delia's review against another edition
Problematic depiction of the Apache as you might expect from a traditional western. I generally don't note my early DNFs, but as this was a modern western so I expected better. Apparently
Spoiler
This does get explored a little based on reviews I've read. But the stereotype pendulum merely swings in the opposite direction and paints the Natives as mystical beings.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
green_amaryllis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Racism
Minor: Torture and Vomit
nannahnannah's review against another edition
adventurous
1.0
You'd think I'd have known what this book would be like, since the title is literally Vengeance Road and the cover reveals the thing to be a Western, and yet . . . this wasn't what I expected.
This book was a mess, I'm sorry. The plot is annoyingly simple and I was never able to become as interested in it as any of the characters were, which left me distanced from it. The writing also . . . is a mess.
What this book is trying to sell you is the story of Kate Thompson and her quest for revenge. Her father has been killed by the famous Rose Riders, and she'll do anything - literally anything - to chase them down and return the favor.
Now I understand this is supposed to be a fun Western, but the dialogue and prose (because the two are inseparable as far as the style go) are so full of cliches it's somewhat hard to read:
"You know who did it?" Jesse asks
"Yep. A gang goes by the Rose Riders."
"That's Waylan Rose and his boys! You can't be serious, Nate."
"More serious than a rattler shaking."
It might have to do with the fact that the writing relies on the dialect far to much. Without it, you realize how poor the writing actually is. I mean, dialect can be a great asset, but it has to be used like one or else it's really transparent how much of a gimmick it is.
The dialect is actually written out in misspelled words (like "yer" and "'cus", which doesn't make sense either, being that Kate can read well. Unlike Patrick Ness's The Knife of Letting Go, where the voice reveals something about the protagonist, who couldn't read and was largely uneducated and ignorant about a lot of things plotwise, this "voice" is here just to add glitter and pizazz to lackluster writing. (Besides, there's also inconsistency with the voice. Liluye doesn't have this particular dialect, but then--sometimes, she does. Only a few words, and probably then, an accident.)
But what's definitely not an accident . . . is the very deliberate racism and fatphobia. I can't believe there are books being published in 2015 that still have this much ick in them. Let me give you an example:
". . . two wide men and a lady wider than the both of 'em put together. [. . .] Josie hops from the piano and hits the floor boards with a thunder. By the time she saunters up to me, I's decided that she could kill me by sitting on me."
And that's just by page 23. There's so much more nastiness hiding inside this book. I gave this author a chance, and she spat on me.
The racism. The anti-Indigenous racism in particular. It's so bad. I can imagine the author writing this with good intent and that's when I just want to shake my head in second-hand embarrassment. Now, the MC is biracial, with a Mexican mother and a white father. That's pretty cool, except
The tone throughout the book is very anti-Indigenous in general. Sure, there's the time period to consider, but one has to recognize your readers and their market today. If you are an author, and you're writing for YA readers, it's your responsibility as an author to write things that are responsible for children to read. Not just white children, either . . . and they're going to read things like:
"The river that flows upside down. I ain't fond of having to follow it. Indians like the water. Crooks like the water. Trouble likes the water."
Ah yes, to be likened to crooks and trouble. There are also Native American slurs and Native Americans being treated like slaves and like dirt.
But there's a Native American character! Yes, but representation doesn't always equal a better book. Especially if the representation is bad representation.
The way the author tries to combat the racist tone she's established so far is to be colorblind:
"The Apache. Only, she don't look so much like an Apache anymore, but just a scared girl."
Colorblindness isn't actually respecting a person of color. And the MC saving her doesn't mean she's not racist. Especially since Liluye (the Native American character) tells Kate (the MC) her name, and Kate gives her a nickname: Lil. Liluye corrects her, saying that "Lil" isn't her name, but Kate continues to call her Lil and ignores all further corrections. The ONLY time Kate uses her actual name is when Kate needs her help, and then she regrets not knowing how to say her name.
There's also an air of "exoticism" present around Liluye that's incredibly disrespectful to Native Americans. It seems whenever there's an indigenous character in any medium, they're the shaman or something the MCs go to when they need a spell or if there's a curse, etc. etc. etc. Here there's just always a mention about how "magical" Liluye is compared to Kate and the other characters:
"It's like she's everywhere, that girl. In the earth and the sky and the dry Arizona air. I remind myself to never cross her."
As far as everything else goes, the book is readable, the plot fairly straightforward. The plot points are predictable. The climax fell flat for me and was over way too fast. In fact, I think a couple lines from the book can sum up my feelings about the climax and the book as a whole:
"It's over. It happened so fast and I don't know what to do with myself. I feel surprisingly empty."
Me too, Kate. Me too.
This book was a mess, I'm sorry. The plot is annoyingly simple and I was never able to become as interested in it as any of the characters were, which left me distanced from it. The writing also . . . is a mess.
What this book is trying to sell you is the story of Kate Thompson and her quest for revenge. Her father has been killed by the famous Rose Riders, and she'll do anything - literally anything - to chase them down and return the favor.
Now I understand this is supposed to be a fun Western, but the dialogue and prose (because the two are inseparable as far as the style go) are so full of cliches it's somewhat hard to read:
"You know who did it?" Jesse asks
"Yep. A gang goes by the Rose Riders."
"That's Waylan Rose and his boys! You can't be serious, Nate."
"More serious than a rattler shaking."
It might have to do with the fact that the writing relies on the dialect far to much. Without it, you realize how poor the writing actually is. I mean, dialect can be a great asset, but it has to be used like one or else it's really transparent how much of a gimmick it is.
The dialect is actually written out in misspelled words (like "yer" and "'cus", which doesn't make sense either, being that Kate can read well. Unlike Patrick Ness's The Knife of Letting Go, where the voice reveals something about the protagonist, who couldn't read and was largely uneducated and ignorant about a lot of things plotwise, this "voice" is here just to add glitter and pizazz to lackluster writing. (Besides, there's also inconsistency with the voice. Liluye doesn't have this particular dialect, but then--sometimes, she does. Only a few words, and probably then, an accident.)
But what's definitely not an accident . . . is the very deliberate racism and fatphobia. I can't believe there are books being published in 2015 that still have this much ick in them. Let me give you an example:
". . . two wide men and a lady wider than the both of 'em put together. [. . .] Josie hops from the piano and hits the floor boards with a thunder. By the time she saunters up to me, I's decided that she could kill me by sitting on me."
And that's just by page 23. There's so much more nastiness hiding inside this book. I gave this author a chance, and she spat on me.
The racism. The anti-Indigenous racism in particular. It's so bad. I can imagine the author writing this with good intent and that's when I just want to shake my head in second-hand embarrassment. Now, the MC is biracial, with a Mexican mother and a white father. That's pretty cool, except
Spoiler
that the mother turns out to be the Biggest Bad of all, and Kate has thoughts about Not Wanting to Be Like Her and wanting to be like her father only, and with the number of poc being slim here, this really isn't good.The tone throughout the book is very anti-Indigenous in general. Sure, there's the time period to consider, but one has to recognize your readers and their market today. If you are an author, and you're writing for YA readers, it's your responsibility as an author to write things that are responsible for children to read. Not just white children, either . . . and they're going to read things like:
"The river that flows upside down. I ain't fond of having to follow it. Indians like the water. Crooks like the water. Trouble likes the water."
Ah yes, to be likened to crooks and trouble. There are also Native American slurs and Native Americans being treated like slaves and like dirt.
But there's a Native American character! Yes, but representation doesn't always equal a better book. Especially if the representation is bad representation.
The way the author tries to combat the racist tone she's established so far is to be colorblind:
"The Apache. Only, she don't look so much like an Apache anymore, but just a scared girl."
Colorblindness isn't actually respecting a person of color. And the MC saving her doesn't mean she's not racist. Especially since Liluye (the Native American character) tells Kate (the MC) her name, and Kate gives her a nickname: Lil. Liluye corrects her, saying that "Lil" isn't her name, but Kate continues to call her Lil and ignores all further corrections. The ONLY time Kate uses her actual name is when Kate needs her help, and then she regrets not knowing how to say her name.
There's also an air of "exoticism" present around Liluye that's incredibly disrespectful to Native Americans. It seems whenever there's an indigenous character in any medium, they're the shaman or something the MCs go to when they need a spell or if there's a curse, etc. etc. etc. Here there's just always a mention about how "magical" Liluye is compared to Kate and the other characters:
"It's like she's everywhere, that girl. In the earth and the sky and the dry Arizona air. I remind myself to never cross her."
As far as everything else goes, the book is readable, the plot fairly straightforward. The plot points are predictable. The climax fell flat for me and was over way too fast. In fact, I think a couple lines from the book can sum up my feelings about the climax and the book as a whole:
"It's over. It happened so fast and I don't know what to do with myself. I feel surprisingly empty."
Me too, Kate. Me too.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Fatphobia
in particular: racism against indigenous peoples; also: ableist languageraelin's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
I did not enjoy this. The general plot of “girls dad is killed and she seeks vengeance against the band of raiders that came after him” was fine, but the devices that were used to execute that plot were terrible.
The way the Apache are depicted was awful. Liluye and the terrible life forced upon her and her tribe was dismissed and brushed aside. Kate would not even call her by her name after being instructed to do so time and again. There are too many examples of the poor and thoughtless way these people were treated in the book to list. One example:
Jesse was not intriguing as a character, let alone a romantic interest. He was a terrible person turned monster at the prospect of gold. Add to that super racist and just yuck.
Just a flat predictable book, other than a semi surprising moment when I do not recommend reading on any level. I hate finished it, and am disappointed I didn’t just give up halfway through when Liluye was introduced and dismissed all at the same time.
The way the Apache are depicted was awful. Liluye and the terrible life forced upon her and her tribe was dismissed and brushed aside. Kate would not even call her by her name after being instructed to do so time and again. There are too many examples of the poor and thoughtless way these people were treated in the book to list. One example:
Spoiler
The way her request to leave the gold alone is just dismissed, after time and again she helped Kate against her instincts was sickening. Then Kate PASSED ON THE JOURNAL SO SOMEONE ELSE COULD RAPE SACRED LAND. Gross. At the *very least* Kate could have destroyed the journal. At medium she should have returned the gold to the earth, and destroyed the journal.Jesse was not intriguing as a character, let alone a romantic interest. He was a terrible person turned monster at the prospect of gold. Add to that super racist and just yuck.
Just a flat predictable book, other than a semi surprising moment when
Spoiler
Maria is outed as a terrible person, and a depiction of a worthless Mexican to add to the racism of this book, but we knew there was a ghost shooter so it really wasn’t much of a reveal, and that she had teamed up with Rose was not at all surprising.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Physical abuse
phantomgecko's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I reckon I'll share this review the way the book were written (to the best of my ability). Ain't never read a book written like it. Every word come straight outta the main character's mouth exactly as she'd've said it out loud. Makes for a novel you can't help but read in a Western accent. So if you ain't for reading an entire dang novel written just so, you can go and give this a pass.
Okay, actually, I'll just talk normally now. I picked this book for a reading challenge, where I picked something not in one of my usual genres but with my usual "moods." So here we have a mysterious, adventurous and dark Western. My library had it under YA, but tbh, it's just a novel. It was fun to read, didn't take long at all, a good little one-shot. I don't normally read/watch Westerns, but it unfolded exactly the way I imagined a Western would. I'm not saying it was cliche or too predictable. I just think it stays true to the genre.
Okay, actually, I'll just talk normally now. I picked this book for a reading challenge, where I picked something not in one of my usual genres but with my usual "moods." So here we have a mysterious, adventurous and dark Western. My library had it under YA, but tbh, it's just a novel. It was fun to read, didn't take long at all, a good little one-shot. I don't normally read/watch Westerns, but it unfolded exactly the way I imagined a Western would. I'm not saying it was cliche or too predictable. I just think it stays true to the genre.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence and Cursing
Minor: Racism
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