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sarah984's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I really wanted to like this book because the concept is so cool: a steampunk story where African characters drive King Leopold out of the Congo. Unfortunately, that's not really what this book was. There were so many characters but hardly any of them were African, and the disjointed way the story was told with so many POV characters in little vignettes over several decades (Leopold is gone around the 50% mark and the rest is kind of bland politicking around WWI) that it was hard to really care what happened to any individual character. The conflict about the characters who helped drive Leopold out living on illegally purchased land is interesting but barely addressed. There are so many huge age gap romances for no reason, which is a pain because there is way too much focus on the romances considering how little time each character has to make an impression.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Homophobia, Racism, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Violence, War, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Ableism, Excrement, Genocide, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual content
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