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orchidlilly's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
2.25
I liked the whole mystery aspect, and the writing is nice as per usual. The side characters are well built, and the ship crew was lovable. The rest of it though, I take issue with. For being a series meant to follow Poly and the rest of the O'Keef's, they really are more side characters than proper main cast. I also have significant issue with a lot of the messages L'Engle seems to be sending out. This being the third book where L'Engle includes a vague and mysterious utopic but nondescript native society, I'm starting to think she has a weird hangup. This isnt a deliberate attempt to include and humanize foreign and othered cultures, this is a white woman romanticizing the idea of native peoples without looking into actual native cultures. The Natives from Starfish, this book, and Swiftly Tilting Planet could all be completely interchangeable because they have no culture beyond being a religious ideal utopia for L'Engle to project her morals onto. To make it even worse, we have a literal white savoir prophecy thing, because of course there is. This just crosses the line from unnecessary and ill-informed to outright disrespectful. Then there's the whole thing of how she talks about science. L'Engle rides this weird line where her writing both supports science and also seeks to hand-wave it. She treats science as some kind of nonspecific and inferior magic methodology. She swings from praising science and discovery, to stating that most scientists are greedy and don't understand the real pursuit of truth. Also, an uncomfortable amount of Nazi apologism in here. In the first third, Union soldiers from the south are equated to, I cannot stress this enough, literal NAZI SYMPATHIZERS. And the narrative treats this comparison as if it is not only correct, but profoundly correct enough to change Poly's world view. I- What? No. Absolutely not. Then, near the end of the book, it is mentioned that there are Jewish people hunting down former Nazis in Argentina and Venezuela. And this is used as an example of how humanity has been corrupted by a needless thirst for revenge and violence. I just. This book really did not sit well with me, in a far more visceral way than some of her other poorly aged stuff. I'm really hoping L'Engle can pull her writing together, but I'm starting to get real suspicious.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Kidnapping, Racism, Grief, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Gun violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Cancer, Medical content, Alcohol, Infidelity, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Misogyny, and Trafficking
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