A review by rinku
Echo der Gewalt by Yasmin Angoe

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Her Name Is Knight is a really brutal and dark book which gets 3.5 stars from me. I liked the idea behind it a lot and found Nena to be an interesting character, but the violence was sometimes a bit too much for me, and some moments were a bit too predictable. This book includes many triggering topics, like graphic (sexual) violence and death of parents, so please only read this book if you’re in the right headspace for it. 

Nena is an assassin, working for the Tribe, an organization that fights for African countries and diaspora. I find this concept just really intriguing and it’s more morally grey which I liked. On one of her missions, she sees a man she has terrible past with and decides that she wants her revenge. The story is told in two timelines; we see this present time story but also a past timeline where we see how Nena became an assassin. This past of Nena is very brutal and disturbing, and it’s so terrible to think about the fact that these kinds of things probably happen in reality as well. The present timeline is not less shocking and brutal, so be prepared. It was so intense how
she shoots the “wrong” guy
. Besides this, I liked the feminist undertones the story has, like Nena rejecting the term “female” for women, and the thematization of colonialism. 

My biggest issue with this novel was how predictable the plot became towards the end. It was so obvious that
Paul is the father of Elin’s boyfriend. I didn’t really understand why Nena didn’t just kill him right there when she’s so ruthless. It was also kinda predictable that the bad guys would kidnap Georgia.
. What shocked me though was the reveal that
that Oliver is her brother. Cort’s and Nena’s breakup was sad but also understandable
. I also loved how emotional the final chapter was. 

Nena is a really interesting character and also kinda likable. The struggle of her different identities is quite intense: On the one hand, she talks about killing like it’s nothing but on the other hand, she’s focussed on protecting the weak people. I also think that Nena’s trauma was depicted quite well. Besides this, the cast is all Black which was great. Georgia is such a great addition to the cast and Cort is so likable as well. 

All in all, Her Name is Knight is a thriller that deals with topics not every thriller does, and has some interesting characters that I can’t wait to read more about. 
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