wombat_88's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
the0bauman's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
amywoolsey_93's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
laurenhurley97's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
brueri's review against another edition
3.0
solid book! I wish I hadn’t read it so closely following Addie LaRue because I think I found myself wanting some of the depth that this book didn’t do for me since they’re within the same historical fiction/fantasy genre. I really enjoyed some of the themes the author explored here and I’d read another of their books :)
srfrq's review against another edition
3.0
i really wish the last half of the book was written like the first because it was HEAAAVYYY. but at the same time, i'm glad i got to enjoy the gritty glamour before the heaviness? i feel like plot wise it would have been better if it was heavier, but honestly the writing was good enough to keep me giong you know? it was okay as a whole, the ending was really good though.
camjandersen's review against another edition
2.0
dnf, so sorry i’m bored as shit. style over substance.
ielerol's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book more than I did. And it's not that I don't like it, or think that it's good. It's very well-written, it's doing some really interesting things, I would say that I admire it very much. But I also mostly didn't enjoy reading it.
The thing to understand about Trouble The Saints is that, despite the marketing calling it a love story and the comparison to The Night Circus, it is noir through-and-through. Everyone in power is corrupt, the people you thought you could trust were lying or hiding important secrets, the three point-of-view characters badly want to believe they are good people even as they're in the middle of betraying the values they claim to care about. Every time you think someone has found a chance for peace, it's undermined. It's good noir! But noir is very much is not the genre for me.
I will say, the ending is positively upbeat by noir standards. Our protagonists are caught too deep in the pattern of their own betrayals and self-deceptions to find a way out, but the future doesn't have to stay that way.
The thing to understand about Trouble The Saints is that, despite the marketing calling it a love story and the comparison to The Night Circus, it is noir through-and-through. Everyone in power is corrupt, the people you thought you could trust were lying or hiding important secrets, the three point-of-view characters badly want to believe they are good people even as they're in the middle of betraying the values they claim to care about. Every time you think someone has found a chance for peace, it's undermined. It's good noir! But noir is very much is not the genre for me.
I will say, the ending is positively upbeat by noir standards. Our protagonists are caught too deep in the pattern of their own betrayals and self-deceptions to find a way out, but the future doesn't have to stay that way.
kblincoln's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars, actually.
Just before WWII, a Russian Mobster named Victor becomes the fulcrum around which a trio of folks gifted with "the hands"-- a touch based sense of truth or ability to unerringly throw knives or future--and constrained by their race into Victor's criminal orbit.
Dev is East Indian, Phyliss/Pea passes for white, and Tamara who is dark enough that the only path for her vision of a Club full of artists and culture is through Victor's world, is black. They all have secrets, and they all are manipulated by their hands as much as racism.
Phyliss is tired of killing for Victor, and Dev makes a choice out of love for her that puts her on a cursed path that only Tamara can really understand or change.
Johnson's books always pass for me a in fever of tangled love and hate, nuanced BIPOC experience, and a sense of history from the time period. That's no different here. There's the atmosphere of the Club, the cruelty and violence of Victor, and the bonds of love between the three main characters. There's not a lot of plot because what matters most is the most recent history of each of the main three characters-- their reaction to their hands, how they've chosen a dangerous life path, their motivations for trying to distance or not distance themselves from Victor. This is what Johnson excels at, and when the story seems to change tone two thirds of the way through the book by isolating Phyliss and Tamara, it felt a little bit like the story lost its way. Thus the minus half point.
Still, I go into Johnson novels expecting to run the gamut of emotions and fall in love with the complicated characters. That's what she delivers here.
Just before WWII, a Russian Mobster named Victor becomes the fulcrum around which a trio of folks gifted with "the hands"-- a touch based sense of truth or ability to unerringly throw knives or future--and constrained by their race into Victor's criminal orbit.
Dev is East Indian, Phyliss/Pea passes for white, and Tamara who is dark enough that the only path for her vision of a Club full of artists and culture is through Victor's world, is black. They all have secrets, and they all are manipulated by their hands as much as racism.
Phyliss is tired of killing for Victor, and Dev makes a choice out of love for her that puts her on a cursed path that only Tamara can really understand or change.
Johnson's books always pass for me a in fever of tangled love and hate, nuanced BIPOC experience, and a sense of history from the time period. That's no different here. There's the atmosphere of the Club, the cruelty and violence of Victor, and the bonds of love between the three main characters. There's not a lot of plot because what matters most is the most recent history of each of the main three characters-- their reaction to their hands, how they've chosen a dangerous life path, their motivations for trying to distance or not distance themselves from Victor. This is what Johnson excels at, and when the story seems to change tone two thirds of the way through the book by isolating Phyliss and Tamara, it felt a little bit like the story lost its way. Thus the minus half point.
Still, I go into Johnson novels expecting to run the gamut of emotions and fall in love with the complicated characters. That's what she delivers here.