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rachelmcg2004's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Incest, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Rape, Xenophobia, Racism, Stalking, Sexual violence, and Classism
Moderate: Torture, Vomit, and Gun violence
Minor: Infidelity, Abortion, and Child death
rituxa's review against another edition
4.0
“Tubman: the human bridge from slavery to freedom.”
lk17's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
celinegaghadar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
CW: sexual assault, rape, incest
Dystopian, sci-fi-ish, kinda fantasy. Overall I liked this book. The plot moved quickly, the character development was rich and also logical. Basically a story of a healing journey with lots of interesting added elements including the AI, the mythical creatures and the Caribbean folklore. The book is written in Anglopatwa/ Creole which took some getting used to. The world building was great. I felt I had a good understanding of Toussaint and New Half Way Tree. The splitting of Tan-Tan’s identity into the Midnight Robber was an interesting take on her coping with trauma and her relationships with the douen a reflection on power dynamics that exist in our world. I think there could have been shorter chapters and an earlier revelation of who the mystery narrator was but in general thought it was great.
ajsteele1699's review against another edition
This is not to the detriment of the book: it is excellently written, has really intriguing world building that is a mix of both sci-fi and fantasy, and an original story. If you read the content warnings and feel you can handle it, then I highly highly recommend this book.
imagimental's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kivt's review against another edition
4.0
Pros: I adored Tan-Tan. The worldbuildling was fantastic. The entire book was written in Caribbean dialect, and it worked incredibly well. I loved just about everything about the future-space-Caribbean. Overall, it was a joy to read. I can't recommend it enough.
Cons: I loved this book. It'd be 5/5, but I absolutely hate stories about child abuse and incest in which the abusee gets pregnant and, at the end, has a miraculously healing birth. I don't buy it and I'm not into it. I also felt the timing was weird; the book focused very intently on Tan-Tan's childhood, and jumped quite abruptly to puberty, and then again to age 16 (I think). My final nitpick is that the book completely, uncritically played into the distant/bitchy/uninterested/dead mother trope. Tan-Tan's relationship with her father is obviously complicated enough, but the flatness of her mother (who I would have liked to know more about!) was disappointing.
thebanhammer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Rape, Incest, and Child abuse
11corvus11's review against another edition
4.0
atagarev's review against another edition
3.0
It is difficult to say what the narrative fails to deliver a pay off on because the book keeps seeming like it will tackle some specific subject (AI and privacy, colonization and slavery, culture clash, incest and pedophilia, alien contact, parallel universes, myth building through ever evolving spoken narratives, language and thought modification) only to give up and move on to totally different topic. All of the ones I listed are at least marked as of interest several times but most don't go past that. Even the ones that get more attention end up getting a shallow and cliched treatment.
The most distinctive feature of the book is its *voice*. I can imagine it will be absolute blast to listen to the audio version as Hopkinson focuses so much on the spoken tradition and it all feels like a fireside tale. There is something to be said about listening to people having high tech discussions with an AI in Jamaican patois as something perfectly standard and I kept hoping the repeatedly brought up nanny song will turn into something deeper or more meaningful.