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A review by youshouldreadthisif
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I was drawn to this book by descriptions I'd read of its queer cast and its Hawaiian-based space setting (and that cover, which is excellent). Happily, my favorite things about it are also related to those two aspects.
In particular, I really loved this book's relationship to queerness. There are three—THREE!—butch characters in the crew, all of different genders and presentations: Edie (them/them), Cy (he/him), and Duke (she/her). Butches are uncommon enough in genre fiction, and to see this kind of breath of representation is virtually unheard of. To that end, I really enjoyed that not only is this book not told from the perspective of the crew mastermind, thus giving us a unique lens for the heist story, it's told through the perspective of one of those butches. Though Kepler is seemingly a queernormative world and our characters' problems don't appear to stem from their gender identities or sexualities, the book is still aware of how its characters are socialized into different jobs based on their physical representation (masc-presenting characters like Cy and Edie tend to end up as dock workers, whereas femme characters like Angel and Sara find themselves in strip clubs and on street corners).
Unfortunately, however, I didn't find myself particularly invested in most of the characters. The relatively minor conflicts between them felt forced (I'm thinking in particular of Edie's spats with Tatiana). Most of them felt quite flat. I didn't care a single bit about the romance between Edie and Angel.
Similarly, I have never consumed a more sedate piece of heist media. While I didn't pick up this book FOR the heist, I still certainly wanted to be entertained by it. Heists should be tense and fun and engaging! Instead, the book felt slow and the heist set-up too easy.
All in all, despite what I enjoyed and even appreciated about this book, it was ultimately a bit of a letdown for me.
Rating: 🤷🏼♀️ (it was fine; 3.5 rounded down)
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperVoyager for the advance copy of this title!
In particular, I really loved this book's relationship to queerness. There are three—THREE!—butch characters in the crew, all of different genders and presentations: Edie (them/them), Cy (he/him), and Duke (she/her). Butches are uncommon enough in genre fiction, and to see this kind of breath of representation is virtually unheard of. To that end, I really enjoyed that not only is this book not told from the perspective of the crew mastermind, thus giving us a unique lens for the heist story, it's told through the perspective of one of those butches. Though Kepler is seemingly a queernormative world and our characters' problems don't appear to stem from their gender identities or sexualities, the book is still aware of how its characters are socialized into different jobs based on their physical representation (masc-presenting characters like Cy and Edie tend to end up as dock workers, whereas femme characters like Angel and Sara find themselves in strip clubs and on street corners).
Unfortunately, however, I didn't find myself particularly invested in most of the characters. The relatively minor conflicts between them felt forced (I'm thinking in particular of Edie's spats with Tatiana). Most of them felt quite flat. I didn't care a single bit about the romance between Edie and Angel.
Similarly, I have never consumed a more sedate piece of heist media. While I didn't pick up this book FOR the heist, I still certainly wanted to be entertained by it. Heists should be tense and fun and engaging! Instead, the book felt slow and the heist set-up too easy.
All in all, despite what I enjoyed and even appreciated about this book, it was ultimately a bit of a letdown for me.
Rating: 🤷🏼♀️ (it was fine; 3.5 rounded down)
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperVoyager for the advance copy of this title!