Reviews

Post-Apocalyptic book, Not quiet a standard dystopian book because the population is doing a good job of thriving. The population is in households, they take care of their little community barter and trade with others. They have organized theirselves with their own form of government and police.
This book touches on the fact that households have to have a banner to show that they are able to take care children before they can have them. If you can’t feed them then you have no business breeding them. That’s the gist of the banner part of the book. But the book is more than just about population control there is a murder mystery in this book. Who new? I sure didn’t and I loved it.

allusory's review

Go to review page

4.0

Half murder mystery and half dystopian coming of age story, Vaughn manages to write a compelling who-dun-it while sketching out an entire post-apocalyptic world. At the center of Bannerless is The Coast Road communities, a bucolic seeming utopia built after 'The Fall' of the modern world. This is a society where everyone works for their place and views themselves as caretakers of resources for the next generations. It isn't until protagonist Enid's story begins to unfold, both in the present and her wanderer past, that the unsettling foundations of this new society begin to poke through.

Enid of the present is a brown tunic'd investigator sent into a text book perfect town to investigate a possible murder. Despite claims that no one liked the deceased or talked to him, it's obvious the town is nervous about something and it just might shatter their future.

Enid of the past is a directionless young woman who seizes on an invitation to travel from a young troubadour she's fallen for. As they travel the coast road, it becomes clear that this utopian life isn't everything it seems to be.

Through alternating chapters, Vaughn uses Enid's past to inform her present, and helps to deepen the reader's understanding of the their world along the way without heaps of exposition. Bannerless is a great pick for a summer afternoon read - compelling, interesting, and surprisingly bright despite it's themes.

Disclosure: This review is based on an ebook version of the memoir provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt through Netgalley.

vortacist's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

3eggomelet's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

jerseygrrrl's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

This was an interesting one for me. Initially, I couldn't understand why were were spending so much time on Enid's backstory. I found it dull and unrelated to the present day events, which were more interesting. About halfway through the book, however, it clicked. Suddenly, I was turning pages and unable to stop reading. In the end, I liked the book much more than I thought I would.

There were a few issues that linger:

- We're never given much insight into Enid's anger. Is it simply her personality? Is it something she developed at a particular time?
- The book blurb talks about Enid's investigation displaying cracks in the whole Coast Road system. It didn't do that. In fact, I though the Coast Road system was a pretty good solution to a civilization rebuilding after collapse.
- I thought the foray into the ruins would be a turning point in the story. It was

Spoiler

in terms of Dak's & Enid's relationship

. But it wasn't in terms of significance to the social order.
- There have to be ways of describing people of color's skin tone without resorting to "nut-colored." I swear: every character in the book who wasn't white had nut-colored skin.

So, some issues. But a good, solid read.

[One note: I read this right after NK Jemisin's The Stone Sky. Any book I read after that one is sure to suffer in comparison. I wonder if I would have been more excited about this book if I had read it in a month.]

More...