Scan barcode
A review by aforestofbooks
Fledgling by S.K. Ali
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
When Sajidah announced she was writing a YA dystopian/scifi book, I knew I immediately needed to get my hands on it. Everything I heard about this book leading up to its release made me more and more excited.
Fledgling is a chilling wake-up call to the present state of our world and what will become of us if we don't band together to fight for freedom and justice. We see a world ruled by the same capitalistic, neocolonial, genocidal powers that rule us currently. We see a world where every aspect of your life is under surveillance, from your actions to your very thoughts. We see a world where the rich rule the skies and the earth, exploiting resources for their own benefit at the cost of people's lives. All in all, it is our current life but taken up a few notches. It's a life that could very well exist in our future if we remain silent and complacent.
I went into this book with pretty high expectations, which is kind of my fault. I think whenever a writer is branching out into a new genre, some grace needs to be given when it comes to the writing style, plot execution, and character development.
Unfortunately for me, this book did not completely live up to my expectations, and I think a lot of it had to do with the writing style. While this book is an easy introduction to the genre for new readers, as someone who's read sci-fi/dystopian, the writing felt more like Sajidah's contemporary books. There was a lot of world-dumping monologues, and some of the conversations and dialogue between the characters felt stilted and unrealistic. Some scenes just didn't make a lot of sense and those scenes also happened to be with Murrabi Hasuf who honestly confused me most of the time. I didn't mind the 6 different POVs, but my one complaint is that I wish we got more of an equal distribution between all 6. Khalda's story was probably the most interesting to me, but we're only introduced to her and Nayf mid-way through the book. The plot itself was okay, though it did start to feel like every POV the characters were just going in circles between being caught vs. trying to do what they planned to do before getting side-tracked yet again. The action in this book definitely picked up in the last quarter though, which made for a quicker more engaging read.
Nada was my favourite character. She knew what she wanted and was determined to follow through with her plans. I loved how strong of a character she was, and she seemed the most well-developed out of all the main characters. I truly thought she was the Fledgling the entire time because it made the most sense. She had the will and the strength to kick start a revolution, as well as the people's love. I did not understand her relationship with Musaid, however. Besides liking each other as kids, they had completely different beliefs when it came to the ahraar and ALIGN, and despite all their disagreements and fights, somehow Murrabi Hasuf decides to marry them, even though they have barely seen each other in years and Nada was only recently released from prison. It made absolutely zero sense to me and Musaid being so annoying didn't help either. When Nada is killed off near the end of the book, I was actually shocked. I was waiting for it to be some ploy by Lein, that Nada only looked dead, and was actually alive, but nope, she is dead dead. And they all bury her. I understand adding the shock factor to a book, and character deaths are more of a thing in sci-fi/dystopian, but I think this death took away the strongest character in this book, and I am a bit worried who will carry the plot in the sequel with Nada gone.
Musaid was just plain annoying. I did not care for him in the slightest, and would have much preferred him dead at the end tbh. Lein compared him to a dog at one point, and I had to agree. He just did what he was told, and had zero critical thinking skills, until it was too late and Nada was gone. The scene where they have a "moment" together before Nada is killed off, also just felt way too reminiscent to a certain scene in Empire of Gold, which was a huge turn off for me anyway. While at the end, he does pick the right side, and while I can understand why he was the way he is, the crux of my disappointment was in Nada choosing to love him when he was so different from the world she was fighting for. I would have much preferred if they had broken up and gotten back together later once Musaid realized the error of his ways.
Raisa, who apparently is the main character of this book, honestly felt like more of a side character. She had zero agency and spent most of the book crying, terrified, or wishing her scalp link worked so it could tell her what to do/think. And while I understand that's all she knows, it made me pity her instead of root for her. She didn't feel fully fleshed out. And her relationship with Nada didn't develop on the page as I was hoping. We see the two of them comforting/crying on each other's shoulders near the end of the book, but how they got there is beyond me. I wish we could have seen more of their friendship, though with Nada dead now, I guess there's really no point. We also got barely any character development. Raisa is all for ALIGN and the Enlightenment project, calling the ahraar brutes, and just wanting to go back to her dad. And then by the end we see a 360, and she's making a rousing speech to the people and starting off a revolution. It felt like there was a scene or two missing in between that would have made this huge change more believable. Even if it was Raisa seeing Nada's dead body and that pushing her to denounce ALIGN and the Enlightenment...
Khalda was the one character I wish we got to see more of. Her backstory was heartbreaking, but also fascinating. Considering this book's title, I wish we saw more of the Record Keepers, but with Khalda reluctant to take on her family's duties and becoming a Record Keeper herself, we only see a glimpse of it near the end. If there's one thing I look forward to seeing in the next book is Khalda's (and Eyas's) role in the revolution.
I wish we got to see more of Nayf. He was constantly referenced throughout the first half of the book, but we don't get a POV from him until mid-way through. He was an interesting contrast with Nada, wanting a peaceful way out of oppression, compared to the more violent resistance Nada and Raisa's mom were after. I did like this dichotomy because it reflects our present world very accurately, with people believing resistance can be done with kind words and discussions, while others realize the necessity of violence to end violent occupation. I think the character development Nayf goes through, realizing what he does about Murrabi Hasuf and ALIGN was perfectly done, and with the ending of this book, I'm curious to see what he does next.
Murrabi Hasuf...I really hated his character. He was confusing and deliberately obtuse. And everything that came out of his mouth just made zero sense to me. I know Sajidah was trying to bring an Islamic aspect to this book without outright calling it Islam, and she did that through the spiritual figure that is Hasuf. I just think it was unnecessary for a book like this. While I love reading about Islam and seeing religious characters in books, it took away from the story because every time Hasuf opened his mouth, I sat there confused wondering why everything had turned so philosophical. Even his POV he's aware that the other characters aren't buying what he's saying or are confused. And then we see him turn into a completely different person, and even then he keeps saying vague things to Nayf and trying to act like he's the good guy instead of just coming out and saying the truth. I think one of my absolute pet peeves is when someone withholds important pieces of information for no reason other than to stretch out the plot. I have no idea what's in store with his character, but if he turns out to be a good guy after all, it's going to annoy me more than if he turns out to be evil.
Lein was actually a really great villain. The torture scene with Musaid is something I still can't stop thinking about and all it reminds me of is the concentration camps the Israeli nazis have set up for Palestinian hostages. I'm terrified to see what he's going to do next. I don't buy what we see of him in the last chapter with Khalda. I refuse to see him as a changed man.
Overall, this book was okay. The ending picked up and was a much faster read for me, and there were good parts that I did enjoy, even though I had issues with the writing style and quite a few of the characters. I think the setting and circumstances of this story is what drew me in and kept me reading, and how it connected to our current world. I love Sajidah as a person and a writer, so this does get a higher rating because of that.
Fledgling is a chilling wake-up call to the present state of our world and what will become of us if we don't band together to fight for freedom and justice. We see a world ruled by the same capitalistic, neocolonial, genocidal powers that rule us currently. We see a world where every aspect of your life is under surveillance, from your actions to your very thoughts. We see a world where the rich rule the skies and the earth, exploiting resources for their own benefit at the cost of people's lives. All in all, it is our current life but taken up a few notches. It's a life that could very well exist in our future if we remain silent and complacent.
I went into this book with pretty high expectations, which is kind of my fault. I think whenever a writer is branching out into a new genre, some grace needs to be given when it comes to the writing style, plot execution, and character development.
Unfortunately for me, this book did not completely live up to my expectations, and I think a lot of it had to do with the writing style. While this book is an easy introduction to the genre for new readers, as someone who's read sci-fi/dystopian, the writing felt more like Sajidah's contemporary books. There was a lot of world-dumping monologues, and some of the conversations and dialogue between the characters felt stilted and unrealistic. Some scenes just didn't make a lot of sense and those scenes also happened to be with Murrabi Hasuf who honestly confused me most of the time. I didn't mind the 6 different POVs, but my one complaint is that I wish we got more of an equal distribution between all 6. Khalda's story was probably the most interesting to me, but we're only introduced to her and Nayf mid-way through the book. The plot itself was okay, though it did start to feel like every POV the characters were just going in circles between being caught vs. trying to do what they planned to do before getting side-tracked yet again. The action in this book definitely picked up in the last quarter though, which made for a quicker more engaging read.
Nada was my favourite character. She knew what she wanted and was determined to follow through with her plans. I loved how strong of a character she was, and she seemed the most well-developed out of all the main characters. I truly thought she was the Fledgling the entire time because it made the most sense. She had the will and the strength to kick start a revolution, as well as the people's love. I did not understand her relationship with Musaid, however. Besides liking each other as kids, they had completely different beliefs when it came to the ahraar and ALIGN, and despite all their disagreements and fights, somehow Murrabi Hasuf decides to marry them, even though they have barely seen each other in years and Nada was only recently released from prison. It made absolutely zero sense to me and Musaid being so annoying didn't help either. When Nada is killed off near the end of the book, I was actually shocked. I was waiting for it to be some ploy by Lein, that Nada only looked dead, and was actually alive, but nope, she is dead dead. And they all bury her. I understand adding the shock factor to a book, and character deaths are more of a thing in sci-fi/dystopian, but I think this death took away the strongest character in this book, and I am a bit worried who will carry the plot in the sequel with Nada gone.
Musaid was just plain annoying. I did not care for him in the slightest, and would have much preferred him dead at the end tbh. Lein compared him to a dog at one point, and I had to agree. He just did what he was told, and had zero critical thinking skills, until it was too late and Nada was gone. The scene where they have a "moment" together before Nada is killed off, also just felt way too reminiscent to a certain scene in Empire of Gold, which was a huge turn off for me anyway. While at the end, he does pick the right side, and while I can understand why he was the way he is, the crux of my disappointment was in Nada choosing to love him when he was so different from the world she was fighting for. I would have much preferred if they had broken up and gotten back together later once Musaid realized the error of his ways.
Raisa, who apparently is the main character of this book, honestly felt like more of a side character. She had zero agency and spent most of the book crying, terrified, or wishing her scalp link worked so it could tell her what to do/think. And while I understand that's all she knows, it made me pity her instead of root for her. She didn't feel fully fleshed out. And her relationship with Nada didn't develop on the page as I was hoping. We see the two of them comforting/crying on each other's shoulders near the end of the book, but how they got there is beyond me. I wish we could have seen more of their friendship, though with Nada dead now, I guess there's really no point. We also got barely any character development. Raisa is all for ALIGN and the Enlightenment project, calling the ahraar brutes, and just wanting to go back to her dad. And then by the end we see a 360, and she's making a rousing speech to the people and starting off a revolution. It felt like there was a scene or two missing in between that would have made this huge change more believable. Even if it was Raisa seeing Nada's dead body and that pushing her to denounce ALIGN and the Enlightenment...
Khalda was the one character I wish we got to see more of. Her backstory was heartbreaking, but also fascinating. Considering this book's title, I wish we saw more of the Record Keepers, but with Khalda reluctant to take on her family's duties and becoming a Record Keeper herself, we only see a glimpse of it near the end. If there's one thing I look forward to seeing in the next book is Khalda's (and Eyas's) role in the revolution.
I wish we got to see more of Nayf. He was constantly referenced throughout the first half of the book, but we don't get a POV from him until mid-way through. He was an interesting contrast with Nada, wanting a peaceful way out of oppression, compared to the more violent resistance Nada and Raisa's mom were after. I did like this dichotomy because it reflects our present world very accurately, with people believing resistance can be done with kind words and discussions, while others realize the necessity of violence to end violent occupation. I think the character development Nayf goes through, realizing what he does about Murrabi Hasuf and ALIGN was perfectly done, and with the ending of this book, I'm curious to see what he does next.
Murrabi Hasuf...I really hated his character. He was confusing and deliberately obtuse. And everything that came out of his mouth just made zero sense to me. I know Sajidah was trying to bring an Islamic aspect to this book without outright calling it Islam, and she did that through the spiritual figure that is Hasuf. I just think it was unnecessary for a book like this. While I love reading about Islam and seeing religious characters in books, it took away from the story because every time Hasuf opened his mouth, I sat there confused wondering why everything had turned so philosophical. Even his POV he's aware that the other characters aren't buying what he's saying or are confused. And then we see him turn into a completely different person, and even then he keeps saying vague things to Nayf and trying to act like he's the good guy instead of just coming out and saying the truth. I think one of my absolute pet peeves is when someone withholds important pieces of information for no reason other than to stretch out the plot. I have no idea what's in store with his character, but if he turns out to be a good guy after all, it's going to annoy me more than if he turns out to be evil.
Lein was actually a really great villain. The torture scene with Musaid is something I still can't stop thinking about and all it reminds me of is the concentration camps the Israeli nazis have set up for Palestinian hostages. I'm terrified to see what he's going to do next. I don't buy what we see of him in the last chapter with Khalda. I refuse to see him as a changed man.
Overall, this book was okay. The ending picked up and was a much faster read for me, and there were good parts that I did enjoy, even though I had issues with the writing style and quite a few of the characters. I think the setting and circumstances of this story is what drew me in and kept me reading, and how it connected to our current world. I love Sajidah as a person and a writer, so this does get a higher rating because of that.