Besides the obvious mess, like the blatant fatphobia and the predatory behavior of some of the characters, this book isn’t as bad as most make it out to be. Especially for being written in 2002. There’s absolutely no surprise that this series ended up being a television show, it’s like it was made for it. I enjoyed this and could see myself reading the rest of the series. My own little guilty pleasure. 3.5 stars.