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aidanjo8's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kparry's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
laura_corsi's review against another edition
4.0
This book reminded me a little of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Both books hinge on the power of memory and heritage and what is taken from a person when they lose those things. However, Coates’ work would be easier for younger readers. Very beautifully written and the characters were gorgeous. This is a must read!
mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
2.0
The synopsis for this book is totally misleading. It makes out like it's supposed to be an alternate universe where the slaves are able to fight back with powers when instead it's just slavery as it existed in our world with one small difference i.e. the main character being essentially a teleporter. If you've read The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead then you have an idea of what I'm talking about in terms of execution.
Hiram is a slave born to an enslaved mother and their white master. His remarkable intelligence makes him valuable as the valet to his dim-witted, obnoxious half brother - the sole heir to the entire plantation. It all comes crashing down, however, when his brother drowns; an incident that changes the entire trajectory of Hiram's life.
First off this major event is re-iterated twice over: it's in the synopsis and the book opens in media res. I dislike in media res for this reason. I already knew what the catalyst was going to be so I was kind of bored reading up to it especially when the book is written largely in broad strokes. There aren't any details about anything ever.
The worldbuilding isn't very good. It relies heavily on you just knowing how slavery already is without carving out its own original view on the subject. Yes, most people do have some idea of how demoralizing and malignant slavery was. No, that's not an excuse to gloss over some of the day to day realities of the subject especially when such information is needed to anchor the story. I couldn't truly immerse myself in this because it didn't feel realistic due to how much context was missing. And I know this is a YA book so I don't mean it has to be graphic, I just wanted it to show me more than it did.
How many people were there on the plantation? What did a day on the fields look like compared to Hiram in the main house? What did he actually do for his brother everyday? Did the other slaves view him a certain kind of way because his father was their master? How did the Underground operate? How were roles delegated? How long had it been running? What happened if they were betrayed? How did you go about joining if you aren't recruited? How did they screen people? Where did the freed slaves actually go? What was public opinion of slavery at the time? What year was it at any given time? What laws had been passed regarding slavery when they were doing all of this? How old was literally any character?
If any of that sounds like stuff you'd be bothered not knowing, do not read this book. You're left as the reader totally alone to fill in gaps with your own acquired knowledge or assumptions.
The characters are so under developed I couldn't care about anyone. There are multiple people that are supposed to be good friends to Hiram yet we don't really know much about them. We get little glimpses of their lives but it's always through Hiram's limited perspective. And this would be fine ordinarily because after all, the story is being told through his point of view. However, Hiram never pursues anything. He's a pawn moved around as needed by Coates and his characters alike. He doesn't seek out relationships so much as have them foisted upon him. It's established early on people see a certain quality in Hiram that makes them tell him things. Unfortunately, that is the only way we learn anything about anyone; through long, pointed personal monologues. And yeah, I can see under the circumstances that people might feel more inclined to share their stories to whoever is available just to feel heard in some way, however, it happening every single time we met someone 'important' felt lazy. The lack of actual conversation back and forth between people undermined how significant these relationships were supposed to be. Even supporting characters didn't talk to one another. We were just told over and over how much they cared about each other without tangible evidence. So when a character actually dies I felt nothing because he was little more than a couple of anti-slavery soliloquies hiding in a coat.
Hiram himself is a flat character. He only wants one thing the whole book which makes sense, but that's all there is to him. To the point, that he actually sabotages the Underground which put him right on the edge of unlikable when you consider how much is (supposedly) at risk. I'd be selfish too I'm sure if I had his life and I'm not totally against his decision because I can only imagine how slavery impacts somebody's mental state, but Coates didn't do a good job executing it is my point. It relied a lot on my own empathy. And for all they kept saying he did so much for them he didn't do all that much on the page. There would be times where Hiram would talk about all he'd seen only to recount a random event that I, as the reader, never heard about. I kept asking myself 'when did this happen Hiram?? I've been here the whole time and this is the first time this has been mentioned'. That's how much details were glossed over in this book.
The magical realism is non-existent. Hiram takes the entire book to learn how to control it and I don't mean he's practicing that whole time. That would have been fine because he needs to work on it. No, Hiram finds out he has this power early on maybe chapter 6 or 7, uses that power accidentally twice after that and then not again until the final chapter. Yep, that's right. The power talked up in the synopsis and opens the whole book is used 4 times in 403 pages.
The ending is anti-climactic and in a way too easy.
I can see that the author was attempting to show how reclaiming our stories helps us to do incredible things, but it felt half-baked. I think more research about the particulars needed to be done or just included I guess because Coates does strike me as a man well versed in Black History so I feel like he purposely excluded this information - which was a big mistake.
This is his first attempt at stepping into YA fantasy so I'm not going to totally write him off yet, but I do feel like he needs to step outside of his typical methods of writing if he wants to he engaging to this particular audience.
Hiram is a slave born to an enslaved mother and their white master. His remarkable intelligence makes him valuable as the valet to his dim-witted, obnoxious half brother - the sole heir to the entire plantation. It all comes crashing down, however, when his brother drowns; an incident that changes the entire trajectory of Hiram's life.
First off this major event is re-iterated twice over: it's in the synopsis and the book opens in media res. I dislike in media res for this reason. I already knew what the catalyst was going to be so I was kind of bored reading up to it especially when the book is written largely in broad strokes. There aren't any details about anything ever.
The worldbuilding isn't very good. It relies heavily on you just knowing how slavery already is without carving out its own original view on the subject. Yes, most people do have some idea of how demoralizing and malignant slavery was. No, that's not an excuse to gloss over some of the day to day realities of the subject especially when such information is needed to anchor the story. I couldn't truly immerse myself in this because it didn't feel realistic due to how much context was missing. And I know this is a YA book so I don't mean it has to be graphic, I just wanted it to show me more than it did.
How many people were there on the plantation? What did a day on the fields look like compared to Hiram in the main house? What did he actually do for his brother everyday? Did the other slaves view him a certain kind of way because his father was their master? How did the Underground operate? How were roles delegated? How long had it been running? What happened if they were betrayed? How did you go about joining if you aren't recruited? How did they screen people? Where did the freed slaves actually go? What was public opinion of slavery at the time? What year was it at any given time? What laws had been passed regarding slavery when they were doing all of this? How old was literally any character?
If any of that sounds like stuff you'd be bothered not knowing, do not read this book. You're left as the reader totally alone to fill in gaps with your own acquired knowledge or assumptions.
The characters are so under developed I couldn't care about anyone. There are multiple people that are supposed to be good friends to Hiram yet we don't really know much about them. We get little glimpses of their lives but it's always through Hiram's limited perspective. And this would be fine ordinarily because after all, the story is being told through his point of view. However, Hiram never pursues anything. He's a pawn moved around as needed by Coates and his characters alike. He doesn't seek out relationships so much as have them foisted upon him. It's established early on people see a certain quality in Hiram that makes them tell him things. Unfortunately, that is the only way we learn anything about anyone; through long, pointed personal monologues. And yeah, I can see under the circumstances that people might feel more inclined to share their stories to whoever is available just to feel heard in some way, however, it happening every single time we met someone 'important' felt lazy. The lack of actual conversation back and forth between people undermined how significant these relationships were supposed to be. Even supporting characters didn't talk to one another. We were just told over and over how much they cared about each other without tangible evidence. So when a character actually dies I felt nothing because he was little more than a couple of anti-slavery soliloquies hiding in a coat.
Hiram himself is a flat character. He only wants one thing the whole book which makes sense, but that's all there is to him. To the point, that he actually sabotages the Underground which put him right on the edge of unlikable when you consider how much is (supposedly) at risk. I'd be selfish too I'm sure if I had his life and I'm not totally against his decision because I can only imagine how slavery impacts somebody's mental state, but Coates didn't do a good job executing it is my point. It relied a lot on my own empathy. And for all they kept saying he did so much for them he didn't do all that much on the page. There would be times where Hiram would talk about all he'd seen only to recount a random event that I, as the reader, never heard about. I kept asking myself 'when did this happen Hiram?? I've been here the whole time and this is the first time this has been mentioned'. That's how much details were glossed over in this book.
The magical realism is non-existent. Hiram takes the entire book to learn how to control it and I don't mean he's practicing that whole time. That would have been fine because he needs to work on it. No, Hiram finds out he has this power early on maybe chapter 6 or 7, uses that power accidentally twice after that and then not again until the final chapter. Yep, that's right. The power talked up in the synopsis and opens the whole book is used 4 times in 403 pages.
The ending is anti-climactic and in a way too easy.
I can see that the author was attempting to show how reclaiming our stories helps us to do incredible things, but it felt half-baked. I think more research about the particulars needed to be done or just included I guess because Coates does strike me as a man well versed in Black History so I feel like he purposely excluded this information - which was a big mistake.
This is his first attempt at stepping into YA fantasy so I'm not going to totally write him off yet, but I do feel like he needs to step outside of his typical methods of writing if he wants to he engaging to this particular audience.
savaging's review against another edition
4.0
This book invited me to sit with grief and joy and terrible beauty. The plot is slow and winding, and I was confused about which threads I should hold onto and which were done. But there's so much to appreciate on the journey.
It makes me think of Coates' work on the Black Panther comic series. The writing is completely different, obviously, but he returns to the power of unexpected stories to jostle us free. It's magic that isn't just make-believe.
It makes me think of Coates' work on the Black Panther comic series. The writing is completely different, obviously, but he returns to the power of unexpected stories to jostle us free. It's magic that isn't just make-believe.
rhianydd's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
linabird03's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
codergrl's review against another edition
2.0
I should have known better than to pick a book Oprah recommend. I guess it's good but ooooh soooo slooooow. It started well and then it just got slower and slower and repetitive. Kid's smart, I get it. Author could have shaved off 100 pages by not constantly repeating that.
chipie's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
2.75
Started out OK but the elements of magic realism weren't developed that well and the last third of the book just became very slow.