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ehmannky's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.75
This series is such an intense and hard read. This one in particular because Callender makes it fairly clear early on that this revolution is doomed to fail, that all of the enslaved people who rose up (and a fair number who did not) are going to die, and that the entrenched power structure is going to continue and only be slightly less stable. I think that can make it seem like, well what was the point of this book? What was the point of the death and the revolution and the fighting? I liked that Loren, Malthe, Sigourney, and even Marieke are all fundamentally unsuited for the revolution's success because they are, at their heart, unable to let go of their own ego and subsume themselves for the greater good of the islands. They are too selfish, too caught up in their own desires of superiority and desire to mark themselves as different and better to lead successfully. I think that the emphasis on fighting for your freedom and the freedom of those who don't even exist yet is valuable and good, no matter the results. That a failed revolution today is the seeds of a successful one tomorrow. That even if it wasn't perfect yet, it still can be. And that maybe the next group of people who fight are going to be the ones who get it right.
At the end of the day, these are books that are more about the deep effects of slavery on the enslaved than the revolution itself. How it twists people's minds into accepting themselves as lesser, pits those who should be allies against one another, and how the worst of the physical scars carve themselves into people's minds. We spend so much time in people's heads and getting exposition because that's where the marks of slavery and trauma are invisible, but they profoundly shape a person. A remarkable book.
At the end of the day, these are books that are more about the deep effects of slavery on the enslaved than the revolution itself. How it twists people's minds into accepting themselves as lesser, pits those who should be allies against one another, and how the worst of the physical scars carve themselves into people's minds. We spend so much time in people's heads and getting exposition because that's where the marks of slavery and trauma are invisible, but they profoundly shape a person. A remarkable book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Genocide, Grief, Slavery, Racism, Blood, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Pedophilia
Minor: Vomit
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