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bookishmillennial's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
This was unlike anything else I've read this year so far (2024). This is a dystopian, post-apocalyptic science fiction adult novel about an Indigenous two-spirit and gender diverse cast that navigates a world that is polluted, dying, and basically no longer fit for human thriving.
Calderon created such an expansive, queernormative world with so many different genders (*there are stories and folklore behind each of these genders, which you'll learn throughout the novel). I loved how each of these characters intersect, and the found family at the core of the story.
I will admit that in the first 25% or so, I was a bit lost because I hadn't read sci-fi in a bit, so it took me a while to gain my bearings. However, once I met more characters, and learned more about the Anishinaabe cultural context; I was fully invested and couldn't wait to see how this story unraveled!
Though GC illustrated such atmospheric imagery and world in this book, the interpersonal relationships and dynamics stood out the most to me! The ending was so bittersweet, and I will be thinking about this book and these characters for a while.
I think this story and world would translate well to a tv series!!! *manifesting*
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Death, Pregnancy, Genocide, and Sexual assault
coymeld's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Genocide, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Pregnancy
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Màgòdiz, set in a post-nuclear wasteland somewhere in the center of an unnamed land mass that I nevertheless take to be modern-day North America, seems to take Bradbury's premises - the storytellers, the war - and infuses it with pragmatism and indigenous sensibilities. I don't know if this was Calderón's intent (nothing I've read about Màgòdiz references this connection), but I felt it so strongly, and for me it added a fascinating overlayer to every word.
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Police brutality, Murder, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual content, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, and Kidnapping
Minor: War, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault
Environmental degradation, Euthanasia, Mind controlthesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Torture, Colonisation, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Rape
goolaina's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation and Genocide
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Torture
Minor: Sexual content