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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Entertaining, a tad rushed, fun.
Really, really not sure what to rate this at. It has some real moments of a better book, but I think generally this novella is pretty half baked. The character dynamics sometimes felt sloppy or rushed or just generally outside of recognizable human behavior. The tragic backstory is underdeveloped--seriously did Beatriz just exist to be fridged, because her possibly being a resister, but also the voice of Esther's cruelest doubts added nothing to the story, genuinely wish Beatriz hadn't been included at all. (No, seriously internalized homophobia and sexist, abusive, controlling father are more than enough to give a girl hangs ups without their best friend/lover hanged in front of them.) Worse, the post-societal collapse, western setting (cool idea! Not arguing that!) is just kind of a generic stand in for oppression that is nonspecific to the point of uselessness. I mean I guess the hot take here is, uh, homophobia and the patriarchy and fascism are bad? Cool, but like I feel pretty confident that the kind of person who picks up a book with the tagline "Are you a coward or are you a librarian?" was already in agreement about those things. Also, look any story interested in considering some dystopian future set in the United States that side steps race completely is just flat out negligent.
What I'm trying to say here is that this novella is really just a handful of semi-formed ideas theoretically trying to prop each other up, but actually just stealing oxygen from each other. If Gailey wanted to follow in the long tradition of SFF as thoughtful social commentary, then they should have pushed more. If they wanted to do a parable about queer found families and women taking care of each other, then they really needed to nail character relationships. And if, as I somewhat suspect, all they were really interested in was basically a character study charting Esther's moral coming-of-age, well I will say that was certainly the closest story element to being successful, but its tied down by so much clutter that it becomes kind of hard to care about what is, let's be honest, a foregone conclusion (a sheltered girl discovers a secret rebellion, we know where this ends). And I say this as someone who was genuinely pretty compelled by Esther as a character!!!! (This is honestly the main reason I gave this book a soft 3 instead of an outright 2.)
High Concept novellas like this usually shoot for joyful fun or powerful and challenging. Upright Women Wanted doesn't know itself enough to be particularly much of either. For a book about resister librarian-smugglers, its remarkable how little they actually deliver.
What I'm trying to say here is that this novella is really just a handful of semi-formed ideas theoretically trying to prop each other up, but actually just stealing oxygen from each other. If Gailey wanted to follow in the long tradition of SFF as thoughtful social commentary, then they should have pushed more. If they wanted to do a parable about queer found families and women taking care of each other, then they really needed to nail character relationships. And if, as I somewhat suspect, all they were really interested in was basically a character study charting Esther's moral coming-of-age, well I will say that was certainly the closest story element to being successful, but its tied down by so much clutter that it becomes kind of hard to care about what is, let's be honest, a foregone conclusion (a sheltered girl discovers a secret rebellion, we know where this ends). And I say this as someone who was genuinely pretty compelled by Esther as a character!!!! (This is honestly the main reason I gave this book a soft 3 instead of an outright 2.)
High Concept novellas like this usually shoot for joyful fun or powerful and challenging. Upright Women Wanted doesn't know itself enough to be particularly much of either. For a book about resister librarian-smugglers, its remarkable how little they actually deliver.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Complicated
This book is only 176 pages and I thought that it was never going to end! Dear god this was so boring and the "romance" felt so forced and jammed in. Other than the fact that I think the message behind this book is great, I can't find a single thing that I liked about this.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-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
fast-paced