A review by egelantier
Rebel by Sherwood Smith, Rachel Manija Brown
5.0
FINALLY! this is an arc review - the book is coming out in may - and i've waited it for so long and it DIDN'T DISAPPOINT. it's a technically lull, character-driven book occupying a quieter spot between plotty excitement of hostage and the upcoming endgame showdown in traitor, and i've still stayed up until five in the morning reading it on a workday, because all the character bits were so, so compelling.
there's ross, mia and jenny continuing to explore their relationship and hang-ups thereof; ross grappling with the concept of family (there's a surprise! it's awesome), love, home, security; kerry adjusting to both loss of her status and perks of not living in a totalitarian dystopia of her father; becky callahan slowly learning to escape the lifetime of abuse (as bonus, it's a lesbian character pov, previously absent, and her chapters were harsh but lovely, and her relationship with her girlfriend incredibly heartwarming); and there's, back again, felicity who's trying to live with her secret and with her loving, awesome father who would hate her if he just new (i love felicity an unholy amount, and i find her father the racist-against-changed dude more and more intriguing, and i'm greatly looking forwards to the next book when his prejudiced ways are finally going to bite him in the ass good). there's a very decent whodunnit plot uniting all the threads, tons of customarily good worldbuilding (my favorite bit was a theater company performing some mythical stories from the world-that-was, it being YA DYSTOPIAN NOVELS, complete with customary love triangle - i pretty much howled with laughter at the denouement), some cameos from absent characters (yuki seems to be having great fun with his prospecting ways, which is reassuring), and an uber-adorable rat imprinting scene.
so, yeah, worth the wait. i've read it, re-read some choice bits, spot-reread my favorite bits from favorite books, and now i'm stuck waiting for the finale.
there's ross, mia and jenny continuing to explore their relationship and hang-ups thereof; ross grappling with the concept of family (there's a surprise! it's awesome), love, home, security; kerry adjusting to both loss of her status and perks of not living in a totalitarian dystopia of her father; becky callahan slowly learning to escape the lifetime of abuse (as bonus, it's a lesbian character pov, previously absent, and her chapters were harsh but lovely, and her relationship with her girlfriend incredibly heartwarming); and there's, back again, felicity who's trying to live with her secret and with her loving, awesome father who would hate her if he just new (i love felicity an unholy amount, and i find her father the racist-against-changed dude more and more intriguing, and i'm greatly looking forwards to the next book when his prejudiced ways are finally going to bite him in the ass good). there's a very decent whodunnit plot uniting all the threads, tons of customarily good worldbuilding (my favorite bit was a theater company performing some mythical stories from the world-that-was, it being YA DYSTOPIAN NOVELS, complete with customary love triangle - i pretty much howled with laughter at the denouement), some cameos from absent characters (yuki seems to be having great fun with his prospecting ways, which is reassuring), and an uber-adorable rat imprinting scene.
so, yeah, worth the wait. i've read it, re-read some choice bits, spot-reread my favorite bits from favorite books, and now i'm stuck waiting for the finale.