Scan barcode
A review by ilnadurn
The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo
2.0
Okay this seems to be a hot take but this was not weird enough for me! It needed to be about 10x weirder in order to balance out an otherwise fairly basic, overdone premise. I feel like I can’t even call it a ‘premise’ because we spend about 200 pages covering what’s laid out in the synopsis. The first 180 pages could have only lasted for about 30, purely to set up the context of Vanna and Manna’s childhood/relationship. The addition of the files from the government alongside all of the details of Vanna’s life just meant that I was being hit over the head with the point that yes, this is a dystopian with extreme gender roles - which I got from the synopsis and I’m honestly sure are obvious to people reading this book. This book did not do anything that Handmaid’s Tale didn’t do (30 years ago!). Also, because there was so much exposition I found a few holes which if written differently I wouldn’t have noticed or minded. This book should definitely not be read for any intellectual development/base as feminist thought!
That being said, the last 100 pages were so so good!! I wanted way more of that! If the whole book was a high-stakes murder mystery with more illegal chili growing/dealing based in this dystopian world, I would have enjoyed it wayyy more. But unfortunately the action on that part didn’t really start until 2/3 of the book was over. I still enjoyed reading this overall, but it dragged in places and I wanted more from it!
That being said, the last 100 pages were so so good!! I wanted way more of that! If the whole book was a high-stakes murder mystery with more illegal chili growing/dealing based in this dystopian world, I would have enjoyed it wayyy more. But unfortunately the action on that part didn’t really start until 2/3 of the book was over. I still enjoyed reading this overall, but it dragged in places and I wanted more from it!