Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Dear Justyce

*Rating edited downward because late in the book a character refers to plans for a Birthright trip and it is unchallenged in the narrative.

DEAR JUSTYCE follows Quan from DEAR MARTIN as he tells his friend Justyce about his life before he was incarcerated during the previous book. Told in a combination of flashbacks and letters to Justyce, this is a contemplation of the past with a chance at having a future.

There’s so much care in this story, it’s evident in every page. In terms of narrative structure, it begins with the MC in prison, waiting for the outcome of his case but not hoping for much. It traces how he got there, how the turning points never felt like choices because of the system stacked against him as a Black boy then a Black teenager, then a young Black man. It's not trying to be a litany of traumas or disasters, the framing is that most of the sudden traumas were a long time ago, and that distance helps a bit. He's slowly gaining the tools to place his life in context and see how the pieces fit together, while also keeping tabs on the present.

Now for the sequel check. The whole point of this story us to wrap up some thing left hanging from the previous book, namely: what happened to Quan after the events of DEAR MARTIN. There are several storylines which start in this book and were not present previously. Technically a bunch of the stuff that is resolved in this book was started in the first one, but this is definitely its own story within the series. I don’t know if there will be any more in this series, it looks like the first one was intended to be a stand-alone book, and this features someone who was a secondary character there. If this is the end of the series, it feels pretty complete, but there are definitely a lot of good candidates for another story if the author continues the series. Quan’s voice here is distinct from Justyce’s narration in the first book. This would definitely make sense if someone started with this book and hadn’t read the first one.

Some of the secondary characters don’t get very much narrative attention here, but given that Quan literally isn’t able to spend any time with most of them, it would be more surprising if they had a lot of space on the page. As it stands, the snippets were enough to remind me of who they were from DEAR MARTIN if they were returning characters, and it was nice to see most of them again. The author is really good at making characters distinct and vibrant with minimal description, and that shone here.

Content Warnings

pinkberryoasis's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative fast-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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

With Dear Justyce Nic Stone has done it again and produced another hard hitting book looking at the iniquities of the “justice” system and their affect on Black youth.

Quan had a tough time growing up - seeing his father being violently arrested, an abusive stepfather, lack of financial and food security. But he did his best to do well in school, keep his siblings safe and generally be a good kid. But hunger led to shoplifting, led to joining a gang, led to a dead policeman and a weapon with Quan’s fingerprints on it, led to Quan (a boy who loved to read and was in an advanced math class) being in jail awaiting trial and a possible life sentence. Through letters written to his childhood friend Justyce, who is now studying at Yale, and a series of flashbacks we watch Quan’s life slowly unravelling and see how the system fails him and many others like him. His despair and lack of faith in the system - police, lawyers, judges and the rest - to do the right thing, look for the truth - is palpable and heartbreaking. And completely understandable.

Quan is lucky since there are people within the system and outside of it who have the skills and desire to go to bat for him. What’s indefensible is that so many like him do not, and are therefore likely to be denied justice.

If you are up for a tough read, one that will make you rage against the system and then inspire you to act Dear Justyce would be a perfect pick.

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