cruelembroidery 's review for:

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

1.5

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I'm not generally strict about #ownvoices issues, such as someone with middle class white privilege writing about an enslaved brown girl but wow this book feels irresponsible. Structurally, it felt like the stakes weren't raised, they remained the same -- barely surviving. And

the message of the ending, where she is a vector of contagion, of smallpox being the most notorious killer of indigenous people, seems off, as does the main character's undying love for the baby she's forced to care for.

Anyway, publishers and editors please do better.