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A review by beforeviolets
The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan
A deeply underrated whimsical sapphic fantasy.
In the assumed future of Earth, land is scarce. Those who live among water, also known as damplings, are looked down upon by the privileged landlockers, safe on their steady land.
In The Gracekeepers, we primarily follow two characters:
North, a dampling who lives on a circus boat, where every night she dances with a bear in front of landlockers for food. She is engaged to the ringmaster’s son, a self-entitled brat, and she carries a secret, ones she’s not sure anyone would even believe.
Callendish, a gracekeeper, which is essentially a mortician who performs funerary rituals for damplings, though she herself is a landlocker. And like North, she harbors a secret of her own.
Though despite mainly following these two, this book features an eclectic ensemble cast, most of the characters having at least one chapter of POV throughout the story. Each character was so interesting, fully realized, and well-defined. It was a cast peppered with personality, and all tightly woven together like the ribbons of a maypole. I especially loved the members of the circus, and could tell that Kirsty Logan definitely has at least some clowning experience, if not further cirque experience. Circus performers such as clowns have a history of subverting societal standards and questioning authority, and it was really lovely to see that history honored here.
This book has a lovely underbelly of climate and class commentary, but applied in an open-ended, and thought-provoking way. It offered a fabulist-style approach to a dystopian literary trope, utilizing metaphor and ambiguity. Rather than seeking to solve problems or provide some sort of statement on these issues, The Gracekeepers simply provides questions and perspectives. This approach worked well for this story, using the narrative to show the initial drop in the water, and then using the audience to carry out the ripple effect. It caused a reflective and thoughtful tone to shine through the fun and whimsy.
The romance was sweet as well. Though it was most definitely a subplot at best, it held a lot of hope and tenderness and provided a balancing softness to the narrative.
I do wish we had a little bit more of a glimpse into the world of the mermaids (?), but I understand they were primarily meant to exist as a metaphor or idea, something intangible like a dream. I may have to check out some of Logan’s other work, as I think some of her other books are set in this world and I desperately want to know more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this sweet and whimsical story, featuring punk clowns, a dancing bear, mysterious sea-people, sapphics, a circus boat, sea funerals, climate and class commentary, and lovely prose.
CW: classism, pregnancy, grief, character death, loss of loved one, drowning, animal death, amnesia, abusive parent, misogyny, imprisonment, fire, claustrophobia, parental death (past), alcohol, blood, religious bigotry & imperialism, child death (past), sexual content (implied)
In the assumed future of Earth, land is scarce. Those who live among water, also known as damplings, are looked down upon by the privileged landlockers, safe on their steady land.
In The Gracekeepers, we primarily follow two characters:
North, a dampling who lives on a circus boat, where every night she dances with a bear in front of landlockers for food. She is engaged to the ringmaster’s son, a self-entitled brat, and she carries a secret, ones she’s not sure anyone would even believe.
Callendish, a gracekeeper, which is essentially a mortician who performs funerary rituals for damplings, though she herself is a landlocker. And like North, she harbors a secret of her own.
Though despite mainly following these two, this book features an eclectic ensemble cast, most of the characters having at least one chapter of POV throughout the story. Each character was so interesting, fully realized, and well-defined. It was a cast peppered with personality, and all tightly woven together like the ribbons of a maypole. I especially loved the members of the circus, and could tell that Kirsty Logan definitely has at least some clowning experience, if not further cirque experience. Circus performers such as clowns have a history of subverting societal standards and questioning authority, and it was really lovely to see that history honored here.
This book has a lovely underbelly of climate and class commentary, but applied in an open-ended, and thought-provoking way. It offered a fabulist-style approach to a dystopian literary trope, utilizing metaphor and ambiguity. Rather than seeking to solve problems or provide some sort of statement on these issues, The Gracekeepers simply provides questions and perspectives. This approach worked well for this story, using the narrative to show the initial drop in the water, and then using the audience to carry out the ripple effect. It caused a reflective and thoughtful tone to shine through the fun and whimsy.
The romance was sweet as well. Though it was most definitely a subplot at best, it held a lot of hope and tenderness and provided a balancing softness to the narrative.
I do wish we had a little bit more of a glimpse into the world of the mermaids (?), but I understand they were primarily meant to exist as a metaphor or idea, something intangible like a dream. I may have to check out some of Logan’s other work, as I think some of her other books are set in this world and I desperately want to know more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this sweet and whimsical story, featuring punk clowns, a dancing bear, mysterious sea-people, sapphics, a circus boat, sea funerals, climate and class commentary, and lovely prose.
CW: classism, pregnancy, grief, character death, loss of loved one, drowning, animal death, amnesia, abusive parent, misogyny, imprisonment, fire, claustrophobia, parental death (past), alcohol, blood, religious bigotry & imperialism, child death (past), sexual content (implied)