Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Deathless Divide

An absolutely stellar sequel. I am a sucker for duologies and I think this one wrapped up Jane and Katherine's story well. I am a fan of 19th century history, usually pre-Civil War, but this series was exactly my kind of thing. The book is written for a younger audience, but it doesn't feel out of place to read it as an adult. As a white person, I learned a lot about the inner feelings and experiences of black women and I hope that this book will help me have continued empathy and grace for people who do not look like me and have been harmed for generations by my ancestors and currently by other white folks. It is amazing to see Justina Ireland wrap up such complicated feelings and experiences into a zombie novel and communicate them so clearly. I am very excited for her future books.

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emmehooks's review

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The first half of this book was not it for me but I read the second half in one sitting. I would read a 3rd in the series. I disliked that Jane and Katherine’s perspectives switched between every chapter and would’ve preferred longer chunks.

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lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really enjoyed the first book. Jane had such an engaging, funny voice, and she was really a character to root for. It is an intriguing alternate history, where zombies (called shamblers) rise from the dead on the battlefields of Gettysburg, and kill and bite/turn people. Black people are used as cannon fodder in the war against the dead, and young Black women can be trained to fight the dead and protect white women. In the sequel, after the town of Summerland falls to shamblers, Jane and her friends escape, but there is an immediate death that sends Jane into depression and on a quest for revenge (over a character that I did not think was remotely worth it, but love is weird). While the change in her character makes sense due to the plot, I really missed the old Jane's voice, and consequently didn't enjoy this book nearly as much. It didn't feel like there was a lot to this book, if that makes sense. On the plus side, we now have Katherine as a narrator, in addition to Jane, and I liked seeing her POV (and her ace rep). Katherine, and her loyalty to her best friend Jane, is the saving grace of this story. Ireland shows multiple races in the 1800s Western US and handles well the explanations of racism against Black people, and the stress that puts on them, just to survive. On the negative side, story lines feel half-fleshed out, characters that should interact don't, the pacing was uneven, and I'm not entirely comfortable with the way Ireland handled the discussion of the Chinese immigrants or the Native Americans. The book felt way too long for the amount of plot that actually happens. I was looking forward to this one, and unfortunately, I was disappointed.

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