*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
This book is a hard one to review given the enormity of what it achieves.
First, I wan*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
This book is a hard one to review given the enormity of what it achieves.
First, I want to express my surprise at the lack of male-gaze in a topic where I would expect it. The author is nonbinary and I can hear that perspective in the writing. The main character, Vern, is a teen mother who was forced into marriage at 15 by a cult her mother joined. It's so easy to fetishize this character, or to reduce her entire identity to motherhood, but her femininity, sense of self, and sexual discovery are approached with a unique sense of empowerment and reverence.
This tackles a lot of characters on the "fringe" of society. Vern is an albino woman from a black family, and an escapee from a cult that rose from a racial movement. Gogo is a Native American who was not raised in their culture, and who is two-spirit in a world that doesn't even know this identity in their language. Howling and Feral are children raised without society's conditioning, precocious in their thirst for knowledge but lacking structure from the world at large.
I love that Vern's fight isn't against any single thing, but the mix of all of these. Cainland and its tenants stand for the system in any form, and Vern is a single woman visually and emotionally set apart.
The sci-fi, or magical realism - what have you - is unique from anything I've read. I don't want to get too deep into this because it's a story that should be experienced first-hand!
If I were to offer any criticism, it would be that this story sometimes felt burdened by what it was saying, to the point that I wasn't fully immersed in Vern's life. I'm excited to read other works by this author because I think a less ambitious story may be more immersive within their writing style....more
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
There were many amazing things about this book. The fantastical horror of their world*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
There were many amazing things about this book. The fantastical horror of their world, the morally gray characters, the slow unraveling of the dark motivations underlying Eleanor's family. There was a sense of aimlessness to this story, however. In many ways it felt like I was searching for the point of it all - why these characters were in each others' web, and why the readers should care what happened to them. The richness of the story brought this up to three stars for me. I look forward to more from this author!...more
This was a promising concept. The characters were distinct and engaging and I was invested in the plot, but this was pulled in too many different direThis was a promising concept. The characters were distinct and engaging and I was invested in the plot, but this was pulled in too many different directions without fully committing to any. This has a lot of nods to The Selection, but without the over-the-top cheesiness of the dating game. It borrows from Persuasion, but deviates too much to truly be an adaptation. And it has a dystopian political storyline, but it doesn't quite commit to the seriousness of the situation. All in all an enjoyable read though I wish it had taken everything a little further....more
I was sadly disappointed with this sequel. There were too many new characters and the returning ones felt shoehorned in. I almost wish the cast had beI was sadly disappointed with this sequel. There were too many new characters and the returning ones felt shoehorned in. I almost wish the cast had been reset entirely so we had the time to become invested in the lives and relationships of the new players. For a story that is entirely based in drama and gossip, it was hard to be invested in the twists when I knew nothing about the characters to begin with. This lost the edge-of-my-seat thrill from the first book, but I'd still check out other works by this author....more
This is only book 2 of the series and it already feels like I've been following these characters forever. The plot is engaging, but the cast is far anThis is only book 2 of the series and it already feels like I've been following these characters forever. The plot is engaging, but the cast is far and above the highlight of this series. Each has a unique voice and complex motivations. This book pushed them all to their limits and the authors never took the easy way out with their writing. There's high energy action, drama, moral ambiguity, and cliffhangers to boot. I'm rating 4-stars for now, but I have high hopes that the next book will make me fall in love even more!
Edit Dec 2023: I’m re-reading this for the third time. Officially bumped to 5 stars. ...more
Fleck did some really smart things with this book! It’s pretty hard to do something new with the dystopian genre in 2020, but she definitely brought sFleck did some really smart things with this book! It’s pretty hard to do something new with the dystopian genre in 2020, but she definitely brought some new flavor to it.
Some pros:
- Mythos. The Sun/Moon worship was really interesting. It’s strange that I rarely see religion as a major element in dystopian novels. The way the offerings work, and the way they are leveraged by the government as a tool of control rather than just directly oppressing the people, gave the plot an extra intensity. It made a lot of sense why the people of Bellona didn’t rebel all those years. - Nico and Dorian. As an adult, it’s hard to read a teen book and not think “c’mon kid, let the grown ups do the war.” But these two boys are seasoned soldiers, and they know what they’re doing. They have their ambitions, their loyalties, their goals, and they stick to their guns. I especially love Nico’s story, where the rebels want him to join their cause so badly, but he insists that he can do more good in a different way. - Supporting cast. Xavier, Salazar, Bronwyn, Imi, Nico’s mom! They all interwove into the story perfectly. - The Sindaco. Man, what a character.
Wasn’t a Fan:
- Raevald. There were so many nuanced characters that it was extra disappointing for the main villain to be so flat. - Veda. Honestly, she grew on me more by this sequel, but only because she started to take a back seat to other things. As a main character, I never really had a sense of her capabilities. When she was training in the first book, was she already good at combat? Was she quick and resourceful? I really had no idea. A lot of her character seemed reactionary to the plot rather than driving it. - The love triangle. I know, I know, what’s a teen romance without them? I’m a little disappointed because it was handled well for most of the two books. It’s wartime, emotions are high, and of course Veda is going to seek solace in the personal closest to her at the time. Both men understood that, and were reasonably respectful to each other. So when it came down to a simple one-or-the-other choice, I was bummed.
A fun read for sure! I’d be interested to see something outside of the dystopian genre from this author....more
This was a good quick read for my morning commute! It was about**Review copy received from Xpresso Reads Book Tours in exchange for an honest review**
This was a good quick read for my morning commute! It was about some heavy material, but it was told from the perspective of someone who wasn't quite understanding the gravity of everything surrounding her. It was a refreshing perspective. Cait, the main character, is a rising high school senior who is witnessing the affects of addiction, first in the rockstar she meets at a show, and then in her own friend group. Things like waking up in the street after blacking out, sexual assault, drug use, and statutory rape don't seem to faze her, but with the kind of bender her summer becomes, there's no way something won't come crashing down.
It was different to read about these topics without it being too heavy. As the reader, you get to be angry and upset and scared for her, while all the while she is just continuing to enjoy it. There was some more depth that I wish the story had explored, though. Cait's childhood and friend group definitely explains her reckless behavior, but I didn't get a sense of the kind of desperation and emotional numbness that comes with such vices. Someone who is getting black out drunk regularly isn't thinking "this will be fun!" They're thinking how nothing else matters, so why not?
One more thing was both a hit and a miss for me: (view spoiler)[The plot really frames Adrien to be the person that sends her down a spiral, but honestly, the main source of it is Keith. I didn't feel like him getting in trouble for a new incident really wrapped that up. I would have loved to have seen Adrien finding out about everything and actually drawing a line between her past with Keith and her current mistakes with Adrien. (hide spoiler)]
It looks like theres' a sequel in the works, and I'm interested to see how much of the emotional fallout from this book carries over....more
Nina ✿ Looseleaf Reviews ✿
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