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adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
I was really intrigued by this book, by the notion of translation creating power. Unfortunately it went off the rails for me fairly early on, because of the way details of events were suddenly sprung upon the reader, it felt like too much "telling" and not enough "showing." And then when the plot revs up, this effect multiplies, which stretched the suspension of disbelief.
I was interested in the revolutionary aspect, the possibility of dismantling empire, the reasons for resistance and the perennial question of whether it is better to resist from within or necessary to have a revolution. However, this wasn't adequately developed, devolving into weak argumentation rather than showing a nuanced consideration through the story.
The character development was weak. Victoire and Letty, two of the main characters, had barely any personality for the bulk of the book, and then towards the end had intense, key roles, but again, not entirely believable because we had no real sense of who they were, in spite of hundreds of pages where we might have gained a sense of them and feel confident that their actions were in keeping with their motivations and their character.
There's a review of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi that says it "is quite rigorously engaged with the legacies of colonialism and neo-colonialism, [but] is written by someone who benefits from those legacies." (Niall Harrison, as quoted on Wikipedia). I would suggest the same seems to be true of this book.
I was interested in the revolutionary aspect, the possibility of dismantling empire, the reasons for resistance and the perennial question of whether it is better to resist from within or necessary to have a revolution. However, this wasn't adequately developed, devolving into weak argumentation rather than showing a nuanced consideration through the story.
The character development was weak. Victoire and Letty, two of the main characters, had barely any personality for the bulk of the book, and then towards the end had intense, key roles, but again, not entirely believable because we had no real sense of who they were, in spite of hundreds of pages where we might have gained a sense of them and feel confident that their actions were in keeping with their motivations and their character.
There's a review of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi that says it "is quite rigorously engaged with the legacies of colonialism and neo-colonialism, [but] is written by someone who benefits from those legacies." (Niall Harrison, as quoted on Wikipedia). I would suggest the same seems to be true of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Blood