It's been a while since I saw season 2 of Stranger Things, so I liked returning to it in this book. Runaway Max is both a prequel of Max's life pre-Hawkins as well as her thoughts across the second season. I loved getting a deeper look into her mindset and her life before, especially her relationship with Billy. The fog didn't look so much like cigarette smoke in a bus station anymore. It looked like the ocean. Help my eyes got wet just from reading the first sentence cause I love Max so darn much and S4 BROKE ME

But I did like the writing in here, middle-grade as it was, and the greater emphasis given to Max's choices in season 2. It made me crave a sequel book about Max across seasons 3 and 4.Do tego tytuł (W oryginale: "Runaway Max"). Scena z ucieczką z domu była tak cholernie nie potrzebna, że chyba autorka dopisała ją już po skończeniu pisania książki, i wymyśleniu fajnego tytułu, żeby treść jakkolwiek do niego pasowała. Przynajmniej takie miałem wrażenie czytając ostatnie ¼ książki.

EW. Max witnessing the Milkyway hug and claiming she has never seen anyone look as sure about someone as Mike. lmao S4 "wHo sAiD tHaT i diDn’T? / yOu'rE mY suPerHerO!" Mike is in your walls. awwww Max gushing over Nancy and how fierce and pretty she looks… cute cute (bisexual awakening? maybe? hehe) When Lucas and Dustin tried to help them up, though, Mike shrugged them off and put his arm around Will. Then Steve was in front of me, shoving me out of the way, squaring up with the bat like he'd face down the whole world and take a chunk out of it before he let anything get to us.The way Billy and Steve watched each other made me think that maybe it wasn’t even about me. Or at least, not all of it. They were looking at each other with the kind of fixed stares you only get when it’s personal. ADHD!Max is real and valid (she's always been real and valid, but this book makes it veeeery explicit) Mike yelling "because you're annoying" is still sO hilarious to me because… buddy plsss take a look in the mirror lol. Besides, you guys are literally the epitome of "same person, different fonts" rounding my 3.5★ rating up to four stars even though it was a fairly average read and a pretty straightforward retelling of the events of S2 for the most part, and there really wasn’t much in there I could possibly use for my thesis, but I don’t care. I love Max and I love S2 and I am emotionaaaaaal😭😭😭 PLATONIC MADWHEELER IS SO REAL THOUGH. Max is literally like: now that Mike and I have had our heart-to-heart in the gym we can finally become besties. And Mike is like: haha no :)