Reviews

Madukka the River Serpent by Julie Janson

rnmcfarlane's review

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

archytas's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

This is a detective story, but not really a mystery. While it does follow an investigation, I'm loath to describe it as a procedural, as Janson is all about subverting expectations here, not playing into them.

Our detective hero June, equipped with a Cert III, a ton of local knowledge and enough courage and fury to drown the town if needed, doesn't so much manveour tactically through the case as run at it headlong, with thought often trailing later. Her Cert III means little in the face of either systemic racism or the knowledge of her family about how to survive it. That's not a united view: she is caught between younger mob's radicalism and "what do we have to lose" activism and the elders' caution and desire to avoid making a target of the local Aboriginal community. In the end, June's determination not to roll over fuels the plot.

It can be an uneven read: the dialogue crackles, there are evocative descriptions, June is a powerful central figure and Janson effectively weaves together racism, police corruption, drug production and the terrible damage to the Murray-Darling into something that both matters and makes sense. At the same time, the transitions can be clumsy - it can be hard to follow who is speaking or thinking, where the characters are and what the relationships are.  It is not surprising to learn Janson is a playwright. Some points are belaboured (how beautiful a particular teen is is really a bit too hammered home) while others are skipped through. While there is a clear resolution, aspects of the final plot are still messy - this is intentional I think, because life usually is a bit messy - but this might annoy those who want more of a plot diagram in their crime fiction. But this was immensely readable still, more so I think than Janson's debut novel Benevolence, which told a great story, but with a bit too much telling (rather than showing). This makes me excited to see what else Janson might do with long-form fiction.

stefhyena's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad fast-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

4.0

It was an interesting story and about time someone wrote a detective story featuring a First Nations Auntie as the detective. It also looks at the environment and social ethics around all sorts of diversity. June's ability to be a good person (albeit sometimes naughty if the man is handsome enough) is a refreshing change from more cynical books.

It really wasn't a mystery. The criminals were exactly who you would think but it's a conversation we need to have about what goes on- whose rights (or privileges) are protected and at whose cost. The waste of young black life in the book was traumatising and there were a lot of threats of violence and rape. So it wasn't an easy book to read in that sense, compounded by varying lengths of chapter (I think the hardest chapter to read was one of the longest). The gaol scene!!!!

The writing is in some ways abrupt, sometimes to the point of hard to follow. It's very diaogue focussed at times I was thinking "Janson should be writing move scripts" and turns out her background is actually script writing so that makes sense. A tad more editing would have been useful but for most excellent detective series the first is never the best book....so I guess that's me expressing hope that there will be more mysteries solved by Aunty June and her TAFE cert III in IS.

tink's review

I really wanted to like this story - to support an indigenous author, for the environmental activism story line. I'm just not a crime novel fan. The DNF is more about the genre not holding my interest rather than the story itself but I did find the writing a little hard to follow in places.

bookaroo2021's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is like no other crime fiction book I’ve read. This will stay with me because there’s the sad truth in how Aboriginal people are treated in Australia. 

The plot itself was rambling at times, but the book showcased the harsh realities of the Australian police and the treatment of Indigenous people. This was probably done on purpose as it reflects the current situation. 

pagingkat's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Racial slurs, and Racism