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fatima17's review
4.0
Here is my full review of The Fall along with an interview with author, Jen Thorpe. https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/the-fall-is-a-fantasy-novel-set-in-the-middle-of-feesmustfall-protests/
flowahh_'s review
3.0
What a conundrum. I have never felt so conflicted about a book... I mean I nearly didn’t finish this book, but I’m so glad that I powered on - anyway here we go!
Set in an alternative South Africa against the #FeesMustFall movement. The Fall is a tale filled with fantastical creatures, high suspense and social and political commentary.
Jen Thorpe sets the scene by introducing us to 6 characters comprised of students, a journalist and government workers, and we get a glimpse of their feelings towards the ongoing #FeesMustFall - and this is where she lost me. It literally felt like a bunch of twitter threads sprinkled across the pages. I firmly believe that it wasn’t the authors place to write about #FeesMustFall especially while using black characters. In doing so I felt that she did the rest of her book a disservice I would cringe every time she adopted “protest speak” for her characters and instead of drawing me in as reader I was repelled. Instead of offering social and political commentary I feel like she did the opposite, as it came off as inauthentic. If this was set against any made up civil unrest I think I would have been more at ease.
With that being said, I quite enjoyed the speculative side of this novel, from the magical creatures, the running prophecy throughout the book, and characters with special abilities and that’s what kept me invested and had me wishing that the first 100 pages were different. In fact after I reached the 130 page mark I couldn’t put down the book and I suspect it’s because it moved away from the #FeesMustFall space. I mean I was hooked, I read the last couple of pages with my flashlight because not even loadshedding would have stopped me.
Set in an alternative South Africa against the #FeesMustFall movement. The Fall is a tale filled with fantastical creatures, high suspense and social and political commentary.
Jen Thorpe sets the scene by introducing us to 6 characters comprised of students, a journalist and government workers, and we get a glimpse of their feelings towards the ongoing #FeesMustFall - and this is where she lost me. It literally felt like a bunch of twitter threads sprinkled across the pages. I firmly believe that it wasn’t the authors place to write about #FeesMustFall especially while using black characters. In doing so I felt that she did the rest of her book a disservice I would cringe every time she adopted “protest speak” for her characters and instead of drawing me in as reader I was repelled. Instead of offering social and political commentary I feel like she did the opposite, as it came off as inauthentic. If this was set against any made up civil unrest I think I would have been more at ease.
With that being said, I quite enjoyed the speculative side of this novel, from the magical creatures, the running prophecy throughout the book, and characters with special abilities and that’s what kept me invested and had me wishing that the first 100 pages were different. In fact after I reached the 130 page mark I couldn’t put down the book and I suspect it’s because it moved away from the #FeesMustFall space. I mean I was hooked, I read the last couple of pages with my flashlight because not even loadshedding would have stopped me.
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