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zestylobster's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
0.25
I could not name one single good thing about this book!!! time to bigbig rant. tl;dr - read this book only if you want to see a white cis woman with no personality undergo 0 character development, while queer and poc characters suffer at her expense.
1. outlawed wanted to be the handmaid's tale sooo bad but it lacked all of the elements that made the handmaid's tale good. zero worldbuilding - ok it ain't good to be a barren woman in this world, but we get sooo little background and context or any idea of what the world is like, it's just so basic. what are the broader implications of barrenness for the world??? tell me more about patriarchy and gender essentialism etc in this world! the whole contrivance is so simplistic that i feel a 12 year old could write this, and im not even being hyperbolic. Anna North - your worldbuilding and prose are at the level of a child.
2. also like we hear so much about barren women, but there's never any moment where it's pondered whether maybe their husbands were barren?? like,, Children of Men whomst ???!!! ada accepts her fate as a barren woman but like it's so equally likely she was fertile the whole time, like,, maybe she wAS barren but the possibility of the alternative is NEVER explored, never even raised or mentioned in a single sentence. seems such a big oversight and again shows the lack of worldbuilding.
3. ada the mc is the most boring character i've read in my life!! she has no personality, she has no quirks, no charms. she's bad at everything she tries, her dialogue is not interesting, and her being a doctor makes no sense when she only has experience assisting her midwife mum. her motivations make no sense, nothing about her makes sense!!! Her whole aim is to find out why she's infertile, and by the end she hasn't made ANY steps towards achieving that, so what was the whole point of the book!!!! she doesn't actually care why people as a whole are infertile, or want to change society at all - she just wants to find out why /she/ personally is infertile. On top of that, queer and poc characters are used to advance the plot of this cishet white woman, they are props for her to have character development (minimal tho her development is). queerness is never ever ever explicitly addressed, race addressed only for like 2 sentences and in a VERY simplistic fashion. absolutely vomit inducing.
4. nobody in the hole-in-the-wall gang has any personality !!! someone else's review mentioned that we get descriptions of each of the characters, when ada first sees them, then it's not until ages later that we find out their names, and it's soo impossible to match up the descriptions to each character, just sloppy writing. on top of that, each of news, texas, agnes rose, elzy, lo all are the exact same person, you could tell me any one of them was saying any line of dialogue and it wouldn't matter. cassie had a tiny bit more personality?? but even then, when we finally get her backstory it's just the same as everybody else's. don't even get me started on when Lo left the gang and then nobody was even sad lol just like "oh ok", no dealing with that loss. and i thought for sure it was being set up for lo to just come back and help them in their showdown w the sheriffs at the end, but no, she is just never seen again lmaooo, so pointless!!
5.1 ok time to talk about the absolute worst and most disgusting part of the book for me - how it deals with gender and sexuality. when ada arrives at the gang headquarters she sees to girlies kissing, and im like ok cool some queer rep! then it is never addressed, i don't even super know which two gang members it was because again, they're all the same, and nothing gay ever happens again in the book. We eventually meet Lark, who is a queer man, who has been castrated for that queerness. COOL, an opportunity to explore the world? absolutely not. a couple of paras are spent discussing how disgusting his genitals look now and how repulsed ada is. this feels sooo voyeuristic and uncomfortable, like are we meant to be relating to ada's curiosity ??? sorry but i thought we got over this fascination with uncommon genitals when game of thrones ended !!! when lark gets injured and brought back to the gang's hideout, the gang doesn't want him there because they've never had a man there before or something. OK EXCUSE ME WHAT. the whole point of the hole in the wall gang is set up as being a safe haven for those who suffer or are ostracised by wider society... so barren women and queers should be the main people seeking refuge there?? NO!!! Girlz only, no boys allowed, apparently !!!! the gender essentialist views in this book are off the charts. sorry i didn't realise that the gang are all TERFs !!!!! incredibly surprising as... the Kid is MAYBE non-binary ????!!!!
5.2 The kid - i want to scream, cry and throw up at how bad this representation was. The Kid is the leader of the gang and no pronouns are ever used for the Kid. it is never said that the Kid is nonbinary or queer, or genderfluid, or has no gender. they/them pronouns or other pronouns are never used. it's stupid. if you want to include a nonbinary character then commit and actually have a discussion of gender and transness in your book, not just chuck the character in and do everything you can to avoid this discussion. the absolute most foul part is when we get the Kid's backstory and find out the Kid's AGAB!! turns out the Kid was assigned female at birth!!! it's suuuper important that we know this, because it shows only WOMEN truly suffer in this world (shhh forget about lark). and that the gang of outlaws will ONLY accept you if you have the right genitals. there is NNOOO way on earth the gang would allow an amab nonbinary person to join the gang lmaooo. like the one thing this book had going for it, despite the refusal to discuss nonbinary identity or neopronouns, was not indicating the kid's agab for likeeee the first 80% of the book. then BAM, you get the kid's backstory and find out the kid was once pregnant blah blah blah, ok WHY DID WE NEED TO KNOW THAT!! we didn't need to know it at all, it added absolutely nothing to the story, just the author being absolutely unable to misgender the character, wanting us to know "btw dw the kid is actuALLy a girlyyy xoxoxo" i've never been sooo disgusted at queer rep before. TERF outlaw gang wooO!!! ALSO i love that the Kid goes 'crazy' in the book, suffering from some unnamed mental health condition that leaves the Kid irrational and not in the right mind. yAaaaas trans people are so mentally unwell!!! go off queen!!! Anna North - you failed on every level to have genuine queer representation in your book. your book is disgusting. there could have been opportunity to talk about the kid's gender, sooo easily. instead the whole B plot is just about the kid's insomnia and mental illness. it made NO sense !!! that doesn't even get any kind of resolution at the end either.
6. the plot to rob the bank makes no sense, we never find out the consequences on the town they robbed from. nobody's motivation to participate in the plot makes sense. the whole plan felt soo simplistic that, again, i felt a 12 year old wrote this. Genuinely. there was no nuance, no surprises, no suspense, no plot twists!! there was that one bit when ada was in the bank and she was worried lark wasn't going to enter the bank and every few lines it kept saying "A man who wasn't lark entered the bank", "another man who wasn't lark entered the bank". and i was like oh ho ho??! okay wow what's happened, something actually gone wrong w the plan??? to then turn the page and it says "lark entered the bank" WHAT !!! LMAOOO what was all that build up for ?!?!!! plotting and pacing of a child author, honestly.
7. there was NOTHING western about this book ?!!! i have no clue why this is marketed as a feminist western. hmm, they ride horses?? they in desert? they have guns? there's a sheriff ?? ok things that are commonly found in westerns are present yes! but i learnt nothing about cowboy life, town life, dynamics between people. again, lack of worldbuilding makes me say umm how is this a western. a failure.
i HATED this book. sometimes bad books are fun because they are so silly, but this one didn't even have that as a good feature. it was slow and boring. could not recommend this book LESS.
1. outlawed wanted to be the handmaid's tale sooo bad but it lacked all of the elements that made the handmaid's tale good. zero worldbuilding - ok it ain't good to be a barren woman in this world, but we get sooo little background and context or any idea of what the world is like, it's just so basic. what are the broader implications of barrenness for the world??? tell me more about patriarchy and gender essentialism etc in this world! the whole contrivance is so simplistic that i feel a 12 year old could write this, and im not even being hyperbolic. Anna North - your worldbuilding and prose are at the level of a child.
2. also like we hear so much about barren women, but there's never any moment where it's pondered whether maybe their husbands were barren?? like,, Children of Men whomst ???!!! ada accepts her fate as a barren woman but like it's so equally likely she was fertile the whole time, like,, maybe she wAS barren but the possibility of the alternative is NEVER explored, never even raised or mentioned in a single sentence. seems such a big oversight and again shows the lack of worldbuilding.
3. ada the mc is the most boring character i've read in my life!! she has no personality, she has no quirks, no charms. she's bad at everything she tries, her dialogue is not interesting, and her being a doctor makes no sense when she only has experience assisting her midwife mum. her motivations make no sense, nothing about her makes sense!!! Her whole aim is to find out why she's infertile, and by the end she hasn't made ANY steps towards achieving that, so what was the whole point of the book!!!! she doesn't actually care why people as a whole are infertile, or want to change society at all - she just wants to find out why /she/ personally is infertile. On top of that, queer and poc characters are used to advance the plot of this cishet white woman, they are props for her to have character development (minimal tho her development is). queerness is never ever ever explicitly addressed, race addressed only for like 2 sentences and in a VERY simplistic fashion. absolutely vomit inducing.
4. nobody in the hole-in-the-wall gang has any personality !!! someone else's review mentioned that we get descriptions of each of the characters, when ada first sees them, then it's not until ages later that we find out their names, and it's soo impossible to match up the descriptions to each character, just sloppy writing. on top of that, each of news, texas, agnes rose, elzy, lo all are the exact same person, you could tell me any one of them was saying any line of dialogue and it wouldn't matter. cassie had a tiny bit more personality?? but even then, when we finally get her backstory it's just the same as everybody else's. don't even get me started on when Lo left the gang and then nobody was even sad lol just like "oh ok", no dealing with that loss. and i thought for sure it was being set up for lo to just come back and help them in their showdown w the sheriffs at the end, but no, she is just never seen again lmaooo, so pointless!!
5.1 ok time to talk about the absolute worst and most disgusting part of the book for me - how it deals with gender and sexuality. when ada arrives at the gang headquarters she sees to girlies kissing, and im like ok cool some queer rep! then it is never addressed, i don't even super know which two gang members it was because again, they're all the same, and nothing gay ever happens again in the book. We eventually meet Lark, who is a queer man, who has been castrated for that queerness. COOL, an opportunity to explore the world? absolutely not. a couple of paras are spent discussing how disgusting his genitals look now and how repulsed ada is. this feels sooo voyeuristic and uncomfortable, like are we meant to be relating to ada's curiosity ??? sorry but i thought we got over this fascination with uncommon genitals when game of thrones ended !!! when lark gets injured and brought back to the gang's hideout, the gang doesn't want him there because they've never had a man there before or something. OK EXCUSE ME WHAT. the whole point of the hole in the wall gang is set up as being a safe haven for those who suffer or are ostracised by wider society... so barren women and queers should be the main people seeking refuge there?? NO!!! Girlz only, no boys allowed, apparently !!!! the gender essentialist views in this book are off the charts. sorry i didn't realise that the gang are all TERFs !!!!! incredibly surprising as... the Kid is MAYBE non-binary ????!!!!
5.2 The kid - i want to scream, cry and throw up at how bad this representation was. The Kid is the leader of the gang and no pronouns are ever used for the Kid. it is never said that the Kid is nonbinary or queer, or genderfluid, or has no gender. they/them pronouns or other pronouns are never used. it's stupid. if you want to include a nonbinary character then commit and actually have a discussion of gender and transness in your book, not just chuck the character in and do everything you can to avoid this discussion. the absolute most foul part is when we get the Kid's backstory and find out the Kid's AGAB!! turns out the Kid was assigned female at birth!!! it's suuuper important that we know this, because it shows only WOMEN truly suffer in this world (shhh forget about lark). and that the gang of outlaws will ONLY accept you if you have the right genitals. there is NNOOO way on earth the gang would allow an amab nonbinary person to join the gang lmaooo. like the one thing this book had going for it, despite the refusal to discuss nonbinary identity or neopronouns, was not indicating the kid's agab for likeeee the first 80% of the book. then BAM, you get the kid's backstory and find out the kid was once pregnant blah blah blah, ok WHY DID WE NEED TO KNOW THAT!! we didn't need to know it at all, it added absolutely nothing to the story, just the author being absolutely unable to misgender the character, wanting us to know "btw dw the kid is actuALLy a girlyyy xoxoxo" i've never been sooo disgusted at queer rep before. TERF outlaw gang wooO!!! ALSO i love that the Kid goes 'crazy' in the book, suffering from some unnamed mental health condition that leaves the Kid irrational and not in the right mind. yAaaaas trans people are so mentally unwell!!! go off queen!!! Anna North - you failed on every level to have genuine queer representation in your book. your book is disgusting. there could have been opportunity to talk about the kid's gender, sooo easily. instead the whole B plot is just about the kid's insomnia and mental illness. it made NO sense !!! that doesn't even get any kind of resolution at the end either.
6. the plot to rob the bank makes no sense, we never find out the consequences on the town they robbed from. nobody's motivation to participate in the plot makes sense. the whole plan felt soo simplistic that, again, i felt a 12 year old wrote this. Genuinely. there was no nuance, no surprises, no suspense, no plot twists!! there was that one bit when ada was in the bank and she was worried lark wasn't going to enter the bank and every few lines it kept saying "A man who wasn't lark entered the bank", "another man who wasn't lark entered the bank". and i was like oh ho ho??! okay wow what's happened, something actually gone wrong w the plan??? to then turn the page and it says "lark entered the bank" WHAT !!! LMAOOO what was all that build up for ?!?!!! plotting and pacing of a child author, honestly.
7. there was NOTHING western about this book ?!!! i have no clue why this is marketed as a feminist western. hmm, they ride horses?? they in desert? they have guns? there's a sheriff ?? ok things that are commonly found in westerns are present yes! but i learnt nothing about cowboy life, town life, dynamics between people. again, lack of worldbuilding makes me say umm how is this a western. a failure.
i HATED this book. sometimes bad books are fun because they are so silly, but this one didn't even have that as a good feature. it was slow and boring. could not recommend this book LESS.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility
Minor: Racism, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Colonisation, Ableism, Medical trauma, Body shaming, and Physical abuse
avasbookmark's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility
Moderate: Racism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Abortion, and Ableism
readinghavoc's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I had a really good time reading this. It felt like exactly the type of thing I needed to kickstart my end-of-year reading/get me out of a small reading slump. It was exciting to get to see so many diverse types of queerness and identity in a setting where those histories are often erased. This novel managed to get a lot done in a short space while not feeling overly rushed. I'm really fucking upset about Lark, though. Who would have guessed I could simp so hard for a man? I'm still mourning his life with Ada in Pagosa Springs. I do wish there was more of a clear build-up to Ada being ready to take over Alice's surgery, but I also think given the pace of the book, it was still really well done. Yay for queer cowboys!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Outing, Gun violence, Abortion, Ableism, Homophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
Minor: Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Incest
ricketycricket's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility, Sexual violence, Abortion, Transphobia, Pregnancy, and Homophobia
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Ableism, Mental illness, and Medical trauma
bmaeus's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
4.75
One of my favorite reads of 2021. The ensemble cast does need more attention, but everything else is exactly what you're yearning for in a Western: loneliness, hardship, friendship, gunfights, law-breaking in the name of justice.
I've seen complaints that this is from the straight ("straight") cis white girl's perspective, but you know, I appreciate it—that's the author staying in her lane. It's an alternate history that features diversity without downplaying QTPOC hardship. North also at least understands how much of a role community plays in the lives of queer people.
The worldbuilding is rock-solid and so captivating. By exacerbating the roots of the patriarchy and gender binary, it pokes holes in these institutions with impressive deftness. In that vein, I've also seen multiple complaints that this book leans into homophobia and transphobia... Are we reading the same book?
The plot was much slower and less intense than I anticipated given the breadth of information and characters. But in the end, it turns out that our protagonist's internal journey was the chief focus all along, and I can't fault it for that. Her relationship with her own body and with others'—as a healer, a woman, and a friend—is deeply satisfying to watch.
The Kid is one of the most compelling characters I've met in recent memory. I do think The Kid's disability could have been utilized more cleanly. It left me wanting at multiple points, particularly the end.
I love cowboys and I love this book. I generally stay away from such literally feminist novels, especially those written by white women, but Outlawed looks at its own world from many different angles and simply asks (with alternatingly gentle and demanding persistence) that you do the same with yours. It's heartbreaking and hopeful all the same.
I've seen complaints that this is from the straight ("straight") cis white girl's perspective, but you know, I appreciate it—that's the author staying in her lane. It's an alternate history that features diversity without downplaying QTPOC hardship. North also at least understands how much of a role community plays in the lives of queer people.
The worldbuilding is rock-solid and so captivating. By exacerbating the roots of the patriarchy and gender binary, it pokes holes in these institutions with impressive deftness. In that vein, I've also seen multiple complaints that this book leans into homophobia and transphobia... Are we reading the same book?
The plot was much slower and less intense than I anticipated given the breadth of information and characters. But in the end, it turns out that our protagonist's internal journey was the chief focus all along, and I can't fault it for that. Her relationship with her own body and with others'—as a healer, a woman, and a friend—is deeply satisfying to watch.
The Kid is one of the most compelling characters I've met in recent memory. I do think The Kid's disability could have been utilized more cleanly. It left me wanting at multiple points, particularly the end.
I love cowboys and I love this book. I generally stay away from such literally feminist novels, especially those written by white women, but Outlawed looks at its own world from many different angles and simply asks (with alternatingly gentle and demanding persistence) that you do the same with yours. It's heartbreaking and hopeful all the same.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Homophobia, Ableism, Medical trauma, Infertility, Sexual assault, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Dysphoria, Violence, Abortion, Death, Hate crime, and Transphobia
cheye13's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
4.0
This was very engaging and a fresh take on the genre. It's gave me exactly what I'd been missing from Sarah Gailey's Upright Women Wanted. The world was tangible, and I especially appreciated how well nuances were conveyed – depression, bisexuality, gender identity – without the vocabulary we use.
That being said, I don't think western stories are really for me? There's always such a deep pain and/or hopelessness within them that never seems to hit my catharsis button. This one came very close with each of the outlaw's backstories, but the ultimate plot just left me with, "Well. Okay."
This was definitely my favorite western I've ever read, though. Leagues above.
That being said, I don't think western stories are really for me? There's always such a deep pain and/or hopelessness within them that never seems to hit my catharsis button. This one came very close with each of the outlaw's backstories, but the ultimate plot just left me with, "Well. Okay."
This was definitely my favorite western I've ever read, though. Leagues above.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Misogyny, and Infertility
Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Blood, Abortion, Confinement, Miscarriage, and Homophobia
Minor: Ableism, Rape, Alcohol, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
ableism wrt: implied bipolar disorder (or perhaps other psychosis), implied post partum depression medical/injury content wrt: gunshot wounds, childbirth & miscarriage, castration, hypothermia, various illnesseserinmjustice's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Ableism, Racism, and Sexism
emsim's review against another edition
sad
tense
medium-paced
The Handmaid's Tale but make it a western, with a dash of Station Eleven.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Violence, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical content, Infertility, Homophobia, Hate crime, Grief, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Abortion, and Ableism
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