A review by oliviamnsnll
The Last Girl Scout by Natalie Ironside
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
So I sorta know the author, having been connected to her on social media for years, even before this book came out. I was very excited to find a novel set in a post-apocalyptic world dealing with revolutionary themes, that featured trans characters and wasn't liberal gobbledygook.
It took me longer than I would like to admit to finish, I think some of my initial slow-reading coming from being brainwashed by revisionist socialists into despising anarchism and the revolutionary trends inspired by Leon Trotsky.
Partly because of that, partly because of grad school, I returned to the book off and on, always finding it inspiring. But I picked it up to finish it only after really coming to a deeper understanding of revolutionary ideas and letting go of dogma.
<Spoiler>The fact that Ironside wrote a novel of proletarian fiction where anarchists and Marxist communists aren't killing each other and do in fact get along, reflects an optimism about the future I find refreshing. </spoilers>
I want to compare this book to Starhawk's two post-apocalyptic novels, "The Fifth Sacred Thing" & "City of Refuge" because they both deal with a new egalitarian society living alongside a fascist nightmare.
Starhawk's books are set in Califia, a transformed former California Bay Area. And while there are some intriguing theological musings and some fascinating ideas around constructing an anarchist society, the books are ruined by the author's unquestioned embrace of non-violent resistance, <spoilers> up to and including having her characters decide to defend against invasion by walking up to their enemies and letting them shoot them. The sequel follows that up by having the characters finally decide a revolutionary army is necessary to help liberate their neighbors living under a fascist state, but after 20+ years of ignoring the need for defense they are unprepared, and the fighters rely mostly on the military knowledge of former fascists. Additionally, Stawhawk kills one lesbian, portrays her single genderqueer character as a child predator, destroys a really cool polycule to force characters who don't believe in monogamy into a monogamous relationship, and has a POV character who participates in what are essentially Jeff Epstein parties. And redemptio for ideologically committed fascists is presented as a important value. </spoilers>
Suffice to say TLGS has none of those problems. The gays live, the fascists don't, the nuclear family is out, the egalitarian society makes sense, and the MCs are soldiers ready to defend their revolutionary world.
In terms of writing, it did lose my attention at times, and the character voices sometimes bled together, and Part 2 almost felt like book 2. But I will definitely re-read it, if for nothing else than the transbians!! And I'm very excited to pick up the short story collection, Lead & Roses.
Transbian anarchist-communist fiction is in short supply, that's for sure.
It took me longer than I would like to admit to finish, I think some of my initial slow-reading coming from being brainwashed by revisionist socialists into despising anarchism and the revolutionary trends inspired by Leon Trotsky.
Partly because of that, partly because of grad school, I returned to the book off and on, always finding it inspiring. But I picked it up to finish it only after really coming to a deeper understanding of revolutionary ideas and letting go of dogma.
<Spoiler>The fact that Ironside wrote a novel of proletarian fiction where anarchists and Marxist communists aren't killing each other and do in fact get along, reflects an optimism about the future I find refreshing. </spoilers>
I want to compare this book to Starhawk's two post-apocalyptic novels, "The Fifth Sacred Thing" & "City of Refuge" because they both deal with a new egalitarian society living alongside a fascist nightmare.
Starhawk's books are set in Califia, a transformed former California Bay Area. And while there are some intriguing theological musings and some fascinating ideas around constructing an anarchist society, the books are ruined by the author's unquestioned embrace of non-violent resistance, <spoilers> up to and including having her characters decide to defend against invasion by walking up to their enemies and letting them shoot them. The sequel follows that up by having the characters finally decide a revolutionary army is necessary to help liberate their neighbors living under a fascist state, but after 20+ years of ignoring the need for defense they are unprepared, and the fighters rely mostly on the military knowledge of former fascists. Additionally, Stawhawk kills one lesbian, portrays her single genderqueer character as a child predator, destroys a really cool polycule to force characters who don't believe in monogamy into a monogamous relationship, and has a POV character who participates in what are essentially Jeff Epstein parties. And redemptio for ideologically committed fascists is presented as a important value. </spoilers>
Suffice to say TLGS has none of those problems. The gays live, the fascists don't, the nuclear family is out, the egalitarian society makes sense, and the MCs are soldiers ready to defend their revolutionary world.
In terms of writing, it did lose my attention at times, and the character voices sometimes bled together, and Part 2 almost felt like book 2. But I will definitely re-read it, if for nothing else than the transbians!! And I'm very excited to pick up the short story collection, Lead & Roses.
Transbian anarchist-communist fiction is in short supply, that's for sure.