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shieldbearer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Yet another entry in the "girl dresses like a boy and goes west in search of missing familiy members" Western subgenre, but one that is for the most part, well done. Jess has a strong voice, and I appreciate the thought that clearly went into building Jess and her journey. The descriptions of nature and the turns fo phrases were very good.
However, there were some aspects of the novel that did not have as much care built into them, and they're almost all regarding the issue of race. 1. the Constance and Will romance just fell flat to me. If the novel hadn't tried to be "realistic" maybe I could have lived with it, but the idea of a white woman with a Black man was so taboo and terrifying to white people at the time, especially with her immense class privilege in tandem. Will deserved far better and more narrative focus I did not give a single fuck about Constance 2. the children that Noah "saved" from the residential school, and the fact that a Black man is the only one taking issue with their presence at Noah's hideout. Like, they'r every much there as props only mentioned when its convenient and to pull at our heartstrings. Bringing in something like a residential schools, which were a tool of Christian hegemony to "save the Indian", is a topic that needs to be treated with appropeiate care and nuance, and to have the Indigenous children saved by an outlaw who's very much into the religious angle and was just as proslyetizing... could have been an interesting angle except that angle is not considered. Noah is a straight up White Savior.
And then there was the repeated assertion that even 12-year old boys desperately want sex, to the point that NOT wanting sex is odd enough that it get Jess discovered, and we're supposed to be FINE with that one sex worker straight up groping/assaulting Jess EVEN AFTER SHE TELLS THE SEX WORKER NOT TO and this happens more than once. I kept reading but it left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Overall it's well constructed, but I"m still looking for a female-led Western novel that can compare to True Grit.
However, there were some aspects of the novel that did not have as much care built into them, and they're almost all regarding the issue of race.
And then there was the repeated assertion that even 12-year old boys desperately want sex, to the point that NOT wanting sex is odd enough that it get Jess discovered, and we're supposed to be FINE with that one sex worker straight up groping/assaulting Jess EVEN AFTER SHE TELLS THE SEX WORKER NOT TO and this happens more than once. I kept reading but it left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Overall it's well constructed, but I"m still looking for a female-led Western novel that can compare to True Grit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Slavery