughout the book, and unlike some other aspects of the story, those threads are never lost. One of the reasons I say this book reads a lot like a MG novel is because this character growth, and the accompanying morals, are very heavy handed. We are blatantly told and shown that Azar needs to work on team work. She’s a little bit of a control-freak (relateable lol), and she feels personally attacked every time the band doesn’t want to do exactly what she says or wants. This did get kind of annoying at times, because of how often it was repeatedly shoved down the reader’s throats, and because the way it was written felt very much like a lesson being taught. Which felt very middle grade, to me, for a YA novel. Middle grade books can sometimes have a very strong teaching moral woven in, whereas books for older readers (YA, adult) often have themes that are more subversively present that the reader is expected to take away without having it shoved in their face.
I think that Azar’s growth in accepting herself and her disability was done much more artfully. She steadily and gradually began to accept herself throughout the book, culminating in her realizing she doesn’t need to have fully functional vical cordsin order to play her music and be happy with herself. Unlike the “teamwork is important!” aspect of her character growth, this felt much more natural within the story, and I really enjoyed watching her grow.

This book is definitely worth the read, and I would love to see a true middle grade book from this author someday! I think she’d excel at it.

I would have liked it more without the romance.

Azar has had throat issues for a long time and because of them often doesn't speak, it causes her pain and she doesn't think it sounds good. Writing music lyrics brings Azar a lot of joy but she worries she'll never hear them turn into actual music. She often keeps to herself and her mom is her best friend, while visiting her dad once a month and going to concerts also brings her great joy. One day getting hit by something in the hall frustrates Azar and sends her into a drumming session in a janitors closet to escape the chaos. Unfortunately she gets out a little too much frustration and a bunch of supplies are ruined, her punishment is either compete in battle of the bands and share the prize money if she wins or pay for all the ruined supplies out right. The only problem is, she doesn't have a band or the money to pay, what will she choose?