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jenacidebybibliophile's review against another edition
5.0
Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the publisher, ABRAMS Kids, via NetGalley for an honest review.
Genre: YA/Teen, Fiction
Opinion:
Hookers, suicide, and skimming…oh my!
Along the Indigo: A tale so doused in grittiness, it almost feels lighthearted.
A book set in present times with a town that feels stuck in the 1800’s. There is romance, there is death, and you can bet your bottom dollar there is a whole lot of detail just DRIPPING in “oh yikes”. It might just be the most depressing book that will make you weirdly happy and overjoyed.
Emotionally confused? Perfect, you’ll fit right in here.
Sixteen-year-old Marsden wants nothing more than to leave her cursed town, Glory, and to start a new life with her little sister Wynn. Living in a boarding house that provides extra services to “Johns”, Marsden works as a cook in the kitchens while her mother serves as one of the prostitutes. Now that Marsden is getting older, the boarding house owner (Nina) is taking an interest in Marsden and trying to recruit her to become one of her “girls”. But Marsden only wants to get out of Glory, and the only way she can do that is by skimming. Down from the boarding house lies the covert, a piece of land that is believed to be cursed after her great-great-grandfather murdered his family before pulling the gun on himself. Now the covert is a place the locals go to commit suicide, and Marsden and her family are looked upon by the residents of Glory as lepers. Marsden walks the covert every morning in search of bodies, and upon finding one, she will take whatever money she can find before reporting the body. But the newest body she comes across is the brother of one of her classmates, who shows up at Marsden’s door one day with an interesting request.
Weirded out by that description? Good! I assure you, this is a strange story and I don’t blame you for thinking wtf. Maybe I’m just a creepy little woman-child, but I live for these abnormal stories. So when I saw this on Netgalley I thought this book looks like a winner, and low and behold, I was right as usual. Although I am seeing mixed reviews on it because some readers can’t get past that little ol’ “prostitute” thing, and I wrote prostitute as “prostitute” because come on guys…she’s just a prostitute. I am here to calm your sensitive nerves to tell you this, there is a YA/Teen story okay? You won’t be getting any graphic prostitute moments, I promise. These are nice prostitutes. Some of the best, I’m sure.
...anyways…
This story really isn’t as bizarre as it sounds. To be completely honest, it’s one of the best stand-alone stories I have read in a LONG TIME. It’s different, it’s dark, but it’s lined with a sunshiny innocence that makes it feel…normal? Yes, normal. Elsie Chapman has a gift, and that gift is that she can make weird ass s**t seem completely casual. My first impression about a chapter or two into Along the Indigo, was that it felt as if it as written YEARS ago. Though it is set in present times, I couldn’t help but imagine Marsden in a ratty white dress living in a house full of women in corsets and bustle skirts. I loved that I got this impression though because it made the grittiness of the events so much more sinful. I kept picturing an old ghost town with a crooked sheriff and handsy old drunk men stumbling out of the local saloon. If that’s too inconceivable, think To Kill A Mockingbird…that actually makes more sense.
Marsden Eldridge is the main character, and MY OH MY has that girl had a rough life. Not only does everyone (including her own family) think that the covert and the Eldridge family is cursed, but they are also treated like they don’t exist. Nobody in town will hire them, which is why Marsden’s mother works as a prostitute for Nina. Eight years prior, Marsden’s father was found in the Indigo and it was reported that he drowned on his way home from gambling one night. Now Marsden’s only goal is to save enough money to get her and her sister Wynn out of Glory, in hopes that they can start fresh. Skimming bodies is how Mars makes most of her money, and it is a task she has been doing for years. It is a truly dark and heartbreaking thing to witness through the eyes of Mars, and you can’t help but still love her…even though she’s stealing money from dead bodies.
One of the newest bodies that Mars comes across is a young man named Rigby, who is the older brother of one of her classmates, Jude. After his death, Jude shows up at the boarding house in search of Marsden with a strange request. He suspects that Rigby had buried something in the covert as a child, and he wants permission from Marsden to go into the covert to find it. Here begins a complicated friendship and romance. I adore Jude and Mars. Jude is incredibly sweet and caring towards her, and their relationship is very unique and special.
I don’t want to give too much away, so I’m going to stop right there. I have seen a lot of mixed feeling, on this story, but I personally loved it and couldn’t put it down. It is SUCH an interesting story with so many layers and emotions packed into it. Though so much of what happens feels crazy and abnormal, the author does a wonderful job of making sure the reader can relate to Mars and her family. If you guys have liked some of the weirder books that I have reviewed, you MUST read Along the Indigo. This story leaves you in a twisted dreamlike state that can only be described as “comparable to seeing your ex get lit on fire. Kind of sad and scary, but mostly pretty f*****g enjoyable”.
To see more reviews, head over to my blog: Jenacidebybibliophile.wordpress.com
Genre: YA/Teen, Fiction
Opinion:
Hookers, suicide, and skimming…oh my!
Along the Indigo: A tale so doused in grittiness, it almost feels lighthearted.
A book set in present times with a town that feels stuck in the 1800’s. There is romance, there is death, and you can bet your bottom dollar there is a whole lot of detail just DRIPPING in “oh yikes”. It might just be the most depressing book that will make you weirdly happy and overjoyed.
Emotionally confused? Perfect, you’ll fit right in here.
Sixteen-year-old Marsden wants nothing more than to leave her cursed town, Glory, and to start a new life with her little sister Wynn. Living in a boarding house that provides extra services to “Johns”, Marsden works as a cook in the kitchens while her mother serves as one of the prostitutes. Now that Marsden is getting older, the boarding house owner (Nina) is taking an interest in Marsden and trying to recruit her to become one of her “girls”. But Marsden only wants to get out of Glory, and the only way she can do that is by skimming. Down from the boarding house lies the covert, a piece of land that is believed to be cursed after her great-great-grandfather murdered his family before pulling the gun on himself. Now the covert is a place the locals go to commit suicide, and Marsden and her family are looked upon by the residents of Glory as lepers. Marsden walks the covert every morning in search of bodies, and upon finding one, she will take whatever money she can find before reporting the body. But the newest body she comes across is the brother of one of her classmates, who shows up at Marsden’s door one day with an interesting request.
Weirded out by that description? Good! I assure you, this is a strange story and I don’t blame you for thinking wtf. Maybe I’m just a creepy little woman-child, but I live for these abnormal stories. So when I saw this on Netgalley I thought this book looks like a winner, and low and behold, I was right as usual. Although I am seeing mixed reviews on it because some readers can’t get past that little ol’ “prostitute” thing, and I wrote prostitute as “prostitute” because come on guys…she’s just a prostitute. I am here to calm your sensitive nerves to tell you this, there is a YA/Teen story okay? You won’t be getting any graphic prostitute moments, I promise. These are nice prostitutes. Some of the best, I’m sure.
...anyways…
This story really isn’t as bizarre as it sounds. To be completely honest, it’s one of the best stand-alone stories I have read in a LONG TIME. It’s different, it’s dark, but it’s lined with a sunshiny innocence that makes it feel…normal? Yes, normal. Elsie Chapman has a gift, and that gift is that she can make weird ass s**t seem completely casual. My first impression about a chapter or two into Along the Indigo, was that it felt as if it as written YEARS ago. Though it is set in present times, I couldn’t help but imagine Marsden in a ratty white dress living in a house full of women in corsets and bustle skirts. I loved that I got this impression though because it made the grittiness of the events so much more sinful. I kept picturing an old ghost town with a crooked sheriff and handsy old drunk men stumbling out of the local saloon. If that’s too inconceivable, think To Kill A Mockingbird…that actually makes more sense.
Marsden Eldridge is the main character, and MY OH MY has that girl had a rough life. Not only does everyone (including her own family) think that the covert and the Eldridge family is cursed, but they are also treated like they don’t exist. Nobody in town will hire them, which is why Marsden’s mother works as a prostitute for Nina. Eight years prior, Marsden’s father was found in the Indigo and it was reported that he drowned on his way home from gambling one night. Now Marsden’s only goal is to save enough money to get her and her sister Wynn out of Glory, in hopes that they can start fresh. Skimming bodies is how Mars makes most of her money, and it is a task she has been doing for years. It is a truly dark and heartbreaking thing to witness through the eyes of Mars, and you can’t help but still love her…even though she’s stealing money from dead bodies.
One of the newest bodies that Mars comes across is a young man named Rigby, who is the older brother of one of her classmates, Jude. After his death, Jude shows up at the boarding house in search of Marsden with a strange request. He suspects that Rigby had buried something in the covert as a child, and he wants permission from Marsden to go into the covert to find it. Here begins a complicated friendship and romance. I adore Jude and Mars. Jude is incredibly sweet and caring towards her, and their relationship is very unique and special.
I don’t want to give too much away, so I’m going to stop right there. I have seen a lot of mixed feeling, on this story, but I personally loved it and couldn’t put it down. It is SUCH an interesting story with so many layers and emotions packed into it. Though so much of what happens feels crazy and abnormal, the author does a wonderful job of making sure the reader can relate to Mars and her family. If you guys have liked some of the weirder books that I have reviewed, you MUST read Along the Indigo. This story leaves you in a twisted dreamlike state that can only be described as “comparable to seeing your ex get lit on fire. Kind of sad and scary, but mostly pretty f*****g enjoyable”.
To see more reviews, head over to my blog: Jenacidebybibliophile.wordpress.com
theshenners's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
atmospheric and gut wrenching but also a bit slow
I have issues with the unnuanced way sex workers were portrayed tbh.
atmospheric and gut wrenching but also a bit slow
I have issues with the unnuanced way sex workers were portrayed tbh.
breerashel's review against another edition
2.0
*This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
I feel like this book took a while to get started. It seemed like the main character kept repeating how terrible their town was, that suicides happened frequently, and that she wanted to keep her sister innocent. It got old really fast and I just wanted something to happen else to take place in the book so that it would stop. This book was more of a slow burn so the things that I just mentioned do continue throughout the book. I did think that the premise of this book was really interesting. I don't think that there are any other books out now that have a main character that lives in a brothel. I thought that that element of story was fascinating. I actually wanted to know more about the women that worked there because I found that they were mysteries I wanted to solve. I wanted to know more about what brought each of them to the town and why they chose/needed to work there.
I found it hard to connect with the characters in this book. I found them to be bland which was surprising because each of their backstories were very interesting. I could appreciate their struggles that they were each dealing with and the sacrifices they each made but it wasn't enough to offset the lack of connection. Their emotions didn't leap out at me from the pages of this book and it may have been due to the writing. I think that the author focused more on the mystery of the suicides rather than the affects of them on the characters. It is easy to tell that Jude and Marsden are upset about the deaths but the book seems to glance over that.
https://fictionedtodeath.blogspot.com/2018/02/along-indigo-by-elsie-chapman.html
I feel like this book took a while to get started. It seemed like the main character kept repeating how terrible their town was, that suicides happened frequently, and that she wanted to keep her sister innocent. It got old really fast and I just wanted something to happen else to take place in the book so that it would stop. This book was more of a slow burn so the things that I just mentioned do continue throughout the book. I did think that the premise of this book was really interesting. I don't think that there are any other books out now that have a main character that lives in a brothel. I thought that that element of story was fascinating. I actually wanted to know more about the women that worked there because I found that they were mysteries I wanted to solve. I wanted to know more about what brought each of them to the town and why they chose/needed to work there.
I found it hard to connect with the characters in this book. I found them to be bland which was surprising because each of their backstories were very interesting. I could appreciate their struggles that they were each dealing with and the sacrifices they each made but it wasn't enough to offset the lack of connection. Their emotions didn't leap out at me from the pages of this book and it may have been due to the writing. I think that the author focused more on the mystery of the suicides rather than the affects of them on the characters. It is easy to tell that Jude and Marsden are upset about the deaths but the book seems to glance over that.
https://fictionedtodeath.blogspot.com/2018/02/along-indigo-by-elsie-chapman.html
lazygal's review against another edition
2.0
Sadly, one-note characters and a predictable plot meant this book wasn't as wonderful as it could have been. There was promise in the setting - a town in a bend in the river, with a haunted plot where people commit suicide - but somehow it just never blooms the way it could. Marsden's life held no surprises, nor did her friendship with Jude or their discovering what Jude's brother buried in the "covert" (shades of Billie Joe McAllister?). Sigh. More atmosphere and fewer surprises would have worked far better.
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
readwithchey's review
5.0
Thanks so much to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this beautiful book! I don't think any synopsis could have prepared me for what I found inside. Before going any further I want to state this review and this book might be a trigger for issues like suicide and abuse, so proceed with caution.
This book hit me like a sucker punch, I really wasn't expecting to be so entranced. There were a lot of deep issues that came into play in this book; racism, discrimination, prostitution, child abuse, gambling, suicide, theft, and murder. Needless to say, there is a lot going on in this book.
I related to Marsden on so many levels; being an older sister and feeling responsible for the safety and happiness of your younger sibling is not an easy thing, especially when it seems you're the only one who really cares. Her mother isn't really a mother, her father is dead, her grandmother is dead, and the only person who really cares for her is her little sister. It can be hard to toe the line between a sister and a mother, and I related to Marsden's struggle with this.
Marsden's main focus is getting her and her little sister away from Glory and in order to do that she stalks the covert at night for dead bodies to steal from. Then she find the body of Rigby Ambrose and steals more than just money from his pockets, she also finds a note. It's addressed to his little brother, Jude, who shows up later and asks for Marsden's help with finding a time capsule Rigby hid in the covert when he was younger. Jude has no idea that Mars is a skimmer or that she has that note, but those aren't the only secrets they're hiding from one another. At the same time, Marsden is starting to feel convinced that her dad's death wasn't really a suicide, and begins silently investigating it. With all this going on, Jude and Marsden get closer and closer and realize they have a lot more in common than death.
I was so interested in the dynamics of this book. The way Marsden and her mother were strained and the relationship seemed to be flipped. How Marsden tried so hard to hear the dead and get some answers for once in her life. How Marsden tried to hide herself so no one would ask too many questions. How she tried so hard to keep her little sister a carefree child for just a little longer. How she fell in love with Jude so naturally.
The romance that blossomed between the two was so sweet and heartfelt, it was more than just an attraction, it was something deeper. They were the two 'different' kids in school, the outsiders. Jude is half black while Marsden has Chinese heritage on her mother's side, they don't look like the other kids in town and Marsden feels that deeply and wonders if Jude feels it the same way. "So that she couldn't help but glance over and imagine what it was like for him, growing up in Glory half-black, while nearly everyone else was white, white, white. She wondered if he ever got paranoid over a lengthy stare, at a laugh that came from behind as soon as he moved past, whenever someone else got chosen for something with no real explanation. If he was sometimes confused about why the white half of him didn't make him belong." This was the most interesting dynamic of them all. It was refreshing to see how being different in a town like this makes your view of everything different, how this colors your every interaction.
Let me say that the writing style for this book was beautiful. Like this was honestly just a beautifully written book, from the vivid way she describes the covert to how she can accurately portray feelings of loss, guilt, and shame. While the characters and plot of this book are wonderful, it's really the lush writing style that draws you in and makes you hungry for more.
There were several smaller plot lines happening at the same time that all intersected at the end of the book, and boy was the ending good. There was a huge twist that I never saw coming, and a nice little happy ending that didn't leave anything more to be desired. Not that I wouldn't like more of these characters, but the ending was such that there weren't anymore questions that needed to be answered. I felt heartbroken, happy, satisfied, and relieved all at the same time. This book brought out so many emotions in me it's hard to pin down what one I felt the most, but let me say this; I loved this book. It deals with some really sensitive but important subject matter, and I think it was a perfect example of how deeply moving young adult literature can be.
This book hit me like a sucker punch, I really wasn't expecting to be so entranced. There were a lot of deep issues that came into play in this book; racism, discrimination, prostitution, child abuse, gambling, suicide, theft, and murder. Needless to say, there is a lot going on in this book.
I related to Marsden on so many levels; being an older sister and feeling responsible for the safety and happiness of your younger sibling is not an easy thing, especially when it seems you're the only one who really cares. Her mother isn't really a mother, her father is dead, her grandmother is dead, and the only person who really cares for her is her little sister. It can be hard to toe the line between a sister and a mother, and I related to Marsden's struggle with this.
Marsden's main focus is getting her and her little sister away from Glory and in order to do that she stalks the covert at night for dead bodies to steal from. Then she find the body of Rigby Ambrose and steals more than just money from his pockets, she also finds a note. It's addressed to his little brother, Jude, who shows up later and asks for Marsden's help with finding a time capsule Rigby hid in the covert when he was younger. Jude has no idea that Mars is a skimmer or that she has that note, but those aren't the only secrets they're hiding from one another. At the same time, Marsden is starting to feel convinced that her dad's death wasn't really a suicide, and begins silently investigating it. With all this going on, Jude and Marsden get closer and closer and realize they have a lot more in common than death.
I was so interested in the dynamics of this book. The way Marsden and her mother were strained and the relationship seemed to be flipped. How Marsden tried so hard to hear the dead and get some answers for once in her life. How Marsden tried to hide herself so no one would ask too many questions. How she tried so hard to keep her little sister a carefree child for just a little longer. How she fell in love with Jude so naturally.
The romance that blossomed between the two was so sweet and heartfelt, it was more than just an attraction, it was something deeper. They were the two 'different' kids in school, the outsiders. Jude is half black while Marsden has Chinese heritage on her mother's side, they don't look like the other kids in town and Marsden feels that deeply and wonders if Jude feels it the same way. "So that she couldn't help but glance over and imagine what it was like for him, growing up in Glory half-black, while nearly everyone else was white, white, white. She wondered if he ever got paranoid over a lengthy stare, at a laugh that came from behind as soon as he moved past, whenever someone else got chosen for something with no real explanation. If he was sometimes confused about why the white half of him didn't make him belong." This was the most interesting dynamic of them all. It was refreshing to see how being different in a town like this makes your view of everything different, how this colors your every interaction.
Let me say that the writing style for this book was beautiful. Like this was honestly just a beautifully written book, from the vivid way she describes the covert to how she can accurately portray feelings of loss, guilt, and shame. While the characters and plot of this book are wonderful, it's really the lush writing style that draws you in and makes you hungry for more.
There were several smaller plot lines happening at the same time that all intersected at the end of the book, and boy was the ending good. There was a huge twist that I never saw coming, and a nice little happy ending that didn't leave anything more to be desired. Not that I wouldn't like more of these characters, but the ending was such that there weren't anymore questions that needed to be answered. I felt heartbroken, happy, satisfied, and relieved all at the same time. This book brought out so many emotions in me it's hard to pin down what one I felt the most, but let me say this; I loved this book. It deals with some really sensitive but important subject matter, and I think it was a perfect example of how deeply moving young adult literature can be.
shelovestoread's review
3.0
"I think we forget for a reason. If you remembered every single bad thing that ever happened to you, you'd never stop being sad"
This book has some dark and mature themes. Brothels, prostitute and suicide being the most dominant ones. It also talks about racism. So you will have to be a little beware going into this one.
The story is about Marsden, who is sixteen and lives in a town called Glory. The town is a whole lot of shady. With several illegal business and also questionable police officers and town witches. It has a brothel which fronts as a b&b and a covert which is deemed sacred ground where people come to commit suicide. Marsden family is the owner of the covert and it's right beside the front b&b where her mother works as a prostitute.
Marsden, for growing up in the environment she grew up in is very mature, determined and fiercely protective of her little sister Wynn. She looks in the covert for bodies daily so she could find them before her sister does, and reports them to the police. She also skims some money from them so she could have enough funds so she could escape the life they are living, with her sister.
This whole story has a whole lot of bleak and bleary darkness surrounding it with constant suicides happening and all the on going of a brothel. It also has a little dash of magical realism in the form of talking to the dead shindig.
I liked the character of Marsden. She was so headstrong and fierce. And her love and protectiveness for Wynn knew no bound. She has this whole bubble to protect herself, her own little world where she hid from all the stares and pointing of the world. I wasn't bothered by her skimming because she did in the end do it for self protection and a bigger goal.
Jude, was interesting. He was kind and nice. His friendship with his friends and boss was refreshing to see. And how they all kept him on the ground all the while when so many demons were chasing him.
The relationship in this book was the most fun for me. I loved how they were kinda opposite of each other but also the same. How they came together and were fighting kinda the same demons. Their dynamic, thoughts and conversations together were the best part for me to read. They were the things that kept me invested in the story.
The writing of this book had a little problems for me. Although I like all the themes and topics it discusses.... the pacing and dialogues were problem for me.
There would go two or three page and their would be no dialogues just a lot of inner thoughts and descriptions... They were kinda exasperating and made u loose interest in the story and started dragging it around.
You cannot tell the time period this story is set in. The lack of technology and all the lack of mention of gizmos makes me thing some where in the mid 90's? I don't know for sure.
This book tackles topics like forgiveness, racism, moving on, and also just basic human behavior and mental questions and why people do something's. It also deals with guilt. And fate and why things just happen.
Over all, Did I enjoy the book? YES!! Did it makes me uncomfortable sometimes? YES. Was it super weird? YES.
I would say it's a contemporary, set somewhere in the 90's with dark questioning themes but also has lot of light hearted fullness. It has this whole persona of dark seedy shady 90's town. And you kinda do end up enjoying it.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy!
lifeamongpages's review
3.0
THANK YOU TO AMULET BOOKS & NETGALLEY FOR GIVING ME AN eARC OF THIS BOOK IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW
This was one of those Netgalley books where I requested because the premise seemed interesting but I didn’t really know anything about it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. The story was different to what I expected after reading the blurb.
This review will contain spoilers! YE BE WARNED!
My heart constantly ached for Marsden, stuck in such unfortunate circumstances because of things out of her control. Yet she mustered the strength to solider on for Wyn’s sake, she wanted to save her from living under the family shadow; which is just so heart-warming. But, oh boy, what a family shadow she lived with.
She was the descendant of a man who “went mad” and murdered his family before committing suicide on his property. The land was ravaged by a fire, and survived, and is now a “suicide forest” because people believe dying with the soil on their person meant they would be “blessed” in the afterlife (I severely question the sanity behind whoever made that declaration).
Marsden is also of Chinese descent in a predominantly white town (so she has to deal with looking different to everyone around her), OH and her family is known for being able to hear the voices of the ghosts of the covert (her family’s land… I have no idea why it’s called the covert, like did I miss something?!) All of this would be enough for the backstory of a slew of characters let alone one girl.
But just in case her life isn’t tragic enough! Her father died suddenly and under suspicious circumstances, leaving the family with a lot of debt which caused her mother to work for Nina as a prostitute at the boarding house. I feel like all of the above is too much tragedy for the MC’s backstory and it just felt like overkill.
Mars and Wyn’s relationship was such a beautifully accurate portrayal of sisters, I loved the way they interacted and the protectiveness that Mars felt for Wyn.
I really enjoyed the character Jude, he had quite an interesting arc and character development over the course of the book. How he learns to deal with his brother’s suicide in Marsden’s covert and his search for the time capsule. I did not realise how deep the connection between Mars and Jude would go, did not see all the twists coming and some of them I really felt like I should have.
Oh boy the boarding house, where to start, I suppose with the obvious, it’s a brothel, run by Shine's (Marsden's mother) old school friend, who took in Mars's family after her father's death, Letting Shine work as a housekeeper while she was pregnant with Wyn and then switching to prostitution once her body had healed from the effects of pregnancy. However, Shine is "getting on" and Nina is eyeing off Marsden to become one of her "girls"... like seriously...Mars is a child! It’s just so wrong that she's chasing after her to become a prostitute. Just all kinds of wrong. This was definitely an aspect of the story I did not connect with, it made my skin crawl. I am not shaming the women who chose that path, but a child should not be put in that situation. Nina's girls joking about Mars becoming one of them and how they were amused by Mars trying to keep Wyn separated from that world so that Nina wouldn't start focusing on if the 7-year-old was a potential profit.
I did enjoy the part where Marsden let go of her guilt and the pieces of the dead she'd been carrying around inside her heart, and when that weight lifted from her, she could finally hear the spirits... albeit it was also super cliched.
Overall *Along the Indigo* was multi-faceted, lots of loose threads that were tied up quite nicely (albeit maybe too nicely) by the end. While I definitely enjoyed reading this, I probably wouldn't reread it.
This was one of those Netgalley books where I requested because the premise seemed interesting but I didn’t really know anything about it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. The story was different to what I expected after reading the blurb.
This review will contain spoilers! YE BE WARNED!
My heart constantly ached for Marsden, stuck in such unfortunate circumstances because of things out of her control. Yet she mustered the strength to solider on for Wyn’s sake, she wanted to save her from living under the family shadow; which is just so heart-warming. But, oh boy, what a family shadow she lived with.
She was the descendant of a man who “went mad” and murdered his family before committing suicide on his property. The land was ravaged by a fire, and survived, and is now a “suicide forest” because people believe dying with the soil on their person meant they would be “blessed” in the afterlife (I severely question the sanity behind whoever made that declaration).
Marsden is also of Chinese descent in a predominantly white town (so she has to deal with looking different to everyone around her), OH and her family is known for being able to hear the voices of the ghosts of the covert (her family’s land… I have no idea why it’s called the covert, like did I miss something?!) All of this would be enough for the backstory of a slew of characters let alone one girl.
But just in case her life isn’t tragic enough! Her father died suddenly and under suspicious circumstances, leaving the family with a lot of debt which caused her mother to work for Nina as a prostitute at the boarding house. I feel like all of the above is too much tragedy for the MC’s backstory and it just felt like overkill.
Mars and Wyn’s relationship was such a beautifully accurate portrayal of sisters, I loved the way they interacted and the protectiveness that Mars felt for Wyn.
I really enjoyed the character Jude, he had quite an interesting arc and character development over the course of the book. How he learns to deal with his brother’s suicide in Marsden’s covert and his search for the time capsule. I did not realise how deep the connection between Mars and Jude would go, did not see all the twists coming and some of them I really felt like I should have.
Oh boy the boarding house, where to start, I suppose with the obvious, it’s a brothel, run by Shine's (Marsden's mother) old school friend, who took in Mars's family after her father's death, Letting Shine work as a housekeeper while she was pregnant with Wyn and then switching to prostitution once her body had healed from the effects of pregnancy. However, Shine is "getting on" and Nina is eyeing off Marsden to become one of her "girls"... like seriously...Mars is a child! It’s just so wrong that she's chasing after her to become a prostitute. Just all kinds of wrong. This was definitely an aspect of the story I did not connect with, it made my skin crawl. I am not shaming the women who chose that path, but a child should not be put in that situation. Nina's girls joking about Mars becoming one of them and how they were amused by Mars trying to keep Wyn separated from that world so that Nina wouldn't start focusing on if the 7-year-old was a potential profit.
I did enjoy the part where Marsden let go of her guilt and the pieces of the dead she'd been carrying around inside her heart, and when that weight lifted from her, she could finally hear the spirits... albeit it was also super cliched.
Overall *Along the Indigo* was multi-faceted, lots of loose threads that were tied up quite nicely (albeit maybe too nicely) by the end. While I definitely enjoyed reading this, I probably wouldn't reread it.
rrats's review against another edition
5.0
Already just re-read the book because I liked it that much. It was still a great re-read, loved the main character's strong personality and ability to deal with difficult situations. I loved her romance with Jude, it felt real and sweet. I liked the eerie atmosphere of the covert and the small-town vibe.
brianzangel13's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book it has a young adult mystery feel to it. theres quite a bit going on but it all comes together very well.
juliamariereads's review against another edition
4.0
4.5.
Deliciously creepy. Not your usual YA urban fantasy.
TW: suicide, scenes with dead bodies, prostitution, family abuse.
Deliciously creepy. Not your usual YA urban fantasy.
TW: suicide, scenes with dead bodies, prostitution, family abuse.