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hmatt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Storytelling
I feel like the author was trying to fit too many events into too short of a narrative. This might have been okay, but there were so many minor events that I think we should have spent less time on, and a number of climactic events that we spent barely any time on whatsoever. A lot of these major events "fade to black" as soon as the action starts, and then we are caught up on what happened in retrospect later on - I was REALLY not a fan of this technique, and I don't think it made sense for the "western" genre.
Character-building
We do get a lot of information on most of the characters but, again, it's almost too much for how short of a book it is. What we lose out on, in my opinion, is a more profound emotional connection with the main character. We don't really dwell on her losses or feel them with her, which is extra strange given the whole novel is told in first-person.
TL;DR
The idea behind the novel is fantastic, but it tries to fit too much in. The concepts it seeks to explore are really only half-fleshed-out and the characters are hard to relate to, simply because the plot moves on too fast to hold space for these introspections.
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Animal death and Drug abuse
CWs non-exhaustivehaseki_sultana's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
As for the plot, it takes place in an alternate reality from 1894-1895, where religion has put an even greater emphasis on women having children and being domestic - in this reality, people are so obsessed with children that there are many holidays concerning pregnancy and childbirth, Jesus is depicted as a baby, and women are routinely executed for not conceiving. The story follows Ada, a year into her marriage, when she and the people of her town realize that she is infertile. They run her out of the town and she has to find her own way in the world, at some point joining an all-female (but various gendered) outlaw gang. There's more to Ada's story and what drives her, but that's all spoilers.
I would have given this book five stars, except sometimes there were passages about events that went by rather swiftly, leaving the reader wanting more. For the most part, the fast-paced writing style of North works really well, but I personally felt that certain scenes needed to be lingered on yet were instead passed over in mere sentences.
Also, I feel it is worth mentioning: there are a number of LGBT characters; they are all treated with respect and handled well. However, one side character is killed off and technically counts as Bury Your Gays. For anyone who dislikes this trope, be aware that you'll come across it in this book.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Animal death and Murder
bury your gays trope for side character