Reviews

Welcome To Orphancorp by Marlee Jane Ward

joshsimp's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

littleelfman's review against another edition

5.0

Bleak, sexy and powerful, this bite-sized novella will fight back while it's in your mouth and be difficult to swallow. But this is only because it captures so many of the feelings around children in detention and mistreated youth perfectly. This dystopia is only a couple of government sanctions away. Wake up and smell the injustice.

emilyob's review against another edition

I'm adding this, even though I just read the sequel, [b:Psynode|34118457|Psynode|Marlee Jane Ward|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1486284691s/34118457.jpg|55150960].
And what I want to know is why aren't you sci-fi, futurist loving diversity-loving readers all over this book?
This book is slightly horrifying, strangely beautiful and unabashedly queer. And, for a non sci-fi-loving, non-futuristic-dystopia-loving type, it was bloody good. I mean, it won awards here in Australia. For a reason.
It's short, but it's quite a ride.
Get on it!
(Oh, and I suspect there will be a third book, too.)
(I don't rate YA books because what kind of *hole YA writer judges other YA writers? Out loud, anyway? But if I wasn't, there'd be, like, all kinds of stars.)

kieralesley's review against another edition

5.0

Tough and beautiful, Welcome to Orphancorp is incredibly good. Mirii has a unique and important voice and her experience pulls us through her last seven days at an Orphancorp – a realistically developed, original, and terrifying world. What really makes this story though, is the emotional core of it. The flickers of hope and secretive care the kids have for one another is simultaneously heartbreaking and heart healing. This is funny, raw, and makes you want to kick down the door of wherever you are and run for your own freedom.

melf74's review against another edition

5.0

I read this today during two one-hour trains trips. (I wouldn't recommend reading on public transport due to all the giggling and crying it caused). I want to read more books like this. Actually I want to write books like this. Thank you Marlee.

loosetoothfool's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

(the last book read for my adolescent lit class!!) this was so good. a gripping well-written moving dark story with such a diverse cast of characters including an indigenous bisexual lead which i did not know going into the book and I was so happy to find out. the cutest sapphic romance ever, which I thought was going to happen from the first chapter but thought it was too good to be true and then it ended up actually happening!!! made me so happy. a fantastic protagonist, such a strong voice. the book opened conversation and dialogue about important topics including abortion, aboriginal history and the horrors of this dystopian orphanage that seem all too real. i was so pleasantly surprised by this book, especially by the queerness of it - including an important non-binary side character -  that wasn't explained or questioned by anyone, it was just there, and didn't need an explanation. my favourite kind of rep. beautiful powerful writing, poetic at times. so much fit in this tiny book! i will for sure be continuing this series which is not something I have wanted to do in many years. (*major trigger warnings for a range of things*)

shazzea's review

fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Torture

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Abortion, and Pregnancy

The story takes place in an 'orphancorp' which is an orphanage but is closer to a prison in terms of how it functions. The orphans are required to do manual labour and are punished with torture if they disobey. The rooms aren't segregated by gender so it's common for the orphans to get pregnant and have abortions. This is only mentioned in the book and isn't shown. The main character does engage in sexual acts with other orphans, including a steamy orgy. It's mentioned that one of the orphans is sexually involved with a guard, hence the adult/minor relationship tag. A slur for Aboriginal people is used once in the book and it's quickly condemned and corrected by the main character.

blackmetalblackheart's review against another edition

4.0

What a great read! Welcome To Orphancorp is short, but filled with a robust world and incredible emotional range. I was sucked in from the first few pages, and the quality never let up. The book is brutal yet touching. It is dark yet human, a balance of tragedy and hope. Gems like this make reading worthwhile.

thingslucyreads's review against another edition

4.0

Shit man this was real good, I'm glad the sequel is out already so I don't have to wait ages for it!!

cupiscent's review against another edition

4.0

A brutal slice of through-the-cracks childhood in a dystopic Australian future. I had emotional difficulty with this orphange-as-industry setting - it's too real, too harsh, and though it's centred on the older kids, it shows in passing the infants, and every single time it screwed my stomach into knots. (Probably doesn't help that my bub is sick right now.) For the first twenty pages or so, it was touch-and-go, but by then the strong, sardonic, starkly descriptive - and incredibly Australian - first-person narrator voice had me hooked.

So basically, this is horrible, with a dash of hope, and it's so well delivered.