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A review by hywar
The Jumbie God's Revenge by Tracey Baptiste
3.0
Baptiste has a knack for writing really cute middle-grade novels with strong themes, brilliant characters, and captivating plots. I really enjoyed reading the entire Jumbies series, though I would definitely rank this as the weakest entry in the series.
There was a lot to love - we had the same characters we have grown attached to, continuing to fight to protect their family and loved ones from mythological dangers. Baptiste has done a great job in developing her characters - even though it's still the same old Corinne, the reader can definitely see has she has grown and changed throughout the series, which I absolutely loved!
Unfortunately, I think the premise this time was just a little too big for Baptiste to fully capture and do justice. In the conclusion of the series, Corinne is no longer fighting against the Jumbies - no, instead, she is now fighting against Huracan, the god of wind and storms. The lead-up to the intro of Huracan was interesting, but it seemed like once we met him the author didn't really know where to go from there. Corinne was still a young girl struggling to come to terms with her half-Jumbie nature, and prior to this book hadn't really shown much in terms of strength or power. Now, in order to deal with Huracan, Baptiste had to suddenly have Corinne grow and change in ways that were hard to follow and make sense of. I confess, I have no idea what Corinne is or what the significance of her is, though near the end of their fight it seemed like Huracan had come to some sort of realization (was I also supposed to come to one? I was left unsure). All of a sudden she is able to slough off her skin and become a being made of pure fire and energy, able to attack and withstand massive blows - and then slip her skin back on and be fine. I didn't understand it at all. It seemed like there was some big message I was supposed to be getting from this transformation, but whatever it was I missed.
I was also really distracted by the premise of plotholes, which I hadn't noticed in previous books. The most notable would be the sudden inclusion of Bouki and Malik's real family. Apparently, they actually lived with a group of people on the top of a mountain on the island - a group of people that it sounds like no one had ever seen or heard of before, even though they've lived there for years? I was so confused as to how no one knew they were living up there, and to why they never found the boys when they went missing - it's mentioned that the two had ventured off the mountain before, so they definitely knew their way back. It also seemed like Baptiste was throwing down some suggestions that the people on the mountain were dangerous and could not be trusted - there were weird comments from Corinne about how it seemed like they only wanted the boys to stay and everyone else to go, and when they returned from the mountain they were described as looking older than when they had first gone up? It's also clear that they don't both feel comfortable, for reasons unknown, with returning home and staying there. But if that was a plotline, it was quickly and upsettingly abandoned. There's also the weirdness of Severine, who Corinne had previously abandoned in the ocean without her memories. Now, Corinne is able to bring her home and it seems like Severine holds no angry feelings about it whatsoever...which was absolutely bonkers. Like, alright, sure, family forgives and gives multiple chances - but Severine didn't seem like the type to forgive being thrown off a cliff and later left in the ocean.
The series itself was really good! I just think the author bit off more than she could chew with this last book, which was a shame. Even her author's note left me feeling like this book was just a little too big to be done justice, and like she knew that going into writing it.
There was a lot to love - we had the same characters we have grown attached to, continuing to fight to protect their family and loved ones from mythological dangers. Baptiste has done a great job in developing her characters - even though it's still the same old Corinne, the reader can definitely see has she has grown and changed throughout the series, which I absolutely loved!
Unfortunately, I think the premise this time was just a little too big for Baptiste to fully capture and do justice. In the conclusion of the series, Corinne is no longer fighting against the Jumbies - no, instead, she is now fighting against Huracan, the god of wind and storms. The lead-up to the intro of Huracan was interesting, but it seemed like once we met him the author didn't really know where to go from there. Corinne was still a young girl struggling to come to terms with her half-Jumbie nature, and prior to this book hadn't really shown much in terms of strength or power. Now, in order to deal with Huracan, Baptiste had to suddenly have Corinne grow and change in ways that were hard to follow and make sense of. I confess, I have no idea what Corinne is or what the significance of her is, though near the end of their fight it seemed like Huracan had come to some sort of realization (was I also supposed to come to one? I was left unsure). All of a sudden she is able to slough off her skin and become a being made of pure fire and energy, able to attack and withstand massive blows - and then slip her skin back on and be fine. I didn't understand it at all. It seemed like there was some big message I was supposed to be getting from this transformation, but whatever it was I missed.
I was also really distracted by the premise of plotholes, which I hadn't noticed in previous books. The most notable would be the sudden inclusion of Bouki and Malik's real family. Apparently, they actually lived with a group of people on the top of a mountain on the island - a group of people that it sounds like no one had ever seen or heard of before, even though they've lived there for years? I was so confused as to how no one knew they were living up there, and to why they never found the boys when they went missing - it's mentioned that the two had ventured off the mountain before, so they definitely knew their way back. It also seemed like Baptiste was throwing down some suggestions that the people on the mountain were dangerous and could not be trusted - there were weird comments from Corinne about how it seemed like they only wanted the boys to stay and everyone else to go, and when they returned from the mountain they were described as looking older than when they had first gone up? It's also clear that they don't both feel comfortable, for reasons unknown, with returning home and staying there. But if that was a plotline, it was quickly and upsettingly abandoned. There's also the weirdness of Severine, who Corinne had previously abandoned in the ocean without her memories. Now, Corinne is able to bring her home and it seems like Severine holds no angry feelings about it whatsoever...which was absolutely bonkers. Like, alright, sure, family forgives and gives multiple chances - but Severine didn't seem like the type to forgive being thrown off a cliff and later left in the ocean.
The series itself was really good! I just think the author bit off more than she could chew with this last book, which was a shame. Even her author's note left me feeling like this book was just a little too big to be done justice, and like she knew that going into writing it.