Scan barcode
asweetdevouring's review
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
From the first lines of this book I was immediately hooked. The fast paced story and unique world building made it a difficult book to put down.
However, around the half way point the book takes an incredibly dark turn. While the author did a good job writing about such a disgusting act - clear without being unnecessarily graphic - it still casts a shadow over the entire book. Further, while I understand why the author chose the things that happened for Tan Tan so she could become the Robber Queen, I felt that there were other ways this could have been accomplished.
After THE ACT I felt as if the entire story simply became about violence and all of the interesting world building and unique creatures no longer really mattered as they became simply back drop decorations for a story that could just as easily have happened in our own world today.
The inserted parable chapters were really interesting and helped to break up the monotony that overtook the later half of the book, but overall it was just kind of depressing. All of the unique parts of the book became swallowed up by a story that, while shocking in its content, is also just generic in its violence.
Normally, I'm not usually one for giving trigger warnings but here I make an exception since the content really came out of nowhere in the story and then all of the story becomes about it. There is no "getting through" the one bad part.
Please click on the spoiler if you want to know the details of the content warning, which are MAJOR spoilers for the book. If you don't, just be aware that the book is very dark and is in absolutly no way suitable for any reader under the age of 16.
Since this is the CW section I won't dance around this. A 9 year old is repeatedly raped in this book by her father. The rape is not described but the author is very clear that it happened. There is also a 14 year old having an abortion, a graphic beating of a 16 year old, a graphic rape scene of a 16 year old, a short description of forced oral sex with a child, a 16 year old being forced to carry her rapist's child to term, and graphic gory descriptions of a live frog being eaten. The last doesn't seem like much based on the rest, but its very descriptive and long and I found it to be pretty stomach churning on top of everything else. The last 3rd of the story, and the ending, is also all about Tan Tan having to defend herself for finally defending herself against her rapist.
There are other pretty violent things that happen, but these are the big ones.
Midnight Robber is well written and parts of it are fascinating, but overall I found none of the great parts to be worth having to endure the violence the story delineates into and I did not find the ending to be as "hopeful" as I think the author intended it to be.
All of that being said, I will try another of Hopkinson's books, but this is not one I'd recommend or read again.
However, around the half way point the book takes an incredibly dark turn. While the author did a good job writing about such a disgusting act - clear without being unnecessarily graphic - it still casts a shadow over the entire book. Further, while I understand why the author chose the things that happened for Tan Tan so she could become the Robber Queen, I felt that there were other ways this could have been accomplished.
After THE ACT I felt as if the entire story simply became about violence and all of the interesting world building and unique creatures no longer really mattered as they became simply back drop decorations for a story that could just as easily have happened in our own world today.
The inserted parable chapters were really interesting and helped to break up the monotony that overtook the later half of the book, but overall it was just kind of depressing. All of the unique parts of the book became swallowed up by a story that, while shocking in its content, is also just generic in its violence.
Normally, I'm not usually one for giving trigger warnings but here I make an exception since the content really came out of nowhere in the story and then all of the story becomes about it. There is no "getting through" the one bad part.
Please click on the spoiler if you want to know the details of the content warning, which are MAJOR spoilers for the book. If you don't, just be aware that the book is very dark and is in absolutly no way suitable for any reader under the age of 16.
There are other pretty violent things that happen, but these are the big ones.
Midnight Robber is well written and parts of it are fascinating, but overall I found none of the great parts to be worth having to endure the violence the story delineates into and I did not find the ending to be as "hopeful" as I think the author intended it to be.
All of that being said, I will try another of Hopkinson's books, but this is not one I'd recommend or read again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Incest
More...