Scan barcode
A review by iam
The Art of Saving the World by Corinne Duyvis
5.0
I was drawn to this by the doppelgänger shenanigans and got an original view on the Chosen One trope and an intriguing and fresh take on the involvement of a mysterious government agency. Cannot recommend this enough!
Check out this review and more on the blog!
Content warnings include: violence and injury, (near) death experience, abduction/hostage situation/being held at gunpoint, imprisonment, panic and anxiety attack, medication; mentions of queerphobia, endometriosis.
I recently read and loved The Space Between Worlds, which also features different dimensions of the same world clashing, and one of the things I enjoyed about it most was seeing multiple versions of the same person, the effects small and big differences can have on the same person, and which things remain the same regardless of circumstances.
Now, despite both books having the same core concept, they couldn’t be more different.
The Space Between Worlds is adult fiction, for one, while The Art of Saving the World is YA. Thematically the former deals with class, priviledge, race and (im)migration, while the latter is centered around the Chosen One trope and finding out who you really are, and what defines you.
But the one central difference that I found most intriguing was that Cara (mostly) dealt with different versions of other people, while Hazel was surrounded by other versions of herself.
Not only did that spark a big chunk of the more introspective part of the plot and the central character arc, it also was just super fascinating to read. All the little things that Hazel notices about the other Hazels, and which she hates – because she recognizes them as her own habits. My initial reaction to Hazel’s almost repulsed reaction to her doppelgängers was shock, but then it hit me. Because I absolutely would react the same way. I hate watching videos of myself, hate seeing my mannerisms and gestures and way of talking and textured skin and my own feelings…. and seeing all of that reflected times four, surrouding me constantly and not just when I look into a mirror in a controlled way, or in one of the very few videos of myself, sounds excruciating.
It also made for a wonderful subject matter for a YA novel.
That internal plot was a great balance to the more action packed plot around the interdimensional rift and why the other Hazels appeared in the first place! I won’t go into that, because finding out the why is a big part of the plot, but I will say that I found it a very nice and fresh take on the good old Chosen One trope.
Another things that is common in a lot of novels but was handled in a super cool way here was the involvment of a ~mystery government agency~ (MGA – it really is called that in the book.) Because of course, if an interdimensional rift opens up in the US of A, the government would get its fingers into that pie ASAP.
It would have been easy (and let’s be real, fitting) to just make the MGA the antagonists, maybe throw in some investors or corrupt senators, and it would have made a great plot. But The Art of Saving the World chose a different route, and it was unlike anything I’ve read before, which I adored. Government agencies in fiction tend to be either the villains or the unquestionable heros (and sometimes both, starting out as one and ending as the other.) Here they are neither, because Hazel grew up with it. The MGA is a part of her life. It’s annoying to constantly have an agent breathing down her neck, but the agents are also the only people allowed in the house aside from her family, and they are the ones who sing her Happy Birthday songs and such. But they are also the ones who keep her from seeing anyone not her father, mother, or sister, and they also almost shot her sister the one time she sneaked out.
I don’t want to give more away, but I really adored the way it was handled!
Overall I really enjoyed the book. The short chapters make it readable and lend themselves both to binging because they fly by so fast and to reading slowly or in between other things because it’s always easy to find your way back into the story and get a quick feeling of triumph for finishing a chapter after a short time.
I highly recommend the book, both because of the above mentioned plot points that intrigued me, but also because it has quite lovely questioning rep, as the protagonist is a questioning asexual lesbian. She also had undiagnosed anxiety, which is thematized, and endometriosis is a topic as well.
I received an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
Check out this review and more on the blog!
Content warnings include: violence and injury, (near) death experience, abduction/hostage situation/being held at gunpoint, imprisonment, panic and anxiety attack, medication; mentions of queerphobia, endometriosis.
I recently read and loved The Space Between Worlds, which also features different dimensions of the same world clashing, and one of the things I enjoyed about it most was seeing multiple versions of the same person, the effects small and big differences can have on the same person, and which things remain the same regardless of circumstances.
Now, despite both books having the same core concept, they couldn’t be more different.
The Space Between Worlds is adult fiction, for one, while The Art of Saving the World is YA. Thematically the former deals with class, priviledge, race and (im)migration, while the latter is centered around the Chosen One trope and finding out who you really are, and what defines you.
But the one central difference that I found most intriguing was that Cara (mostly) dealt with different versions of other people, while Hazel was surrounded by other versions of herself.
Not only did that spark a big chunk of the more introspective part of the plot and the central character arc, it also was just super fascinating to read. All the little things that Hazel notices about the other Hazels, and which she hates – because she recognizes them as her own habits. My initial reaction to Hazel’s almost repulsed reaction to her doppelgängers was shock, but then it hit me. Because I absolutely would react the same way. I hate watching videos of myself, hate seeing my mannerisms and gestures and way of talking and textured skin and my own feelings…. and seeing all of that reflected times four, surrouding me constantly and not just when I look into a mirror in a controlled way, or in one of the very few videos of myself, sounds excruciating.
It also made for a wonderful subject matter for a YA novel.
That internal plot was a great balance to the more action packed plot around the interdimensional rift and why the other Hazels appeared in the first place! I won’t go into that, because finding out the why is a big part of the plot, but I will say that I found it a very nice and fresh take on the good old Chosen One trope.
Another things that is common in a lot of novels but was handled in a super cool way here was the involvment of a ~mystery government agency~ (MGA – it really is called that in the book.) Because of course, if an interdimensional rift opens up in the US of A, the government would get its fingers into that pie ASAP.
It would have been easy (and let’s be real, fitting) to just make the MGA the antagonists, maybe throw in some investors or corrupt senators, and it would have made a great plot. But The Art of Saving the World chose a different route, and it was unlike anything I’ve read before, which I adored. Government agencies in fiction tend to be either the villains or the unquestionable heros (and sometimes both, starting out as one and ending as the other.) Here they are neither, because Hazel grew up with it. The MGA is a part of her life. It’s annoying to constantly have an agent breathing down her neck, but the agents are also the only people allowed in the house aside from her family, and they are the ones who sing her Happy Birthday songs and such. But they are also the ones who keep her from seeing anyone not her father, mother, or sister, and they also almost shot her sister the one time she sneaked out.
I don’t want to give more away, but I really adored the way it was handled!
Overall I really enjoyed the book. The short chapters make it readable and lend themselves both to binging because they fly by so fast and to reading slowly or in between other things because it’s always easy to find your way back into the story and get a quick feeling of triumph for finishing a chapter after a short time.
I highly recommend the book, both because of the above mentioned plot points that intrigued me, but also because it has quite lovely questioning rep, as the protagonist is a questioning asexual lesbian. She also had undiagnosed anxiety, which is thematized, and endometriosis is a topic as well.
I received an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.