especbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Well written and a vivid, if stark world, but if I had been reading this for simple pleasure, I probably would have stopped after the first few pages. Not because of a deficiency in the writing, but because the characters you see first are individuals I found it difficult to like/empathize/connect with. This improved as the book went on, but I am still left conflicted by this grim, dark world. By the same token, I find it difficult to name a more original take on dystopia, though elements of the experience did remind me subtly of Nine Fox Gambit.
chukg's review against another edition
3.0
Kind of reminded me a bit of Bitch Planet. I didn't like it as much as his [b:Smoke Eaters|36230674|Smoke Eaters|Sean Grigsby|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1513979447s/36230674.jpg|57871201] -- the writing seemed kind of flat or simplified, almost as if it were a middle-grade book, but the topics don't really seem suited to that age level. Most of the characters are just sketches, too, some of the setting was interesting. It might make a good video game or movie -- I think there's a scene that was taken from The Warriors.
hyacinth_girl's review against another edition
3.0
This book was just okay. I enjoyed parts of it but overall I felt kind of “meh” about it. I thought the ending was a little rushed but I liked that it didn’t leave me hanging in anticipation for a book 2.
vivling's review against another edition
1.0
This book aggravated me, but I was determined to finish it because I spent good money on it.
The author seems to think that not telling you things means we’ll be hooked on the mystery. Not so. There was no character building, everyone was simply whatever stereotype was handy. And in a 350 some odd page book, we weren’t told why or how people were getting consigned to the Oubliette until something like page 266. I guess it was kind of like reading a storyboard for a screenplay, where they will expect the actors will come up with a backstory, so why bother putting it in the script?
I don’t know, this was awful.
The author seems to think that not telling you things means we’ll be hooked on the mystery. Not so. There was no character building, everyone was simply whatever stereotype was handy. And in a 350 some odd page book, we weren’t told why or how people were getting consigned to the Oubliette until something like page 266. I guess it was kind of like reading a storyboard for a screenplay, where they will expect the actors will come up with a backstory, so why bother putting it in the script?
I don’t know, this was awful.
ladamemardi's review against another edition
1.0
It was bad. I really didn't find a world built on women tearing each other down and backstabbing very entertaining or worthwhile.
jenna_birdy's review against another edition
3.0
Have you ever watched one of those Exploitation movies from the 70s? I've seen a few and wow does this book give off a similar vibe--grisly deaths, prison life, gangs, violence, sticking it to the man, etc. It does avoid the worst aspects of the genre but I have some mixed feelings about it nonetheless.
Daughters of Forgotten Light centers around the lives of Lena "Horror" Horowitz and the members of her biker gang on the space prison Oubliette. Earth has finally felt the full effects of climate change and is experiencing a new ice age, leaving North America and Asia contained in separate protective domes and locked in perpetual combat over resources. In this dystopian hellscape population control is the norm and women are regularly sent to Oubliette because their parents cannot afford to keep them or they have some sort of disability as well as for run of the mill criminal activity. Things get crazy when a baby shows up in a supply shipment and a gang war starts over who gets to keep her. Alternating chapters told from the POV of a senator on earth keep the reader informed about backstory and fill in some world building, but the plot lines are less compelling than whats happening in space prison.
First of all this books gets lots of points for diversity and inclusivity. There are only 3 men in the whole book, and they appear for about 7 scenes collectively. Beyond that just about every character is diverse in some way--race/ethnicity, disability, sexuality--you name it, there's probably a character representing it. But I can't help feeling Grigsby didn't really utilize the diversity in any way and several representations are shallow at best. For example the lesbian character Hurley Girly pretty much exists just to be a lesbian, talk about being a lesbian, hit on other members of the gang, and take part in gang fights. It was basically her only defining quality which was a bummer because I would have loved to know her as a 3 dimensional character rather than a walking sexuality. The majority of the gang members were represented this way--not really a stereotype, but the diversity felt tacked on and not really part of the characters.
The world building was really cool. Oubliette was a believable place with an interesting, if brutal, culture. It's a fun place to read about if you like lawlessness and every-woman-for-herself hardscrabble existences with plenty of violence. There's cannibals! And motorcycles! And laser guns! Plenty of blood and guts and all that fun stuff. Earth, by compassion, felt a bit flat. Politicians are evil, there's an attempted coup that never feels fully articulated and the Senator character just sort of exists to move the plot along. The effects of climate change are hinted at (food quality, the war, etc) but never really explored in depth. Overall Earth could have been handled a bit better imo.
Regardless of location, all the characters lacked real emotional depth. Backstories were flat, any emotions passed within a page or two without any lasting impact, and supposedly deeply felt relationships were less than believable. For example: A major character gets chopped up into several pieces and nailed to the wall by a rival gang. Murder victim's lover is deeply traumatized--pacing, talking to herself, generally losing it--for one scene. The next time we see her she seems to have totally moved past it and it's barely mentioned again.
Sidenote: why don't women get sent to the army??? We have women in the army now, so it seems strange that that would change if we were involved in a continental war for survival. Wouldn't having all available citizens used for the war effort make more sense? In DOFL ALL the "undesirable" men go to the army and ALL the "undesirable" women go to Oubliette. But if a family is getting rid of a daughter because they can't afford her, why can't she go fight in the pointless war rather than launching her into space? Maybe I'm being nit picky in my dystopian logic, but it seemed unnecessarily black and white to me.
DOFL felt like a really "fluffy" dystopia--all style, little substance. If you're looking for an action packed blood-and-guts adventure and don't feel like thinking too much, it's probably a great pick. If you're looking for emotional heft and a deep dive into the issues facing humanity in a dystopian setting, you'll probably be disappointed.
Daughters of Forgotten Light centers around the lives of Lena "Horror" Horowitz and the members of her biker gang on the space prison Oubliette. Earth has finally felt the full effects of climate change and is experiencing a new ice age, leaving North America and Asia contained in separate protective domes and locked in perpetual combat over resources. In this dystopian hellscape population control is the norm and women are regularly sent to Oubliette because their parents cannot afford to keep them or they have some sort of disability as well as for run of the mill criminal activity. Things get crazy when a baby shows up in a supply shipment and a gang war starts over who gets to keep her. Alternating chapters told from the POV of a senator on earth keep the reader informed about backstory and fill in some world building, but the plot lines are less compelling than whats happening in space prison.
First of all this books gets lots of points for diversity and inclusivity. There are only 3 men in the whole book, and they appear for about 7 scenes collectively. Beyond that just about every character is diverse in some way--race/ethnicity, disability, sexuality--you name it, there's probably a character representing it. But I can't help feeling Grigsby didn't really utilize the diversity in any way and several representations are shallow at best. For example the lesbian character Hurley Girly pretty much exists just to be a lesbian, talk about being a lesbian, hit on other members of the gang, and take part in gang fights. It was basically her only defining quality which was a bummer because I would have loved to know her as a 3 dimensional character rather than a walking sexuality. The majority of the gang members were represented this way--not really a stereotype, but the diversity felt tacked on and not really part of the characters.
The world building was really cool. Oubliette was a believable place with an interesting, if brutal, culture. It's a fun place to read about if you like lawlessness and every-woman-for-herself hardscrabble existences with plenty of violence. There's cannibals! And motorcycles! And laser guns! Plenty of blood and guts and all that fun stuff. Earth, by compassion, felt a bit flat. Politicians are evil, there's an attempted coup that never feels fully articulated and the Senator character just sort of exists to move the plot along. The effects of climate change are hinted at (food quality, the war, etc) but never really explored in depth. Overall Earth could have been handled a bit better imo.
Regardless of location, all the characters lacked real emotional depth. Backstories were flat, any emotions passed within a page or two without any lasting impact, and supposedly deeply felt relationships were less than believable. For example: A major character gets chopped up into several pieces and nailed to the wall by a rival gang. Murder victim's lover is deeply traumatized--pacing, talking to herself, generally losing it--for one scene. The next time we see her she seems to have totally moved past it and it's barely mentioned again.
Sidenote: why don't women get sent to the army??? We have women in the army now, so it seems strange that that would change if we were involved in a continental war for survival. Wouldn't having all available citizens used for the war effort make more sense? In DOFL ALL the "undesirable" men go to the army and ALL the "undesirable" women go to Oubliette. But if a family is getting rid of a daughter because they can't afford her, why can't she go fight in the pointless war rather than launching her into space? Maybe I'm being nit picky in my dystopian logic, but it seemed unnecessarily black and white to me.
DOFL felt like a really "fluffy" dystopia--all style, little substance. If you're looking for an action packed blood-and-guts adventure and don't feel like thinking too much, it's probably a great pick. If you're looking for emotional heft and a deep dive into the issues facing humanity in a dystopian setting, you'll probably be disappointed.
a_bailey's review against another edition
4.0
This novel is somewhere between the Barsoom novels, the 70s movie Warriors, and the comic Bitch Planet. I really enjoyed the nonstop action, implausible technology, cursing, and general insanity. It was a nice break from my diet of "normal" Science Fiction and Fantasy.
coolcurrybooks's review against another edition
2.0
Do you ever read a book and feel like you might have liked the storyline better if it was written by someone else? That’s sort of what I felt about Daughters of Forgotten Light.
In a future devastated by an unexpected ice age and constant war over resources, mothers have total control over their under-eighteen children. Once the child is twelve, they can be sent to either the army or, if they’re a girl, to the floating space prison known as the Oubliette. A limited and fixed amount of food is also shipped to the Oubliette, meaning there isn’t enough for all of the new arrivals… Within the Oubliette itself, which lacks any oversight or analog to guards or wardens, biker gangs reign. Lena Horowitz leads the Daughters of Forgotten Light, one of the three principle gangs, which have an uneasy truce. That truce is disrupted when change comes to the Oubliette: the newest shipment of prisoners and supplies contains a baby.
Where to start with Daughters of the Forgotten Light? So much of the novel felt like an attempt to be “gritty” that instead led into an exploitative territory. For instance, something I was looking forward to about Daughters of a Forgotten Light was that it centered on female characters and that I’d heard many of those characters were queer. In particular, I’d heard that one of the main protagonists was an asexual girl. That was true. Sarah, the newest member of the gang, briefly mentions a couple of times that she’s not attracted to anyone, which clearly read as ace to me, even if the word was never used. But ultimately I wasn’t happy with the way her character was handled. As the newest member, she encounters a lot of “sexual harassment as hazing” by the other group members, such the other members tricking her into thinking she has to have sex with the gang head and sending Sarah to her naked. Relatedly, there’s a lesbian gang member, Hurley Girly, who I think was supposed to come off as sexy and flirty who instead came off as a sexual predator. She’s constantly trying to get into the pants of less powerful women and is relentless in her harassment, which like all the other sexual harassment in Daughters of the Forgotten Light, is treated for laughs. Read the Captain’s review for more on Hurley Girly.
But my feelings of “this is exploitative” don’t end there! There’s a couple of other things involving queer characters, and then there’s race and disability too. For instance, the novel starts with some disabled characters being murdered, largely because they are disabled (many of the children sent to the Obulette are disabled, and the gangs tend to chose the abled teens to keep alive). There is a deaf member of the Daughters of the Forgotten Light who is also a woman of color and the only trans character in the book. But here’s the real kicker (and spoiler, I suppose): she’s the first gang member to die. I can’t remember if she’s the only of the five gang members to die… but I think she might be. Her character is practically representative of what I mean when I call the book “exploitative.”
Regarding race, there wasn’t anything as obvious or outright that I noticed. It just seemed like the language around some of the characters of color was a bit… odd. I don’t know how to put it exactly, but it felt like the racial diversity was awkwardly handled. I won’t speak anymore on this, but I’d be happy to read a review by a reviewer of color if anyone has links.
I wasn’t that wowed by the world building, mostly because it felt more about the aesthetic than any sort of interior logic. The underlying economics of sending women to a space prison doesn’t make much sense, and I don’t understand why all genders weren’t being sent to the military. Oh, and in the Obulette, there’s some Australian slang that was a bit much.
So what’s Daughters of the Forgotten Light‘s strength? It does have really good pacing. I probably wouldn’t have finished otherwise, but for the most part, the story zips along. Although, there are some chapters set on Earth following a woman working in the government that just weren’t as interesting as the ones in space prison. I also do appreciate that the author tried to create a diverse cast and included an ace protagonist, even if I ultimately don’t think they were handled well.
Going back to what I said at the beginning of my review, I would have liked a story about women being sent to a space prison if it was written differently, probably by another author. It is entirely possible to write a dark story about marginalized characters that doesn’t come off as exploitative — the work of both Rivers Solomon and Kameron Hurley being excellent examples. Ultimately, I’d skip Daughters of the Forgotten Light and go grab Hurley’s The Stars Are Legion or Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts instead.
Review from The Illustrated Page.
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
In a future devastated by an unexpected ice age and constant war over resources, mothers have total control over their under-eighteen children. Once the child is twelve, they can be sent to either the army or, if they’re a girl, to the floating space prison known as the Oubliette. A limited and fixed amount of food is also shipped to the Oubliette, meaning there isn’t enough for all of the new arrivals… Within the Oubliette itself, which lacks any oversight or analog to guards or wardens, biker gangs reign. Lena Horowitz leads the Daughters of Forgotten Light, one of the three principle gangs, which have an uneasy truce. That truce is disrupted when change comes to the Oubliette: the newest shipment of prisoners and supplies contains a baby.
Where to start with Daughters of the Forgotten Light? So much of the novel felt like an attempt to be “gritty” that instead led into an exploitative territory. For instance, something I was looking forward to about Daughters of a Forgotten Light was that it centered on female characters and that I’d heard many of those characters were queer. In particular, I’d heard that one of the main protagonists was an asexual girl. That was true. Sarah, the newest member of the gang, briefly mentions a couple of times that she’s not attracted to anyone, which clearly read as ace to me, even if the word was never used. But ultimately I wasn’t happy with the way her character was handled. As the newest member, she encounters a lot of “sexual harassment as hazing” by the other group members, such the other members tricking her into thinking she has to have sex with the gang head and sending Sarah to her naked. Relatedly, there’s a lesbian gang member, Hurley Girly, who I think was supposed to come off as sexy and flirty who instead came off as a sexual predator. She’s constantly trying to get into the pants of less powerful women and is relentless in her harassment, which like all the other sexual harassment in Daughters of the Forgotten Light, is treated for laughs. Read the Captain’s review for more on Hurley Girly.
But my feelings of “this is exploitative” don’t end there! There’s a couple of other things involving queer characters, and then there’s race and disability too. For instance, the novel starts with some disabled characters being murdered, largely because they are disabled (many of the children sent to the Obulette are disabled, and the gangs tend to chose the abled teens to keep alive). There is a deaf member of the Daughters of the Forgotten Light who is also a woman of color and the only trans character in the book. But here’s the real kicker (and spoiler, I suppose): she’s the first gang member to die. I can’t remember if she’s the only of the five gang members to die… but I think she might be. Her character is practically representative of what I mean when I call the book “exploitative.”
Regarding race, there wasn’t anything as obvious or outright that I noticed. It just seemed like the language around some of the characters of color was a bit… odd. I don’t know how to put it exactly, but it felt like the racial diversity was awkwardly handled. I won’t speak anymore on this, but I’d be happy to read a review by a reviewer of color if anyone has links.
I wasn’t that wowed by the world building, mostly because it felt more about the aesthetic than any sort of interior logic. The underlying economics of sending women to a space prison doesn’t make much sense, and I don’t understand why all genders weren’t being sent to the military. Oh, and in the Obulette, there’s some Australian slang that was a bit much.
So what’s Daughters of the Forgotten Light‘s strength? It does have really good pacing. I probably wouldn’t have finished otherwise, but for the most part, the story zips along. Although, there are some chapters set on Earth following a woman working in the government that just weren’t as interesting as the ones in space prison. I also do appreciate that the author tried to create a diverse cast and included an ace protagonist, even if I ultimately don’t think they were handled well.
Going back to what I said at the beginning of my review, I would have liked a story about women being sent to a space prison if it was written differently, probably by another author. It is entirely possible to write a dark story about marginalized characters that doesn’t come off as exploitative — the work of both Rivers Solomon and Kameron Hurley being excellent examples. Ultimately, I’d skip Daughters of the Forgotten Light and go grab Hurley’s The Stars Are Legion or Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts instead.
Review from The Illustrated Page.
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
millymollymo's review against another edition
5.0
Take all the best bits from Mad Max Fury Road. Gender switch all the cast of Escape from New York, but keep all the 'snark', throw in the blazing neon colour (and bikes?) from Tron... set it off planet.
Persist, Resist, This Girl Can all apply. This is the book you've been waiting for.
Add more awesome. More diverse.
More action. All the pace.
Add more again.
It doesn't pander. It is violent.
Read it.
Full review to follow...
Persist, Resist, This Girl Can all apply. This is the book you've been waiting for.
Add more awesome. More diverse.
More action. All the pace.
Add more again.
It doesn't pander. It is violent.
Read it.
Full review to follow...
silelda's review
5.0
*Book received via NetGalley for an honest review.
Long story short, this is a book that shows multiple ways of being a bad ass woman. Each character perspective we get, Senator Linda Dolfuse, Lena "Horror" Horowitz, Sarah Pao, each of them is a bad ass in their own right. Admittedly Dofluse and Pao kinda need some time to grow into it, but when they get there, you're rooting for them. Lena is introduced as the leader of the gang Daughters of Forgotten Light, maintaining her cool when confronted by the other gangs, the Amazons and the Onyx Coalition. She's got your attention right from the start.
I'll admit, I thought the whole baby-triggering-maternal-instincts would be a worn out stereotype at play, but it really only ended up being a couple of characters triggered. Heck, for some of the women, the baby was just something new to break the monotony. The book does focus on women characters because there's an international war going on and all men, or boys sold by their parents, are shipped off to the military. That means women make up the remaining roles, government, business and other.
Oh yeah, in this world, parents legally own their children. At the age of 11 they can have their children shipped off to join the military or to Oubliette. Some parents are forced to do this to pay their debts. Others do this because they can't handle the kid. One of the first cases we see of this is in the latest shipment of girls to Oubliette. A little girl who showed symptoms of autism. It was guessed she was shipped out because her parents couldn't handle raising her. Other times it's simply if the child does something the parents disagree with. Spangler knew his parents would've sent him to the military if they found out he was gay.
I have no problems saying that the world this took place in was incredibly interesting. Not just the dystopian stuff. In Oubliette, everything is made from glass. Their motorbikes (which run silent) are completely glass. Even their leather is made from glass! It's something different that I absolutely loved. Then there were the weapons that the gangs had, called rangs (short for boomerangs because the ammunition comes back to you). It was definitely something different.
I will warn you, this is not a book for the faint of stomach. It's not grossly detailed, but there is a lot of fighting, blood and cannibalism. Don't worry, only one gang consists of cannibals and the book does actually cover some of the health problems associated with that diet. But, yeah, be prepared for blood, foul language and violence.
In case you can't tell from how long this review is, I really did enjoy this book. And the ending is quite what I wanted, but I was very happy with it. 4.5 hoots!
Long story short, this is a book that shows multiple ways of being a bad ass woman. Each character perspective we get, Senator Linda Dolfuse, Lena "Horror" Horowitz, Sarah Pao, each of them is a bad ass in their own right. Admittedly Dofluse and Pao kinda need some time to grow into it, but when they get there, you're rooting for them. Lena is introduced as the leader of the gang Daughters of Forgotten Light, maintaining her cool when confronted by the other gangs, the Amazons and the Onyx Coalition. She's got your attention right from the start.
I'll admit, I thought the whole baby-triggering-maternal-instincts would be a worn out stereotype at play, but it really only ended up being a couple of characters triggered. Heck, for some of the women, the baby was just something new to break the monotony. The book does focus on women characters because there's an international war going on and all men, or boys sold by their parents, are shipped off to the military. That means women make up the remaining roles, government, business and other.
Oh yeah, in this world, parents legally own their children. At the age of 11 they can have their children shipped off to join the military or to Oubliette. Some parents are forced to do this to pay their debts. Others do this because they can't handle the kid. One of the first cases we see of this is in the latest shipment of girls to Oubliette. A little girl who showed symptoms of autism. It was guessed she was shipped out because her parents couldn't handle raising her. Other times it's simply if the child does something the parents disagree with. Spangler knew his parents would've sent him to the military if they found out he was gay.
I have no problems saying that the world this took place in was incredibly interesting. Not just the dystopian stuff. In Oubliette, everything is made from glass. Their motorbikes (which run silent) are completely glass. Even their leather is made from glass! It's something different that I absolutely loved. Then there were the weapons that the gangs had, called rangs (short for boomerangs because the ammunition comes back to you). It was definitely something different.
I will warn you, this is not a book for the faint of stomach. It's not grossly detailed, but there is a lot of fighting, blood and cannibalism. Don't worry, only one gang consists of cannibals and the book does actually cover some of the health problems associated with that diet. But, yeah, be prepared for blood, foul language and violence.
In case you can't tell from how long this review is, I really did enjoy this book. And the ending is quite what I wanted, but I was very happy with it. 4.5 hoots!