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A review by theeuphoriczat
The Sisters of Reckoning by Charlotte Nicole Davis
5.0
Thanks to #Pridebooktours for making this book available to me.
Check out my review of the first book- I laid down the basic magic and power imbalance in Arketta.
Trigger Warning
I will start this book with a long list of Trigger warnings because this duology has so much that it would be wrong for me to recommend it without a proper list
1. Murder
2. Rape
3. Arson
4. Slavery
5. Child Abuse and Statutory rape
6. Human Trafficking
7. Kidnapping
8. Gore [Hanging, Skin burning e.t.c.]
9. Blood purity
10. PTSD
11. Torture
There are probably a couple more but these are the ones that I could think off when I was reading the book.
Now that is out of the way, let me tell you why this should be you next read.
The girls found the lady ghost (happens to be an underground operation that helps good luck girls cross the border into Ferron for a better life. Aster joins the Lady Ghost while the rest of her friends and sister moved on. Except Violet who was left behind when they were last captured by McClennon. At the start of this book, we find out that McClennon lied that the girls were killed when he captured them and that seemed to have calmed his people down while he saved face. He soon announced that he was going to open more Welcome houses and that girls would have their first night at the age of 13! Yes I said Thirteen. That man needed to be hanging by his balls (I don't give sh*t). Anyways, Aster finds out that Violet was still alive and she scales up floors to go find her.
This is when we realised that Violet also had a plan and it involved the young McClennon son, Derrick. Derrick was giving us typical white saviour vibes in the the first half of this book. I mean, he wanted to help out the Good Luck Girls but he was not ready to accept and acknowledge the privileged life he had lived at the expense of the girls. I loved how the author was able to touch on that without making it mean out of place in the story.
I do not want to spoil it but a lot of stuff happened in this book you really need to read it. I was turning pages so fast with this one. Now for one of my favourite things about this book, the love quadrilateral relationship between Aster, Eli, Violet and Derrick! Gosh, I loved the way trauma and sexuality was handled in this book. It definitely brought the topic to the fore front.
Do same sex relationship stem from trauma experienced from the opposite sex? - While this might be a flaming question in a lot of circles, the way it was addressed in this book gave me a different perspective. Aster like Eli a lot and you could tell from the first book. But her relationship with him was uncomfortable for her because of PTSD from her time at the Welcome House (which is understandable). One would suggest that with a bit therapy she would be able to manage her PTSD, but when you read the relationship with Derrick who she had no feelings for whatsoever, you could tell that the discomfort was when she was with Eli and not just around men in general (not to say that she was not hypervigilant around men). - At this point in my reasoning, I started to think 'Maybe she is fluid or she is Bi or Pan' my thoughts went wide and honestly (because I am selfish) I wanted her to have both Eli and Violet.
But when she was with Violet who she had once hated, she could relax. She could be herself, she could share her problems and her disappoints. With Violet a lot of things became very easy. Touching was easy, she was not hypervigilant, she was comfort. But she did not know that she was into Violet until it Raven pointed it to her. The panic she felt was the confirmation that she need. She got defensive and lashed out at Raven but once she took time to think about it. It was no longer about her trauma and her past at the Welcome House but about her future and who she felt herself around.
This book is just genius.
There are other topics that this book address, things like 'Wealthy and Religion, Privilege, Fear, Love, Relationships, Acceptance. Honestly, I could go on and one with this book but I will stop here to avoid more spoilers
My favourite quote from this book "Our suffering became their currency. They get rich off it. And they say it's all justified because we're criminals"
This just spoke to me so deeply. I felt it in my bones.
While this book was a good conclusion to the story, I am itching for more!
Check out my review of the first book- I laid down the basic magic and power imbalance in Arketta.
Trigger Warning
I will start this book with a long list of Trigger warnings because this duology has so much that it would be wrong for me to recommend it without a proper list
1. Murder
2. Rape
3. Arson
4. Slavery
5. Child Abuse and Statutory rape
6. Human Trafficking
7. Kidnapping
8. Gore [Hanging, Skin burning e.t.c.]
9. Blood purity
10. PTSD
11. Torture
There are probably a couple more but these are the ones that I could think off when I was reading the book.
Now that is out of the way, let me tell you why this should be you next read.
The girls found the lady ghost (happens to be an underground operation that helps good luck girls cross the border into Ferron for a better life. Aster joins the Lady Ghost while the rest of her friends and sister moved on. Except Violet who was left behind when they were last captured by McClennon. At the start of this book, we find out that McClennon lied that the girls were killed when he captured them and that seemed to have calmed his people down while he saved face. He soon announced that he was going to open more Welcome houses and that girls would have their first night at the age of 13! Yes I said Thirteen. That man needed to be hanging by his balls (I don't give sh*t). Anyways, Aster finds out that Violet was still alive and she scales up floors to go find her.
This is when we realised that Violet also had a plan and it involved the young McClennon son, Derrick. Derrick was giving us typical white saviour vibes in the the first half of this book. I mean, he wanted to help out the Good Luck Girls but he was not ready to accept and acknowledge the privileged life he had lived at the expense of the girls. I loved how the author was able to touch on that without making it mean out of place in the story.
I do not want to spoil it but a lot of stuff happened in this book you really need to read it. I was turning pages so fast with this one. Now for one of my favourite things about this book, the love quadrilateral relationship between Aster, Eli, Violet and Derrick! Gosh, I loved the way trauma and sexuality was handled in this book. It definitely brought the topic to the fore front.
Do same sex relationship stem from trauma experienced from the opposite sex? - While this might be a flaming question in a lot of circles, the way it was addressed in this book gave me a different perspective. Aster like Eli a lot and you could tell from the first book. But her relationship with him was uncomfortable for her because of PTSD from her time at the Welcome House (which is understandable). One would suggest that with a bit therapy she would be able to manage her PTSD, but when you read the relationship with Derrick who she had no feelings for whatsoever, you could tell that the discomfort was when she was with Eli and not just around men in general (not to say that she was not hypervigilant around men). - At this point in my reasoning, I started to think 'Maybe she is fluid or she is Bi or Pan' my thoughts went wide and honestly (because I am selfish) I wanted her to have both Eli and Violet.
But when she was with Violet who she had once hated, she could relax. She could be herself, she could share her problems and her disappoints. With Violet a lot of things became very easy. Touching was easy, she was not hypervigilant, she was comfort. But she did not know that she was into Violet until it Raven pointed it to her. The panic she felt was the confirmation that she need. She got defensive and lashed out at Raven but once she took time to think about it. It was no longer about her trauma and her past at the Welcome House but about her future and who she felt herself around.
This book is just genius.
There are other topics that this book address, things like 'Wealthy and Religion, Privilege, Fear, Love, Relationships, Acceptance. Honestly, I could go on and one with this book but I will stop here to avoid more spoilers
My favourite quote from this book "Our suffering became their currency. They get rich off it. And they say it's all justified because we're criminals"
This just spoke to me so deeply. I felt it in my bones.
While this book was a good conclusion to the story, I am itching for more!