A review by mesal
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

adventurous mysterious

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

More people need to read Hardinge's books. I have very little to say about this book except that it was so much fun to read, with one of my favorite fictional settings (on the water) and with a cast of characters that had excellently written, well-crafted relationships. The one thing that I feel did not hit the mark was its portrayal of politics, even if meant for young readers. Saying that the governor was "perhaps just the best of the wrong answers available" out of nowhere, without any reader even knowing what the other wrong answers available were, felt like a message without context or background, thrown in without being properly explored. All the other themes of the book were given significant depth and detail; this one fell short of the mark.