jeniecegoellner's review
2.0
I received this book in a Giveaway from Goodreads. This is a book that I thought had a lot of potential. It just didn't live up to it and ended up disappointing me. Pro: It had an interesting blended setting of dystopian, echos of historical, and magical realism. Con: It was actually too short. I feel the author had grand ideas, yet the short (less than 300 pages) didn't allow them to be fleshed out. We are thrown in immediately and expected to connect with our two main characters with no back story. There is no development in the characters, you do find out back story a bit too late to care. And the choices they make seem too far of leaps, probably not for the characters, but definitely for the readers who are just joining in the middle.
missprint_'s review against another edition
4.0
Sarah Jacqueline Crow and James Holt are used to long, hot days working the maguey fields of the Southwest. The work is brutal but they have a plan. Keep their heads down, do the work, save enough money to head back east where everything isn't so dry and they can start a ranch of their own. They do one other thing to make sure they can survive and stay together: they keep their love a secret at all costs. It's safer, they've learned, to pose as cousins instead.
Forced to run again after an accident, Sarah Jac and James follow the trains to the Real Marvelous--a ranch known for its steady work and possible curse. The work is the same and their plan should stay the same too. But as strange things begin to happen on the ranch Sarah Jac realizes that their old tricks won't be enough to keep them safe--they may not even be enough to keep Sarah Jac and James together in All the Wind in the World (2017) by Samantha Mabry.
All the Wind in the World is Mabry's sophomore novel. It was also selected as a longlist title for the 2017 National Book Award.
All the Wind in the World is intensely character driven with a tight focus on Sarah Jac and James as they struggle to stay true to each other while keeping their relationship a secret. Sarah Jac's first person narration makes it immediately obvious that something isn't right at the Real Marvelous but, like readers, Sarah kept guessing as to what menace is befalling the ranch and its workers for much of the story. Mabry's writing is tense and sexy as the story builds to its shocking conclusion.
This is the kind of novel that is immediately gripping in the moment--a true page turner despite the methodical pacing and relatively straightforward plot. However upon further inspection holes do start to show in the world building. While the dry, near dessert landscape of the Southwest is evocative and beautifully described the characters offer little explanation for how things got to this point. The payoff for the curse of the Real Marvelous (or the lack thereof) remains equally vague and open-ended.
Any shortcomings in the world or the plot are more than balanced out by the lush prose and singular characters. Sarah Jac and James are not easy characters. They are both flawed and grasping as they struggle to get past their day-to-day existence and strive for something more. How far should either of them be willing to go to get there? That's a hard question to answer both for them and the reader.
All the Wind in the World is a striking, tightly wound novel. Readers will immediately be swept up in Sarah Jac and James' story of longing, love, and darker impulses. A must-read for fans of magic realism. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson, The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu, Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore, Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater, The Space Between Trees by Katie Williams, Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
Forced to run again after an accident, Sarah Jac and James follow the trains to the Real Marvelous--a ranch known for its steady work and possible curse. The work is the same and their plan should stay the same too. But as strange things begin to happen on the ranch Sarah Jac realizes that their old tricks won't be enough to keep them safe--they may not even be enough to keep Sarah Jac and James together in All the Wind in the World (2017) by Samantha Mabry.
All the Wind in the World is Mabry's sophomore novel. It was also selected as a longlist title for the 2017 National Book Award.
All the Wind in the World is intensely character driven with a tight focus on Sarah Jac and James as they struggle to stay true to each other while keeping their relationship a secret. Sarah Jac's first person narration makes it immediately obvious that something isn't right at the Real Marvelous but, like readers, Sarah kept guessing as to what menace is befalling the ranch and its workers for much of the story. Mabry's writing is tense and sexy as the story builds to its shocking conclusion.
This is the kind of novel that is immediately gripping in the moment--a true page turner despite the methodical pacing and relatively straightforward plot. However upon further inspection holes do start to show in the world building. While the dry, near dessert landscape of the Southwest is evocative and beautifully described the characters offer little explanation for how things got to this point. The payoff for the curse of the Real Marvelous (or the lack thereof) remains equally vague and open-ended.
Any shortcomings in the world or the plot are more than balanced out by the lush prose and singular characters. Sarah Jac and James are not easy characters. They are both flawed and grasping as they struggle to get past their day-to-day existence and strive for something more. How far should either of them be willing to go to get there? That's a hard question to answer both for them and the reader.
All the Wind in the World is a striking, tightly wound novel. Readers will immediately be swept up in Sarah Jac and James' story of longing, love, and darker impulses. A must-read for fans of magic realism. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson, The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu, Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore, Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater, The Space Between Trees by Katie Williams, Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
thepaige_turner's review against another edition
4.0
This sprinted past unsettling and straight into horrifying.
aprilthelibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
This is set in a near future where there seem to have been several natural disasters causing much poverty, bad crops, etc. Sarah and James go from farm to farm trying to earn money, but things start to go wrong when they reach the new farm. One girl claims to be a prophet and says there will be a plague and that there is a witch. Is there really a supernatural force at work, and will the farm tear James and Sarah apart?
I liked this book, but I didn't feel super connected and thought about DNFing it at times. The last half was pretty good, but I may have not been as into it since I was listening to it on audiobook.
I liked this book, but I didn't feel super connected and thought about DNFing it at times. The last half was pretty good, but I may have not been as into it since I was listening to it on audiobook.
thatjamiea's review against another edition
4.0
This was a different sort of read. Nominated for a National Book Award for YA, this is the story of Sarah Jac and James. More than half of the United States has turned to desert and nothing grows but the sort of plant you can distill into tequila. Sarah and James move around the west from labor camp to labor camp, hoping to save money to move east to the ocean and a farm of their own some day.
We never find out about James' early years, but we do find out about Sarah's. She and her sister, Lane, lived on a farm with their grandmother. Their mother abandons them, but it doesn't matter much to Sarah. After the death of her grandmother, Sarah and Lane are forced to travel to Chicago to eek out a living. Sarah meets James and after Lane dies she and James hit the road to try to find, if not their fortunes, at least a little bit of life they can call their own.
They move from camp to camp, but something bad happens during a dust storm and they're forced to go on the lam and abandon their savings. They end up at a ranch that people say is cursed and it sure starts to seem like it.
This is definitely not for the young reader, despite being labeled as YA. There's a very uncomfortable portion at the beginning of the novel where it gets really weird as Sarah refers to James as her cousin, but...they have way more than a cousin-like relationship. Beyond that, it's quite violent interspersed with a lot of sex, so proceed with caution for young or sensitive readers.
We never find out about James' early years, but we do find out about Sarah's. She and her sister, Lane, lived on a farm with their grandmother. Their mother abandons them, but it doesn't matter much to Sarah. After the death of her grandmother, Sarah and Lane are forced to travel to Chicago to eek out a living. Sarah meets James and after Lane dies she and James hit the road to try to find, if not their fortunes, at least a little bit of life they can call their own.
They move from camp to camp, but something bad happens during a dust storm and they're forced to go on the lam and abandon their savings. They end up at a ranch that people say is cursed and it sure starts to seem like it.
This is definitely not for the young reader, despite being labeled as YA. There's a very uncomfortable portion at the beginning of the novel where it gets really weird as Sarah refers to James as her cousin, but...they have way more than a cousin-like relationship. Beyond that, it's quite violent interspersed with a lot of sex, so proceed with caution for young or sensitive readers.
bethjkdixon's review against another edition
3.0
"In our world, you hide your bruises; you don't let people know you have weak spots. It's like asking for trouble. Everyone knows two people in love will do anything – stupid things – to save each other. And everyone, no matter how alright they initially seem, will take advantage of that."
I thought for a long time over what I should rate this book because while I didn't like the main character I loved the world, I loved the story, and I loved Samantha Mabry's writing. If I'd been able to connect with Sarah Jac I would have very easily given this five stars, as is All the Wind in the World is still a wonderful magical realism book but it's my least favourite of the ones I've read so far.
Full review available on my blog Reading Every Night.
thompsonjul's review against another edition
2.0
I can't put my finger on why I didn't rate this book higher. I went back and forth for a while, my mental pro and con list growing and growing. I think ultimately for me, this book didn't know what it wanted to be. Did it want to be a romance, a supernatural family drama, a sci-fi cautionary tale? I could never really tell, and it was hard to be as invested as I wanted to be because of this lack of focus.
However, there is a lot to like in this novel. The setting and story is wholly unique and I genuinely did not know where the story was going to go. I could see the world in my head so clearly, and it is well suited for a film adaptation. Mabry uses the Dust Bowl-like setting to great effect and is amazing at using side characters to create a convincing portrait of the world. The characters are all very complex, and just when you think you have them figured out, a new piece of information comes to light that changes it all.
But perhaps that's the weakness as well. For me, character should drive plot, and in this case I think this was reversed. The characters execute heel turns on a dime as needed for the plot, which makes the plot more interesting but sacrifices the connection the reader has with the characters. James' actions towards the end of the novel made no sense based on the person we got to know at the start. I made allowances for the fact that the story is told by an unreliable narrator, but his change from lover to something more sinister came out of nowhere for me. It was hard for me to invest in the romance that from the marketing seemed to be central to the story because of this. I think this is a situation where the marketing of this novel set up incorrect expectations. It's not a romance so much as it is a dystopian drama, and if I had gone into it with that expectation it may have made me feel differently about it. All in all, this is a well written novel that I just couldn't fall in love with no matter how hard I tried.
However, there is a lot to like in this novel. The setting and story is wholly unique and I genuinely did not know where the story was going to go. I could see the world in my head so clearly, and it is well suited for a film adaptation. Mabry uses the Dust Bowl-like setting to great effect and is amazing at using side characters to create a convincing portrait of the world. The characters are all very complex, and just when you think you have them figured out, a new piece of information comes to light that changes it all.
But perhaps that's the weakness as well. For me, character should drive plot, and in this case I think this was reversed. The characters execute heel turns on a dime as needed for the plot, which makes the plot more interesting but sacrifices the connection the reader has with the characters. James' actions towards the end of the novel made no sense based on the person we got to know at the start. I made allowances for the fact that the story is told by an unreliable narrator, but his change from lover to something more sinister came out of nowhere for me. It was hard for me to invest in the romance that from the marketing seemed to be central to the story because of this. I think this is a situation where the marketing of this novel set up incorrect expectations. It's not a romance so much as it is a dystopian drama, and if I had gone into it with that expectation it may have made me feel differently about it. All in all, this is a well written novel that I just couldn't fall in love with no matter how hard I tried.
knallen's review against another edition
3.0
A lush, rich world with beautiful language to describe it. This story is populated with characters that aren't terribly likable and things that aren't terribly nice, but I did enjoy it.
amandagb's review against another edition
3.0
Not 100% sure on my thoughts for this one. Left feeling kind of empty at the end?
pantsreads's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Lovely, atmospheric read. I would have liked to connect with the characters a bit more and wanted more magic than realism, but it's a unique tale.
Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.
Lovely, atmospheric read. I would have liked to connect with the characters a bit more and wanted more magic than realism, but it's a unique tale.
Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.