Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - A Snake Falls To Earth

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

A Snake Falls To Earth by Darcie Little Badger

11 reviews

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-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? No

5.0

On Earth, Nina is translating a story her great-grandmother told her, hoping it will contain the secret to keeping her grandmother in good health, while also dealing with a neighbour encroaching on her grandmother’s land. Oli is coming of age in the Reflecting World when his friend’s life is imperilled and he must round up his other friends to save him. Gradually you see where their stories overlap. The narrative was definitely more character driven in the first half, but the plot becomes active in the second half too. I personally clicked with the slower pace as it allowed me to settle in with Nina and Oli as characters and understand their situations, making the second half of the novel feel like a natural coming-together.

I loved the ecological theme, specifically how it addressed extinction and how this tied into the plot and world-building, but also how it showed that flora and fauna flourish under indigenous stewardship.

The world-building of the Reflecting World was fantastic. I was particularly interested in how Earth objects lasted, how animal people aged, and how the status of Earth species affected corresponding animal people. The abilities of the animal people were also intriguing.

There was incredible character development in the two MCs. Nina gets to discover her family history, and her faith in her family’s stories is restored. I loved that she was able to connect with this part of herself as well as find a type of storytelling that fit her. Ollie starts off as a timid snake but evolves into one willing to lose his life if it’ll help his friend. He becomes so courageous, and we also see him begin to choose things for himself rather than going with what other people tell him to do.

Darcie Little Badger is an auto-buy author for me for good reason!

Rep: asexual Lipan-Apache MC

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scmiller's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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amandadevoursbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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? No

5.0

Darcey Little Badger does it again. This book is told from two points of view Oli, a snake animal person, and Nina, a Lipan Apache teenager. The two stories progress side by side until they join at the climax of the book, and I LOVED it.

Nina's great grandmother told her a story in an old Lipan Apache dialect. Her grandmother cannot leave her land without getting ill. We've got a sketchy neighbor, an approaching hurricane, and a mystery about her family.

In his world, Oli's turned into an adult and his mother has kicked him out of his nest. He finds friends, gets into mischief, and meets a lake monster. When his best friend gets sick, he and his other friends fall to earth to save him.

It's a tangle of a mystery, and like Elatsoe, the main character is ACE and has parents involved in her life. This is YA but doesn't have romantic subplots with the MCs. I LOVED it. It was like reading a hug.

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maresuju's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective 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? No

4.75

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readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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ruthmoog's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.0

This is written in dual perspective, which I didn't enjoy at first, so it was a slow starter for me, but as the stories started to come together it wasn't as jarring to shift perspective.

The origin and mythology of the stories the book is based on were unknown to me, and I liked learning a little about the spirit realm and it's spirits.

There is a theme of speaking to elders, or rather listening respectfully to them throughout - and in all cases in the story the elders are worthy of that respect.

The descriptions of the characters physical traits were lovely and tactile. Nina's use of social media was clever also, and felt realistic.

Why she didn't read the contract though, SO FRUSTRATING!!

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.0

The worldbuilding is wonderful, explaining a lot of things without feeling like it’s infodumping. Oli has a lot of fascinating anecdotes and animal facts, while Nina tends to provide more of the details about environmental concerns on Earth, though that rough division blurs later on. It did throw me a little that Oli’s sections are narrated in first person and Nina’s are narrated in third, since they’re both crucial for the story.

I like the audiobook narrators, they did a good job overall. The story starts slowly, spending a long time with both main characters before they meet late in the book. Oli leaves home and meets the people who become his friends, then goes through a lot to help them. Nina is worried about her home on both a local and global level, and is growing in her awareness of how she can take action to protect it in big and small ways. The pacing feels deliberate, treating their meeting as an important thing that happens, but not a goal. They have lives before and after their brief intersection.

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