Scan barcode
a_blue_stocking's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
1.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Gore, Vomit, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Torture, and Alcohol
bookgirlie_unbound's review against another edition
4.0
Hidden away in the socialist utopia of The Fingerbluffs, Marnie dreams of exacting her revenge on the industry leader who ordered her family’s death. The best part of this book is how the reader is forced to participate actively through Marnie’s first-person narration, breaking the fourth wall. We the reader, are “you,” her first love lost in the same brutal killing that took away her parents. This literary trick heightened my enjoyment and investment in the book and was one of the best literary surprises I’ve encountered.
Overall, this book is solid. The plot is moderately paced, like Marnie’s assured confidence that she WILL kill Yann Industry Chauncy and does not need to rush. This has its pros and cons, as several parts of the book that I felt were excruciatingly drawn out as a way to belabor the moral and philosophical superiority of the Highwayman’s Choir and the “Hereafter”- a glorious period in which the universe is freed from the yoke of capitalism.
Readers should be aware that sex is used as an allegory for greed and overconsumption, and is omnipresent in the last third of the book. I understand its use as a literary device, and I still think the book had strong enough characters, sub-stories, and mysticism to carry on to the finish without so much gratuitous, abusive, and graphic sex. I would gladly trade several of the sex scenes for more information about the magic Marnie wields or the complex religious codes observed by the many nations and communities within this sprawling world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
charlieeew's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol
timac's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
sersi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was so close to completely loving this (the prose is frequently tremendous and the somewhat unreliable narration kept my attention even as it confused me), but the ending didn't entirely work for me. (Although I recognize and respect it's ambition).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
blacksphinx's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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? Yes
4.5
This book is for communist and anarchist queers who loved Gideon the Ninth but also kind of wished Catherynne M. Valente had written the prose instead.
My number one tip to you is to keep paper and pencil at hand to write down character names and attributes because this book does no hand-holding and every character has at least three names, sometimes up to five. It takes place in a fully realized fantasy world of many different cultures and religions and there's no guide to help you keep it all sorted (unless it's added to the official release). It's a glorious mess.
So, what the hell is this book even about? Our protagonist Marney is the only survivor of strike-breaking massacre at a factory that refines a strange and magical metal called ichorite. She is "lustertouched", born allergic to ichorite but also with a magical resonance to it. In the aftermath of the massacre she winds up joining the Choir, a gang of political radicals who have overthrown a baron and are keeping up the charade of him still being alive while the people live in a socialist commune funded by stealing from the rich. There are many ways the charade can fall, and the most obvious ticking clock is that the baron had a young daughter who at some point needs to appear in high society or things will get too suspicious. Meanwhile, Marney has sworn to kill Yann Industry Chauncey, the man who discovered how to refine ichorite and ordered her family killed. These threads eventually come together as the Choir spies an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by entering a disguised Marney into a competition among nobility for the hand of Chauncy's daughter in marriage.
We must resist the ossification of precedent. We march toward Hereafter, not tomorrow, we march past tomorrow, we know tomorrow will be hard.
This is an intensely political book. While many different political philosophies are exposed by characters on the page, the true core is to the far left. Reading such a radical political underpinning in a fantasy novel, a genre with deep conservative roots, was extremely refreshing. I've never experienced it before and I hope it blasts open a dam. It felt like clarke was writing this book because they wanted to read it, not to chase any trends or to the tastes of the mass market. I hope it blows up. I hope it goes nuclear.
It's also extremely queer. I immediately made the connection from the in-book word crawly to queer (and several other words I fear I don't have the license to type), especially when Marney starts using it around people who call themselves Lunarists or astrologists. It's wonderful to have a stone butch protagonist. The sex scenes are perfectly woven into the story. It's a sapphic book for messy, sexual, sapphic punks.
The actual storytelling is where I struggled. This book meanders. Marney often reflects on things and directs a large amount of her narration to her dead first love, sometimes in the middle of other things. Marney is also prone to seizures, hallucinations, and fits when exposed to ichorite. It's a book you cannot skim or listen to at 3x speed. I feel a lot of fantasy is written where the prose is as unobtrusive as possible, so you barely notice the words as you turn the pages. This prose is sharp and present; the book demands you look at each word. If you don't, you actually can skim right over important plot developments. Overall, I found the back 60% to be far more enticing than the 40% that came before. The pacing also speeds up beyond that point. The ending is beyond my dreams.
In short, it's a damn fine novel that didn't work perfectly for me. I want to give a copy to every radical that helped shape my burning queer self as I came of age, into the hands of all my friends making messy queer art, and to all people who are dreaming of the Hereafter.
Thank you NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and Erewhon Books for this ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.
My number one tip to you is to keep paper and pencil at hand to write down character names and attributes because this book does no hand-holding and every character has at least three names, sometimes up to five. It takes place in a fully realized fantasy world of many different cultures and religions and there's no guide to help you keep it all sorted (unless it's added to the official release). It's a glorious mess.
So, what the hell is this book even about? Our protagonist Marney is the only survivor of strike-breaking massacre at a factory that refines a strange and magical metal called ichorite. She is "lustertouched", born allergic to ichorite but also with a magical resonance to it. In the aftermath of the massacre she winds up joining the Choir, a gang of political radicals who have overthrown a baron and are keeping up the charade of him still being alive while the people live in a socialist commune funded by stealing from the rich. There are many ways the charade can fall, and the most obvious ticking clock is that the baron had a young daughter who at some point needs to appear in high society or things will get too suspicious. Meanwhile, Marney has sworn to kill Yann Industry Chauncey, the man who discovered how to refine ichorite and ordered her family killed. These threads eventually come together as the Choir spies an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by entering a disguised Marney into a competition among nobility for the hand of Chauncy's daughter in marriage.
We must resist the ossification of precedent. We march toward Hereafter, not tomorrow, we march past tomorrow, we know tomorrow will be hard.
This is an intensely political book. While many different political philosophies are exposed by characters on the page, the true core is to the far left. Reading such a radical political underpinning in a fantasy novel, a genre with deep conservative roots, was extremely refreshing. I've never experienced it before and I hope it blasts open a dam. It felt like clarke was writing this book because they wanted to read it, not to chase any trends or to the tastes of the mass market. I hope it blows up. I hope it goes nuclear.
It's also extremely queer. I immediately made the connection from the in-book word crawly to queer (and several other words I fear I don't have the license to type), especially when Marney starts using it around people who call themselves Lunarists or astrologists. It's wonderful to have a stone butch protagonist. The sex scenes are perfectly woven into the story. It's a sapphic book for messy, sexual, sapphic punks.
The actual storytelling is where I struggled. This book meanders. Marney often reflects on things and directs a large amount of her narration to her dead first love, sometimes in the middle of other things. Marney is also prone to seizures, hallucinations, and fits when exposed to ichorite. It's a book you cannot skim or listen to at 3x speed. I feel a lot of fantasy is written where the prose is as unobtrusive as possible, so you barely notice the words as you turn the pages. This prose is sharp and present; the book demands you look at each word. If you don't, you actually can skim right over important plot developments. Overall, I found the back 60% to be far more enticing than the 40% that came before. The pacing also speeds up beyond that point. The ending is beyond my dreams.
In short, it's a damn fine novel that didn't work perfectly for me. I want to give a copy to every radical that helped shape my burning queer self as I came of age, into the hands of all my friends making messy queer art, and to all people who are dreaming of the Hereafter.
Thank you NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and Erewhon Books for this ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Abortion, and Dysphoria