A review by kadomi
Metal from Heaven by August Clarke

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

WTF did I just read? Finishing this book left me quite confounded. It had a strong start, a confusing middle, and an absolute what the fuckery ending. I haven't been so confused by a book since reading Harrow the Ninth. Speaking of that series, the middle part vaguely reminded me of Gideon the Ninth, but way less cool.

In any case, this is a challengingly written sapphic revenge story that is very anti-capitalist. The first person narrator Marney (a terrible narrator, I kinda hated her) loses her family as a kid at a peaceful worker protest. Her family all worked in the ichorite industry, a mysterious metal that is driving industry, and Marney is a so-called lustertouched, highly sensitive to this metal to the point it makes her ill, but also able to manipulate it. Marney then runs into a band of bandits, let's say they're communist, as they're also plotting to overthrow evil nobility and capitalists. Oh, and just about everyone is a 'crawly', a lesbian. 

Eventually, Marney falsely pretends to be a baron's daughter, in the running to marry the ichorite industrial's daughter, so she can finally move in and kill him to avenge her family. And then it gets weird...er, I should say.

I'll give it 3 stars because it was fascinating, but I can't honestly say I would recommend it to anyone, other than admiring that such queer literature exists today.
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