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mastersal 's review for:
Dread Nation
by Justina Ireland
Wow - this was a great book. 4.5 stars rounded up because there is a pandemic and I felt like breaking my rules because this made me happy (despite this having zombies and a plague! I wish this fulfilled my desire to kick COVID’s ass somehow).
I knew I would like this book when 30% in, I was not annoyed by the first person POV which is usually kryptonite. It helped that Jane was a great protagonist - snarky, angry, impulsive and flawed. She came across as a teen - which was a refreshing change. She doesn’t have enough history to know better and that matters to the story. I especially liked how she was distracted by pretty boys - it made me giggle which was needed levity given some of the other awful things happening in the book (and no, zombies are hardly the biggest evil on display).
The exploration of racism and its impact on black people was excellent. Jane displays anger at the injustice but there is a powerless to the anger which I thought was real and visceral. It made me upset and angry on her behalf which is testament to the author.
I am not sure how the history stacks up for the post Civil war period but the theme of “re-enslavement” (is that a word) through law was done well. The book talks about how black children were sent to combat school and how people felt that it was their God-given role to protect white people. The author was inspired by residential schools as well which gave this a context which was heart-breaking.
The zombie plague was excellent sugar to disguise the medicine of the history lessons. Racism, slavery, residential schools all combine and are the focus of this book despite the zombie plague. The book can be read as a straight action novel but knowing the real world context makes this more poignant for me.
I would have liked to see the zombies used a little better though. There is so much other stuff happening here that the SFF premise is kind of underused. I am not sure if it was meant to show “any excuse to oppress former slaves” or just a lack of integration of the premise into the rest of the novel. It felt like a plot device rather than integral to the world - still there is enough there I think for the sequel.
The plague is used to set up the combat schools and the bigotry of white people who called it a plague from god so it’s not like it’s not used but again mostly to talk about the human response. The zombies themselves don’t get much page time except as cannon fodder.
Most of the book is well paced with some good action and background story for Jane. It was a fast read generally with a needed lull in Part 2. The end was a little abrupt where the author seemed to run out of page space and veered towards bombast that wasn’t set up properly. I enjoyed the last burst of action but it was not set up well. The book needed perhaps another 40 pages to make the denouement more complete. Being a debut, I am hopeful the author does better in the sequel.
I was also surprised that I don’t see more holds for this in the library. People you’re missing out …
PS. I hope zombies eat all the bigots in the next book. Yes, I am annoyed.
I knew I would like this book when 30% in, I was not annoyed by the first person POV which is usually kryptonite. It helped that Jane was a great protagonist - snarky, angry, impulsive and flawed. She came across as a teen - which was a refreshing change. She doesn’t have enough history to know better and that matters to the story. I especially liked how she was distracted by pretty boys - it made me giggle which was needed levity given some of the other awful things happening in the book (and no, zombies are hardly the biggest evil on display).
The exploration of racism and its impact on black people was excellent. Jane displays anger at the injustice but there is a powerless to the anger which I thought was real and visceral. It made me upset and angry on her behalf which is testament to the author.
I am not sure how the history stacks up for the post Civil war period but the theme of “re-enslavement” (is that a word) through law was done well. The book talks about how black children were sent to combat school and how people felt that it was their God-given role to protect white people. The author was inspired by residential schools as well which gave this a context which was heart-breaking.
The zombie plague was excellent sugar to disguise the medicine of the history lessons. Racism, slavery, residential schools all combine and are the focus of this book despite the zombie plague. The book can be read as a straight action novel but knowing the real world context makes this more poignant for me.
I would have liked to see the zombies used a little better though. There is so much other stuff happening here that the SFF premise is kind of underused. I am not sure if it was meant to show “any excuse to oppress former slaves” or just a lack of integration of the premise into the rest of the novel. It felt like a plot device rather than integral to the world - still there is enough there I think for the sequel.
The plague is used to set up the combat schools and the bigotry of white people who called it a plague from god so it’s not like it’s not used but again mostly to talk about the human response. The zombies themselves don’t get much page time except as cannon fodder.
Most of the book is well paced with some good action and background story for Jane. It was a fast read generally with a needed lull in Part 2. The end was a little abrupt where the author seemed to run out of page space and veered towards bombast that wasn’t set up properly. I enjoyed the last burst of action but it was not set up well. The book needed perhaps another 40 pages to make the denouement more complete. Being a debut, I am hopeful the author does better in the sequel.
I was also surprised that I don’t see more holds for this in the library. People you’re missing out …
PS. I hope zombies eat all the bigots in the next book. Yes, I am annoyed.