A review by dragoninwinterfell
Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
2.0
Deathless Divide had so much potential to be as amazing as its predecessor, Dread Nation. Justina Ireland's skill in writing characters and developing a gritty world is still very strong. There's so much about this novel that I love. But that only made the parts of the book that weren't so great feel that much worse. Alongside strong characters and solid world-building, the story felt incredibly disjointed and the overall message seemed unrealistically preachy.
The Good: Again, the characters were very well-written. Jane continued to be a deeply complex and loveable heroine. The choice to make Katherine a co-lead alongside Jane was an excellent one. They're both unique and fascinating characters who can stand independently and complement each other well. Both narrators, Bahni Turpin and Jordan Cobb, brought each character to life beautifully. The supporting characters, especially Sue, were intriguing as well. Unfortunately...
The Bad: The story didn't hold up to the quality of the characters. The plot felt weirdly disjointed. The beginning of this book was very strong, but once a monumental incident happens, there is a year-and-a-half time jump that requires periodic info dumps that hint at stories much more interesting than the one told in the second portion of the novel. Both Jane and Katherine are forced to grow in different ways that would have benefited from being told through the actual narrative rather than just summarized here and there. The info dumps removed any emotional resonance that should have resulted from all that character and relationship development they went through. For instance, Jane has a romance during that year and a half that ends immediately after the jump. The ending of this relationship should be tragic. Rather than tragic, the situation is just incidental since we never got to see that relationship play out other than the ending of it.
The story also became very strangely preachy. Mild spoilers, but Jane becomes a bounty hunter while also hunting down the main villain of the series. This job involves killing terrible people who have done terrible things to others while forcing information out of them that will help her stop a man who is responsible for killing thousands if not millions of people. Somehow, Jane doing this is treated as her supposedly becoming as bad as the people she is executing. While she becomes a folk heroine who is seen as administering justice (which is what's happening), Jane and those around her are judging her to a very bizarre degree. I can't comprehend the idea that there's something wrong with her killing terrible people who will continue to do terrible things to others if they aren't stopped.
As amazing as Ireland's characters were, the story and the preachiness that seemed to support villainy continuing made this sequel fall flat for me, which is a real shame given the strength of the first novel.
The Good: Again, the characters were very well-written. Jane continued to be a deeply complex and loveable heroine. The choice to make Katherine a co-lead alongside Jane was an excellent one. They're both unique and fascinating characters who can stand independently and complement each other well. Both narrators, Bahni Turpin and Jordan Cobb, brought each character to life beautifully. The supporting characters, especially Sue, were intriguing as well. Unfortunately...
The Bad: The story didn't hold up to the quality of the characters. The plot felt weirdly disjointed. The beginning of this book was very strong, but once a monumental incident happens, there is a year-and-a-half time jump that requires periodic info dumps that hint at stories much more interesting than the one told in the second portion of the novel. Both Jane and Katherine are forced to grow in different ways that would have benefited from being told through the actual narrative rather than just summarized here and there. The info dumps removed any emotional resonance that should have resulted from all that character and relationship development they went through. For instance, Jane has a romance during that year and a half that ends immediately after the jump. The ending of this relationship should be tragic. Rather than tragic, the situation is just incidental since we never got to see that relationship play out other than the ending of it.
The story also became very strangely preachy. Mild spoilers, but Jane becomes a bounty hunter while also hunting down the main villain of the series. This job involves killing terrible people who have done terrible things to others while forcing information out of them that will help her stop a man who is responsible for killing thousands if not millions of people. Somehow, Jane doing this is treated as her supposedly becoming as bad as the people she is executing. While she becomes a folk heroine who is seen as administering justice (which is what's happening), Jane and those around her are judging her to a very bizarre degree. I can't comprehend the idea that there's something wrong with her killing terrible people who will continue to do terrible things to others if they aren't stopped.
As amazing as Ireland's characters were, the story and the preachiness that seemed to support villainy continuing made this sequel fall flat for me, which is a real shame given the strength of the first novel.