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amys_reading_again 's review for:
The Light Pirate
by Lily Brooks-Dalton
🌟 3.5☆
📚 25/08/25 - 29/08/25
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As a tropical storm rips through Florida in the not-so-distant future, a baby girl is born into her dying mother's arms. Wanda bears the burden of the name of the storm which took her mother from her. As Wanda grows from infancy into adolescence, she experiences the losses and the wonder that comes from growing up in a coastal area devastated by the effects of climate change. Wanda knows from a young age that the loss of her mother isn't the only thing that makes her different from other children - she feels power and knowledge brewing in her mind and body.
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This book was relentlessly sad until the very last moment, truly it starts sad and gets sadder. The ending of the book was beautiful, and I wish that we had more time in that vignette of Wanda’s life, or really anything past the relentless sadness, but the grief is the plot, the winding path it takes through the flooded mangroves and swamps. By keeping the narrative set in this single location and focusing on the perspective of one family across the years, Brooks-Dalton makes their struggle to quite literally weather the storm more acutely felt.
Very little is actually said about the main characters special talent and that felt like a let down. There are interesting points to be made here about the persistence of evolution and a need to embrace change if we are to live in harmony with the natural world, but a lack of expansion leaves these happenings feeling oddly close to the supernatural in an otherwise starkly realistic story.
The characters in this book are very real, and delicately written so they don’t feel over-narrated to me, but seem to exist on their own. The characters of Frida and neighbor Phyllis are irresistible, and I loved the ways in which they adjust, adapt, grieve, press on, and form a makeshift family from their friendship.
The imagery in this book was amazing and was beautiful with a highly descriptive and evocative writing style, rich in sensory details that immerse you in the humid, water-logged landscape of Florida. The whole book was and the evocative descriptions of the landscape and the characters' internal states create an immersive experience that lingers long after the final page, making it a truly memorable read.
TROPES
⫸ Dystopian / Apocalyptic
⫸ Speculative Fiction
⫸ Contemporary Fiction
⫸ Climate Fiction
⫸ Coming Of Age
TWs
⫸ Death of Parent
⫸ Death of Child
⫸ Grief
⫸ Bullying
⫸ Gun Violence
⫸ Dementia
📚 25/08/25 - 29/08/25
**************************************************
As a tropical storm rips through Florida in the not-so-distant future, a baby girl is born into her dying mother's arms. Wanda bears the burden of the name of the storm which took her mother from her. As Wanda grows from infancy into adolescence, she experiences the losses and the wonder that comes from growing up in a coastal area devastated by the effects of climate change. Wanda knows from a young age that the loss of her mother isn't the only thing that makes her different from other children - she feels power and knowledge brewing in her mind and body.
**************************************************
This book was relentlessly sad until the very last moment, truly it starts sad and gets sadder. The ending of the book was beautiful, and I wish that we had more time in that vignette of Wanda’s life, or really anything past the relentless sadness, but the grief is the plot, the winding path it takes through the flooded mangroves and swamps. By keeping the narrative set in this single location and focusing on the perspective of one family across the years, Brooks-Dalton makes their struggle to quite literally weather the storm more acutely felt.
Very little is actually said about the main characters special talent and that felt like a let down. There are interesting points to be made here about the persistence of evolution and a need to embrace change if we are to live in harmony with the natural world, but a lack of expansion leaves these happenings feeling oddly close to the supernatural in an otherwise starkly realistic story.
The characters in this book are very real, and delicately written so they don’t feel over-narrated to me, but seem to exist on their own. The characters of Frida and neighbor Phyllis are irresistible, and I loved the ways in which they adjust, adapt, grieve, press on, and form a makeshift family from their friendship.
The imagery in this book was amazing and was beautiful with a highly descriptive and evocative writing style, rich in sensory details that immerse you in the humid, water-logged landscape of Florida. The whole book was and the evocative descriptions of the landscape and the characters' internal states create an immersive experience that lingers long after the final page, making it a truly memorable read.
TROPES
⫸ Dystopian / Apocalyptic
⫸ Speculative Fiction
⫸ Contemporary Fiction
⫸ Climate Fiction
⫸ Coming Of Age
TWs
⫸ Death of Parent
⫸ Death of Child
⫸ Grief
⫸ Bullying
⫸ Gun Violence
⫸ Dementia