Reviews

Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson

beccalynnfrank's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

5.0

Check the content warnings before reading!! Hard to read at some points, but I loved the ending and the main characters progression was so meaningful because of all the hard parts. Super cool universe sheโ€™s made and the aliens in it are super interesting and well done. Overall great world building + great characters 

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2treads's review

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challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • 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? No

5.0

"No need to wish for dead, it will happen soon enough. It does come to all of we." - Abitefa.

Nalo Hopkinson is quickly becoming one of my top authors. The way in which she infuses her books with portions of her/our culture shows how dedicated she is to bringing the richness of our practices and celebrations of the Caribbean to her readers.
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Midnight Robber is no exception; filled with influences from Jamaica to Trinidad to Carriacou as a whole was just exceptional. I was swept up and carried away and had no regrets.
Nalo has such an attuned way of writing her heritage: the dialect, the people, the places, the music, the festivals, and the experiences.
It is impossible not to just immerse oneself in the tale she tells, especially when one can relate to what is on the page. The atmosphere that Hopkinson weaves is lush; bursting with Caribbean flavour and folktales even as we travel to planets via 'interdimensional gateways'. 
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The impact of the cultures from the countries where Nalo has lived is vibrantly woven throughout this story, and I could not help but fall into every page. There are experiences that are familiar, both good and bad (friendships, parent/child relationships, family dynamics, and displacement). Not only is there passion in this story, but there is betrayal, misdeeds, bravery, self-acceptance, and triumph.
The polyamory representation was noted and appreciated and content warning: there is child sexual abuse depicted in this story, as well as the damaging effect on our MCs psyche. 
Read This Book!!
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luke_td's review against another edition

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The saying goes you can't judge a book by its cover, but then here comes Captain Smartass saying you can if you read the synopsis on the back. Yeah maybe broadly true but here we have an exception.
Even reading the first few chapters might not prep you for what's coming (outside of letting you know you're in good hands,I wish I had better descriptors for writing than well written and lyrical but alas), building an interesting, fully realized world in bits and pieces that gives you just enough information to understand what's going on, only to yank it away and build another one.
Even here we still seem to be in back cover synopsis territory, Tan-Tan's journey to becoming a legend.
Except that's not quite how it goes, and Tan-Tan gets put through the ringer.
There are interesting flashes of how facts become myth, often warping far from where they started, but there's more about the sometimes banal, often grim truths that hide behind the myths.
If the book can drag a little in these day to day parts, maybe the problem is with me insisting we rush towards conclusions.
And what an immensley satisfying conclusion it was, where Tan-Tan gets to reclaim herself and her story by telling it her way and in her own words.
If that cuts through one myth, it may just well build another.

chingona_solo's review against another edition

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I think this just wasn't my vibe - I wanted to know more about the world but there was so much tome spent on characters that I wasn't interested in that I lost interest in the book entirely

franksreads's review against another edition

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I do not want to read about sexual violence to a child.

bwluvs2read's review

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dark emotional medium-paced
  • 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? No

4.0

gajeelsiron's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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padsworth's review

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adventurous challenging dark medium-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

5.0

CONTENT WARNING: SA

It is incredibly well written. It is a wonderfully told story. It is incredibly difficult. 

I want to recommend this book to everyone, however the major themes of this novel surround sexual viloence and how that affects an adolescent girl. 
It is fun and the worldbuilding is fantastic, but the story is just so dark at moments and this will come some imes completely unexpected. One momment whimsy, the next trauma.

j_milla_04's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • 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? No

4.0

rymdkejsaren's review against another edition

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5.0

Midnight Robber is powerful and full of life yet avoids entirely the SFF trope of a protagonist around whom the world revolves. It's filled with characters that are flawed and well-realised. The tale is that of a young girl who becomes a young woman, because and despite of the world. The seed that is sown at the start of the book grows patiently, sometimes silently beneath the soil of the story, and when it blooms, it's not what you expected, but something alien; frightening and beautiful.