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A review by someonetookit
The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
5.0
Hngjkghdfgdfiukgfd I completely underestimated what this novel was going to be. I expected a Memoirs of a Geisha crossed with some form of Western. Instead I got a heavy hitting fantasy that doesn’t hold back. It’s like Westworld had a baby with Thelma and Louise and then accidentally took some Girls of Paper and Fire and threw it in for good measure. Its girl power and critical analysis of the worlds treatment of women; honestly, I can’t even put into words how much I loved this.
TGLG centres around a pair of sisters, Aster and Clementine, who have been sold into servitude at the local Welcome House (this is polite speak for a brothel). On the night of Clem’s first client, her brag takes it too far and she kills him in self-defence; instead of understanding that the client must have crossed unforgivable boundaries, both girls know their mistress will take it out of their hides, as will the deceased’s family. So begins their flight across the Scab accompanied by three other wards of the house, in search of Lady Ghost, a mysterious woman who can rid them of their mark and lead them to a free life.
Ok. Here's the thing, I fully expected to be bored. Its described as The Handmaidens Tale crossed with Westworld. I really didn’t like THMT but Westworld was amazing so I thought I would give it a go. Also, it came from Tor who seems to have an uncanny knack to providing descriptions of novels that sound thoroughly underwhelming but turn out fantastic… From around the 5% mark, I didn’t want to put this down. So much so that 320 pages just took me 2 hours and 45 minutes and I’m sure I missed so many intricacies, but I needed it in my eyeholes post haste (I’ll inevitably go back and find things I skimmed over accidentally).
These women can only be described as bad arse bitches. Even though they have basically spent their lives as sex slaves in order for their family to pay off their debts, I would not want to mess with them. There’s bank robbing, train hitching, stringing up of men by their feet and multiple muggings, just to name a few. Along the way they meet up with a mysterious man named Zee who I fully expected to take on the role of male protector so they could all swoon and act like bimbos. Thankfully I was so ridiculously wrong.
The camaraderie between this group is ridiculous. No matter what life – and the Scab – throw at them, they will never leave a woman behind. Men, yes. Sisters, hell to the no. The personalities of all the leading ladies run the gamut from queen bitch to caring older sister but never do they ever hold anything against each other. Honestly, I need to take my hat off to Davis for her portrayal of sisterly bonds. Usually in a narrative full of women, there’s backstabbing and bitchiness but in Good Luck Girls, there’s just inner strength and cooperation in order to reach their goal.
The world building in this novel is absolutely spectacular. You can taste the dust and feel the grit beneath your finger nails. In periods of travel, you can feel the exhaustion caused by the hot sun and desolate surroundings. There is a point whereby the woman are literally starving, and I swear I could hear their stomachs complaining. Davis’s version of the Wild West is both beautiful and brutal and I am so positively here for it.
There was however one thing that confused me to no end. Each of the wards of the welcome houses are tattooed upon their entry in servitude. This tattoo of sorts identifies them as being owned by the house to which they belong. Should the women endeavour put makeup on or otherwise cover the tattoo, it begins to burn until either the covering burns or they are in such excruciating pain that they remove it. But why? Is there a magic system I missed? Is it heat sensitive? I am so lost…
Here is where I’m cutting it short because I don’t want to spoil this novels amazing plot. All I can say is read the book as soon as possible. Stalk your bookstore. Hunt through your library. Buy it as an e-book. Steal it from the personal stash of THAT friend who we all know will never read it again (look! It me!). Just get this damn book into your eyeballs sooner rather than later.
TGLG centres around a pair of sisters, Aster and Clementine, who have been sold into servitude at the local Welcome House (this is polite speak for a brothel). On the night of Clem’s first client, her brag takes it too far and she kills him in self-defence; instead of understanding that the client must have crossed unforgivable boundaries, both girls know their mistress will take it out of their hides, as will the deceased’s family. So begins their flight across the Scab accompanied by three other wards of the house, in search of Lady Ghost, a mysterious woman who can rid them of their mark and lead them to a free life.
Ok. Here's the thing, I fully expected to be bored. Its described as The Handmaidens Tale crossed with Westworld. I really didn’t like THMT but Westworld was amazing so I thought I would give it a go. Also, it came from Tor who seems to have an uncanny knack to providing descriptions of novels that sound thoroughly underwhelming but turn out fantastic… From around the 5% mark, I didn’t want to put this down. So much so that 320 pages just took me 2 hours and 45 minutes and I’m sure I missed so many intricacies, but I needed it in my eyeholes post haste (I’ll inevitably go back and find things I skimmed over accidentally).
These women can only be described as bad arse bitches. Even though they have basically spent their lives as sex slaves in order for their family to pay off their debts, I would not want to mess with them. There’s bank robbing, train hitching, stringing up of men by their feet and multiple muggings, just to name a few. Along the way they meet up with a mysterious man named Zee who I fully expected to take on the role of male protector so they could all swoon and act like bimbos. Thankfully I was so ridiculously wrong.
The camaraderie between this group is ridiculous. No matter what life – and the Scab – throw at them, they will never leave a woman behind. Men, yes. Sisters, hell to the no. The personalities of all the leading ladies run the gamut from queen bitch to caring older sister but never do they ever hold anything against each other. Honestly, I need to take my hat off to Davis for her portrayal of sisterly bonds. Usually in a narrative full of women, there’s backstabbing and bitchiness but in Good Luck Girls, there’s just inner strength and cooperation in order to reach their goal.
The world building in this novel is absolutely spectacular. You can taste the dust and feel the grit beneath your finger nails. In periods of travel, you can feel the exhaustion caused by the hot sun and desolate surroundings. There is a point whereby the woman are literally starving, and I swear I could hear their stomachs complaining. Davis’s version of the Wild West is both beautiful and brutal and I am so positively here for it.
There was however one thing that confused me to no end. Each of the wards of the welcome houses are tattooed upon their entry in servitude. This tattoo of sorts identifies them as being owned by the house to which they belong. Should the women endeavour put makeup on or otherwise cover the tattoo, it begins to burn until either the covering burns or they are in such excruciating pain that they remove it. But why? Is there a magic system I missed? Is it heat sensitive? I am so lost…
Here is where I’m cutting it short because I don’t want to spoil this novels amazing plot. All I can say is read the book as soon as possible. Stalk your bookstore. Hunt through your library. Buy it as an e-book. Steal it from the personal stash of THAT friend who we all know will never read it again (look! It me!). Just get this damn book into your eyeballs sooner rather than later.