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essinink's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This is a hard one to review, because I really liked the first two Venery books.
In some ways, this is an extended epilogue to questions raised in An Exaltation of Larks. We're dealing with recent Chilean history again, though with new characters and additional complications.
I have to say that I managed to get through college--as an International Relations major(!)--with none of this being mentioned except in briefest passing (Not even in my unit on Latin American politics covered this). So in that regard, I think it's important to have contemporary novels that address this part of history. Cleon's sections are very difficult reading, but this should be known. It shouldn't be forgotten.
Unfortunately, I think it gets a bit muddled. We have Cleon in the Villa Grimaldi, we have Penny trying to sort her own trauma, we have Jude's past experiences with violent homophobia, we have Jude's new relationship with Tej, we have the entire bio-family plot which impacts everything else, we have a huge cast of side characters... the focus diffuses amongst these connected but separate plotlines, each of them vying for equal attention, and it's a lot to ask of a reader. There's an emotional climax to Jude's family arc about 83% into the book, and when I looked at the progress bar on my Kobo, my eyebrows hit my hairline trying to figure out what else the book could possibly need to cover.
The paragraph above covers most of my less-than-satisfied response, but there is one specific scene that bears mentioning. At about 92% into the book, a one-off Mapuche character is introduced. This character's sole purpose is to guide Jude to a paradigm shift via a dream and its interpretation, like some kind of phone-in Chakotay. They do not exist before this scene, and they do not exist after, and the fact that this scene exists in a modern novel is infuriating to me.
But it is a single scene in a book that--while unwieldy--isn't bad.
The bones here are very good. Suanne Laquer's writing and phrasing remains sensitive as always to dark topics. I was interested in Jude's family plot, I was interested (in a horrified way) with Cleon and Penny's histories, I was event kind of interested in Jude's relationship, but reading all of them at once didn't work for me.
In some ways, this is an extended epilogue to questions raised in An Exaltation of Larks. We're dealing with recent Chilean history again, though with new characters and additional complications.
I have to say that I managed to get through college--as an International Relations major(!)--with none of this being mentioned except in briefest passing (Not even in my unit on Latin American politics covered this). So in that regard, I think it's important to have contemporary novels that address this part of history. Cleon's sections are very difficult reading, but this should be known. It shouldn't be forgotten.
Unfortunately, I think it gets a bit muddled. We have Cleon in the Villa Grimaldi, we have Penny trying to sort her own trauma, we have Jude's past experiences with violent homophobia, we have Jude's new relationship with Tej, we have the entire bio-family plot which impacts everything else, we have a huge cast of side characters... the focus diffuses amongst these connected but separate plotlines, each of them vying for equal attention, and it's a lot to ask of a reader. There's an emotional climax to Jude's family arc about 83% into the book, and when I looked at the progress bar on my Kobo, my eyebrows hit my hairline trying to figure out what else the book could possibly need to cover.
The paragraph above covers most of my less-than-satisfied response, but there is one specific scene that bears mentioning. At about 92% into the book, a one-off Mapuche character is introduced. This character's sole purpose is to guide Jude to a paradigm shift via a dream and its interpretation, like some kind of phone-in Chakotay. They do not exist before this scene, and they do not exist after, and the fact that this scene exists in a modern novel is infuriating to me.
But it is a single scene in a book that--while unwieldy--isn't bad.
The bones here are very good. Suanne Laquer's writing and phrasing remains sensitive as always to dark topics. I was interested in Jude's family plot, I was interested (in a horrified way) with Cleon and Penny's histories, I was event kind of interested in Jude's relationship, but reading all of them at once didn't work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Sexual violence
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