michalski19's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Interesting premise. Definitely graphic and violent at times. But an interesting spin on the alternate history trope. Hopefully they write more because right now it feels like it ends rather unresolved.
trike's review against another edition
2.0
This is one of the more demented alternate histories I’ve read: The Purge meets [b:All the President's Men|96123|All the President's Men|Carl Bernstein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347805228l/96123._SY75_.jpg|2486632], where a debate “on the stump” in 1868 between Ulysses S. Grant and Horatio Seymour turned into a bloody fight, giving Seymour the popularity boost to become President. Now debates are settled in matches that resemble a cross between old timey bare knuckle boxing and MMA so that bills are passed or fail depending on who wins. It’s wacky but certainly has its appeal.
The story itself is all over the place, with conspiracies and secret societies and deadly cults, combined with organized crime and things like making it illegal to teach the poor to read. (Shades of the Afghan Taliban and other extremist Muslim countries.) Except that it’s pretty inconsistent — the Senator who is the main character is shown in a flashback that his wife has been arrested for getting her literacy license. Presumably a senator isn’t poor, but they’re black, so maybe that’s the issue? It can’t be that she’s a woman, because the officer who arrests her is a woman, but white, and she can read. The text specifically says it’s about being poor, so it’s muddy. Maybe it’s an oblique reference to the fact a greater percentage of minorities live in poverty, but if so that’s a stretch based on what’s here. There’s a lot of this stuff throughout the book.
I feel like there’s a good story fighting to get out here, but it’s obscured by unclear worldbuilding and inconsistent storytelling. Either some of the ideas needed to be excised, like the literacy thing, which makes the least sense of anything in this weird world, and the cult stuff, which doesn’t go anywhere, OR this book needed to be much, much longer in order to incorporate all of these elements. As it is, it feels too abbreviated and rushed, lacking a proper conclusion.
The story itself is all over the place, with conspiracies and secret societies and deadly cults, combined with organized crime and things like making it illegal to teach the poor to read. (Shades of the Afghan Taliban and other extremist Muslim countries.) Except that it’s pretty inconsistent — the Senator who is the main character is shown in a flashback that his wife has been arrested for getting her literacy license. Presumably a senator isn’t poor, but they’re black, so maybe that’s the issue? It can’t be that she’s a woman, because the officer who arrests her is a woman, but white, and she can read. The text specifically says it’s about being poor, so it’s muddy. Maybe it’s an oblique reference to the fact a greater percentage of minorities live in poverty, but if so that’s a stretch based on what’s here. There’s a lot of this stuff throughout the book.
I feel like there’s a good story fighting to get out here, but it’s obscured by unclear worldbuilding and inconsistent storytelling. Either some of the ideas needed to be excised, like the literacy thing, which makes the least sense of anything in this weird world, and the cult stuff, which doesn’t go anywhere, OR this book needed to be much, much longer in order to incorporate all of these elements. As it is, it feels too abbreviated and rushed, lacking a proper conclusion.
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