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brogan7's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Ideas: 5. Execution: 3.
This book has a lot of good ideas in it, a spunky main character, and an interest in portraying patriarchy, the damage it does, the complexity of alliances to change the world as it is and not knowing who to trust, etc.
However, it lacks in its execution in ways this reader found perplexing. There's an urge to make the school either "good" or "bad" ("a lie"), in a way that feels too narrow, but at the same time it feels like Ursu didn't fully make the choice herself. Is it a finishing school, a place to learn manners and obedience, or is it a place for girls to learn to go on to have some kind of role in society beyond motherhood, servitude, oppression? It feels like Ursu doesn't fully consider the history of boarding schools and residential schools when she is writing this story. Is it a home for girls at risk of or who have become pregnant? (This doesn't seem to cross Ursu's mind, yet surely the control of girls through controlling their sexuality is huge and obvious as a mechanism of patriarchy...ok, so her audience is meant to be younger but...to erase that dimension entirely, though the girls are meant to be there for six years...didn't make sense to me.) Is it a school where their individuality and will will be beaten out of them, destroyed one way or another? Or is it a school where some teachers are trying to impart knowledge and self-knowledge, away from the prying eyes of most of society? Who are these teachers? Who is the sorcerer, who comes and tells them all kinds of information, seemingly more open than the teacher who is trying to prevent him from giving so much intel to the girls...? He flip flops, he is sometimes this way and sometimes that way, which serves to add confusion to the reader, but the reader doesn't want to be confused just for confusion's sake: the characters have to act as they do for reasons that make internal sense to them...
The resolution of conflict between the main character and her brother happened entirely off-screen, which was again unfortunate because one of the complexities of living under patriarchy is that privilege accrues to a whole gender, but individuals of that gender have alliances and personal relationships with people of other genders...and some people trouble the lines of the hierarchies, no matter their personal level of privilege. In this story though, that nuance is lost because in the end, the women all align with the girls, even the women who were toeing the official line, and the men all align with the patriarchy, except for Luka, whose choices, again, seem exceptional to me and without internal logic.
This book has a lot of good ideas in it, a spunky main character, and an interest in portraying patriarchy, the damage it does, the complexity of alliances to change the world as it is and not knowing who to trust, etc.
However, it lacks in its execution in ways this reader found perplexing. There's an urge to make the school either "good" or "bad" ("a lie"), in a way that feels too narrow, but at the same time it feels like Ursu didn't fully make the choice herself. Is it a finishing school, a place to learn manners and obedience, or is it a place for girls to learn to go on to have some kind of role in society beyond motherhood, servitude, oppression? It feels like Ursu doesn't fully consider the history of boarding schools and residential schools when she is writing this story. Is it a home for girls at risk of or who have become pregnant? (This doesn't seem to cross Ursu's mind, yet surely the control of girls through controlling their sexuality is huge and obvious as a mechanism of patriarchy...ok, so her audience is meant to be younger but...to erase that dimension entirely, though the girls are meant to be there for six years...didn't make sense to me.) Is it a school where their individuality and will will be beaten out of them, destroyed one way or another? Or is it a school where some teachers are trying to impart knowledge and self-knowledge, away from the prying eyes of most of society? Who are these teachers? Who is the sorcerer, who comes and tells them all kinds of information, seemingly more open than the teacher who is trying to prevent him from giving so much intel to the girls...? He flip flops, he is sometimes this way and sometimes that way, which serves to add confusion to the reader, but the reader doesn't want to be confused just for confusion's sake: the characters have to act as they do for reasons that make internal sense to them...
The resolution of conflict between the main character and her brother happened entirely off-screen, which was again unfortunate because one of the complexities of living under patriarchy is that privilege accrues to a whole gender, but individuals of that gender have alliances and personal relationships with people of other genders...and some people trouble the lines of the hierarchies, no matter their personal level of privilege. In this story though, that nuance is lost because
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Sexism
teatimewtrisha's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Misogyny
aewilkins007's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
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