ohdamnbatman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
pancake_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
brookiebrooke's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
kalynharris's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
debzemanlms's review against another edition
4.0
Once I started, I couldn’t put this book down. All Dinah wants is vengeance against Gabriel Gates, for her mother, her brother and the people of the Ozarks. Along the way, she also has to decide between loving her best friend and falling for a boy, Johnny, who saves her. The story takes place in the near future, after the Third World War, nothing sci-fi about it, except self driving cars. This was a strong #ownvoices novel, one for all HS libraries.
cedarwishes's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
gabriele_queerbookdom's review against another edition
5.0
DRC provided directly by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Representation: pansexual polyamorous white protagonist, queer German-Dominican tertiary character, Dominican tertiary character, white German tertiary character, queer Lakota Oglala tertiary character, Ghanaian tertiary characters, queer Ghanaian tertiary character, tertiary characters of colour, queer tertiary characters, asthmatic tertiary character.
Content Warning: violence, death, grief, loss, alcohol, mention of slavery, mention of genocide, mentions of colonialism, bullying, kidnapping.
The Ballad of Dinah Caldwell by Kate Brauning is an astounding near-future thriller story about grief, loss, guilt and the ways to overcome it, family, love and the forms justice takes.
Dinah Caldwell is a seventeen-year-old girl living in the Ozarks. When her father abandoned the family after the failure of his garage, Dinah felt like she needed to fill the void he created on top of running their farm with her mother. After years of barely surviving, Gabriel Gates, a local profiteer, starts hounding them for their well, even resorting to physically assaulting her mother. When she comes home one day after helping out her neighbours, she finds her mother dead on the floor and that man on her house’s porch. Alone, homeless and with a bounty on her head, she takes refuge on the mountains with the help of a fellow unfortunate soul; her only thought: seeing Gabriel Gates dead.
Frankly, while I expected to enjoy this book, I did not anticipate loving it this much, but I am really happy I did. I was so captivated by the story that I managed to flash through it in only two sittings (I am honestly still unsure how I did it, because I am usually a slowcoach even with my favourites books), which for people who know me as a reader, is an exceptionally unusual event. I loved so much the narration’s fluidity and the alternation of those moments of suspense and emotionality. Dinah is an extraordinary character, a relentless girl who would do anything for her family and friends and who is not going to be subdued by a ruthless and immoral man.
The Ballad of Dinah Caldwell is definitely an outstanding story that I recommend with my whole heart!
Representation: pansexual polyamorous white protagonist, queer German-Dominican tertiary character, Dominican tertiary character, white German tertiary character, queer Lakota Oglala tertiary character, Ghanaian tertiary characters, queer Ghanaian tertiary character, tertiary characters of colour, queer tertiary characters, asthmatic tertiary character.
Content Warning: violence, death, grief, loss, alcohol, mention of slavery, mention of genocide, mentions of colonialism, bullying, kidnapping.
The Ballad of Dinah Caldwell by Kate Brauning is an astounding near-future thriller story about grief, loss, guilt and the ways to overcome it, family, love and the forms justice takes.
Dinah Caldwell is a seventeen-year-old girl living in the Ozarks. When her father abandoned the family after the failure of his garage, Dinah felt like she needed to fill the void he created on top of running their farm with her mother. After years of barely surviving, Gabriel Gates, a local profiteer, starts hounding them for their well, even resorting to physically assaulting her mother. When she comes home one day after helping out her neighbours, she finds her mother dead on the floor and that man on her house’s porch. Alone, homeless and with a bounty on her head, she takes refuge on the mountains with the help of a fellow unfortunate soul; her only thought: seeing Gabriel Gates dead.
Frankly, while I expected to enjoy this book, I did not anticipate loving it this much, but I am really happy I did. I was so captivated by the story that I managed to flash through it in only two sittings (I am honestly still unsure how I did it, because I am usually a slowcoach even with my favourites books), which for people who know me as a reader, is an exceptionally unusual event. I loved so much the narration’s fluidity and the alternation of those moments of suspense and emotionality. Dinah is an extraordinary character, a relentless girl who would do anything for her family and friends and who is not going to be subdued by a ruthless and immoral man.
The Ballad of Dinah Caldwell is definitely an outstanding story that I recommend with my whole heart!
dbogen47's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I think this book is misadvertised in some ways. While I think it’s nice to see mainstream poly rep, I wish the relationship with Kara was more fleshed out. I think the relationship with Johnny made up too much of the book, especially given that the premise of the book is such a potentially interesting plot and had a lot of opportunities to explore the very cool themes and issues it raised if the story wasn’t so focused on a romance plot line. Also it played into the very overused chosen one girl trope of the 2010s dystopian YA and I don’t think it was done particularly well
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
musingsofagirl's review against another edition
2.0
The pacing of this was so sloooow and it was way longer than it needed to be.