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A review by rhonamtennant
The Creative Fire by Brenda Cooper
3.0
3 stars
I was recommended this book by a friend who knew I liked YA dystopias and especially ones focusing on a class struggle. I really did want to like this book, and not just because of my friend. The blurb on the back made it sound intriguing and really my sort of book. The idea of taking inspiration from a historical figure (Evita Peron) or fictitious character captured my attention too ( having already fallen in love with the [b:Legend|9275658|Legend (Legend, #1)|Marie Lu|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501368160s/9275658.jpg|14157512] Trilogy by [a:Marie Lu|4342215|Marie Lu|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1285032806p2/4342215.jpg] which took inspiration from [a:Victor Hugo|13661|Victor Hugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1415946858p2/13661.jpg]’s [b:Les Misérables|24280|Les Misérables|Victor Hugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1525303092s/24280.jpg|3208463]) But the problems really come when I opened the cover (well obviously, as we won’t know the plot until we read it)
The quotes above from the cover make it seem like Ruby will play an integral role in starting or continuing the revolution; sadly she doesn’t.
We are introduced to our two POV characters, friends Ruby and Onor (who is, unpredictably in love with Ruby – more on that in a bit) and their extra friend Marcelle who is forgotten about with alarming regularity given she’s supposed to be the best friend that completes the golden trio.
The biggest problem with these POV characters is that they spend so much of the book being kept in the dark, or shushed when asking questions. At no point does anyone sit them down and tell them the plan – everything that happens, happens to them. Neither are leaders of the revolution. Because they are POV characters, they are our (the reader’s) only access into the story so when information is withheld from them it’s withheld from us. This means that we never properly know what’s happening with the struggle for workers’ rights, anyone’s true role or motivation or what the revolution is actually trying to achieve.
Because the POV characters are so uninformed throughout the book, it feels like all the drama and politics and actual revolutionary acts take place “Off screen” somewhere else. Maybe it would’ve been better to focalise to another character that actually knows and does stuff. Or if it’s really Ruby’s story (it is after all subtitled Ruby’s Song) then make her more active!!
There is literally a section where Ruby talks to the assembled workers (fighters) and explicitly says she’s not leading the revolution. WTF
Doesn’t this say the exact opposite of what the blurb suggests? This was towards the end of the book so she didn’t have time to go from this to the leader of the revolution as the back cover claimed. I guess she will forever just be a rebellious teen after all.
The other thing that really let this book down for me was the romance elements. Onor is introduced as being basically in love with Ruby – and has been for years – and really, the way practically every other age appropriate guy acts towards her isn’t surprising. We’re supposed to believe that she is such a strong and proactive and appealing character but to be honest she very easily forgets her friends (any mention of her family practically disappears within a couple of chapters) once she moves to blue from grey and is really rather self-involved, and irritating in her childishness.
She mentions quite a few times of not wanting to turn into her mother who apparently is used to using sex as currency; going through men daily or weekly.
But not only does she apparently “fall in love” with Fox after hours of meeting him – saying goodbye to him by kissing him; once she decides she’s outgrown him, she moves onto someone is apparently more powerful and less “secretive” than he is: Colin. Who very rapidly disappears when she meets Joel (the most powerful of the characters we meet)
The amount of time spent discussing the men she meets, their looks; flirtations and weirdly smells (so much different kinds of sweat, apparently) it seems clear that she’s supposed to be loved and admired by all the men. This is a trope that really bugs me. As it works to degrade the female characters to base level emotions and looks; she is, after all, told frequently of how beautiful she looks. There can be a difference between being admired for your strength of character and being admired as a sexual object.
The way she then moves from one (powerful) man to the next (more powerful) also suggests that she does use sex and attraction in similar ways to her mother.
Finally the most obscure thing in the book: Adiamo, home (apparently). We are told next to nothing about it; apart from it was a game for children on grey – which apparently ended up being more than a game. Was it a planet? A galaxy? A solar system? Who actually knows?
Why is it so important and why is it such a big deal that they are finally getting there? Why do people act like it’s a big secret that they’re close? And why do people act like the revolution needs to happen before they land, because somehow the workers can’t rebel once they’ve left the ship? Does this mean that the class structure would be completely removed when they land and that’s why those in charge want to make sure they get all the slave labour they can get before it’s too late?
There were so many promising ideas for this book; the premise is cool and a few of the characters seemed really interesting but we never got to know more about those characters and we never really got the revolutionary explosion the title and premise promised.
All in all it was just a thoroughly frustrating and disappointing read.
“Nothing can match the power of a single voice”
“If Ruby can’t transform from a rebellious teen to the leader of a revolution, she and all her friends will lose all say in their future.”
I was recommended this book by a friend who knew I liked YA dystopias and especially ones focusing on a class struggle. I really did want to like this book, and not just because of my friend. The blurb on the back made it sound intriguing and really my sort of book. The idea of taking inspiration from a historical figure (Evita Peron) or fictitious character captured my attention too ( having already fallen in love with the [b:Legend|9275658|Legend (Legend, #1)|Marie Lu|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501368160s/9275658.jpg|14157512] Trilogy by [a:Marie Lu|4342215|Marie Lu|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1285032806p2/4342215.jpg] which took inspiration from [a:Victor Hugo|13661|Victor Hugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1415946858p2/13661.jpg]’s [b:Les Misérables|24280|Les Misérables|Victor Hugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1525303092s/24280.jpg|3208463]) But the problems really come when I opened the cover (well obviously, as we won’t know the plot until we read it)
The quotes above from the cover make it seem like Ruby will play an integral role in starting or continuing the revolution; sadly she doesn’t.
We are introduced to our two POV characters, friends Ruby and Onor (who is, unpredictably in love with Ruby – more on that in a bit) and their extra friend Marcelle who is forgotten about with alarming regularity given she’s supposed to be the best friend that completes the golden trio.
The biggest problem with these POV characters is that they spend so much of the book being kept in the dark, or shushed when asking questions. At no point does anyone sit them down and tell them the plan – everything that happens, happens to them. Neither are leaders of the revolution. Because they are POV characters, they are our (the reader’s) only access into the story so when information is withheld from them it’s withheld from us. This means that we never properly know what’s happening with the struggle for workers’ rights, anyone’s true role or motivation or what the revolution is actually trying to achieve.
“Who helps you?” Onor asked, the question blurting out even though he knew he should shut up.
“We’ll tell you what you need to know.”
“Okay…so I do need to know who we’re fighting.”
Aric shook his head. “No. Not Really. You need to know what we ask you to do and you need to do it.”
“So it’s a threat. I got that much. The workers showing the rest of you that they can get to various places on the ship. But no one got hurt, right? And the whole ship needs the workers. Isn’t that how it plays out?”
“You’re not that stupid.”
Ouch. “So educate me.”
“I make sure you know what you need to know.”
Because the POV characters are so uninformed throughout the book, it feels like all the drama and politics and actual revolutionary acts take place “Off screen” somewhere else. Maybe it would’ve been better to focalise to another character that actually knows and does stuff. Or if it’s really Ruby’s story (it is after all subtitled Ruby’s Song) then make her more active!!
There is literally a section where Ruby talks to the assembled workers (fighters) and explicitly says she’s not leading the revolution. WTF
“I came back to you today, to be here on the right side of this. To support the fight, to be part of it. Not to lead it. I don’t know the details of what your leaders want you to do.”
Doesn’t this say the exact opposite of what the blurb suggests? This was towards the end of the book so she didn’t have time to go from this to the leader of the revolution as the back cover claimed. I guess she will forever just be a rebellious teen after all.
The other thing that really let this book down for me was the romance elements. Onor is introduced as being basically in love with Ruby – and has been for years – and really, the way practically every other age appropriate guy acts towards her isn’t surprising. We’re supposed to believe that she is such a strong and proactive and appealing character but to be honest she very easily forgets her friends (any mention of her family practically disappears within a couple of chapters) once she moves to blue from grey and is really rather self-involved, and irritating in her childishness.
She mentions quite a few times of not wanting to turn into her mother who apparently is used to using sex as currency; going through men daily or weekly.
“She looked like her mother. She didn’t want to become Suri, using sex to gain favours and safety. But that wasn’t why she’d slept with Fox. That was a thank-you, not a please”
But not only does she apparently “fall in love” with Fox after hours of meeting him – saying goodbye to him by kissing him; once she decides she’s outgrown him, she moves onto someone is apparently more powerful and less “secretive” than he is: Colin. Who very rapidly disappears when she meets Joel (the most powerful of the characters we meet)
“People who deferred to Fox at home gave him less credit here, as if Colin outshone everyone else in this underground part of the ship…She missed Fox in spite of the way his mood toward her shifted one way and then another, and at the same time, she wanted to know Colin better.”
“Ruby leaned over him and kissed his forehead. He spent his time organising people like she spent hers organising messages, but it wouldn’t be enough. Colin could never capture the attention of the people on gray.”
“Fox had been stronger than her when she met him, but she’d outgrown him; found he didn’t have passion for the same thing she did. She would not outgrow this man. He was going to run the ship when they won, and he would be surrounded with things to learn and do, with choices that mattered.”
The amount of time spent discussing the men she meets, their looks; flirtations and weirdly smells (so much different kinds of sweat, apparently) it seems clear that she’s supposed to be loved and admired by all the men. This is a trope that really bugs me. As it works to degrade the female characters to base level emotions and looks; she is, after all, told frequently of how beautiful she looks. There can be a difference between being admired for your strength of character and being admired as a sexual object.
The way she then moves from one (powerful) man to the next (more powerful) also suggests that she does use sex and attraction in similar ways to her mother.
Finally the most obscure thing in the book: Adiamo, home (apparently). We are told next to nothing about it; apart from it was a game for children on grey – which apparently ended up being more than a game. Was it a planet? A galaxy? A solar system? Who actually knows?
Why is it so important and why is it such a big deal that they are finally getting there? Why do people act like it’s a big secret that they’re close? And why do people act like the revolution needs to happen before they land, because somehow the workers can’t rebel once they’ve left the ship? Does this mean that the class structure would be completely removed when they land and that’s why those in charge want to make sure they get all the slave labour they can get before it’s too late?
There were so many promising ideas for this book; the premise is cool and a few of the characters seemed really interesting but we never got to know more about those characters and we never really got the revolutionary explosion the title and premise promised.
All in all it was just a thoroughly frustrating and disappointing read.