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A review by brianwork
The Battle of Jericho by Sharon M. Draper
2.0
The book has good pacing and some worthwhile themes, but the writing itself was a real turnoff for me. The dialogue is incredibly unnatural and doesn't even come close to reflecting the way human beings actually speak. The characters pick up and drop their dialects at random, and much of what they say sounds like it's lifted straight from a Lifetime original movie written by someone who's only heard human speech through other Lifetime original movies.
Jericho's motivations didn't make any sense, which added to him being one of the least proactive protagonists I've ever read. He just stands by and lets everything happen, even when there's plenty of proof in front of him that shady things are going on and he should make a stand and do something about it. But he doesn't; he remains passive and that makes him very hard to empathize with.
Also, the female empowerment subplot could have used a lot of work. Dana's whole character was like a hammer beating the reader over the head every time she was present, without any subtlety to it. I like the idea of a female character going against the male-dominated fraternity system to get into the club, but the way it was written just didn't work, and in many ways caused it to come off off counter to how it was intended.
Jericho's motivations didn't make any sense, which added to him being one of the least proactive protagonists I've ever read. He just stands by and lets everything happen, even when there's plenty of proof in front of him that shady things are going on and he should make a stand and do something about it. But he doesn't; he remains passive and that makes him very hard to empathize with.
Also, the female empowerment subplot could have used a lot of work. Dana's whole character was like a hammer beating the reader over the head every time she was present, without any subtlety to it. I like the idea of a female character going against the male-dominated fraternity system to get into the club, but the way it was written just didn't work, and in many ways caused it to come off off counter to how it was intended.