A review by crlyhairedbibliophile
The Freedom Race by Lucinda Roy

3.0

I betroth myself to my own future. I will never be meek again in the face of it.

This was not an easy read by any means, but I’ve always liked a challenge. There’s so much to unpack here, from the terminology to the way this Disunited States operates that I really had to take my time and digest it all. Every corner of the world was really interesting, though some aspects were hard to stomach like the color wheel system for the muleseeds and Sylvie’s “purple tears.”

I definitely got into the story more around the second half when Ji-Ji leaves Planting 437 and the focus is more on the Freedom Race itself. The whole concept gave me Hunger Games vibes with a little fantasy mixed in, while the first half felt more like a slave narrative twist on The Handmaid’s Tale.

Wanting more of the race aspect and the Toteppi as a people in exchange for a little less time on the Homestead Territories took this down a little for me, but I’d still be interested to see where the story goes from here now that things are established.

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: Slavery (any & everything related), attempted rape, lynching, death during childbirth, & domestic violence