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A review by anna_hepworth
Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson
4.0
While this is a beautifully written book, and I can certainly see myself recommending it to some people, I'm probably not going to be recommending it to many, as there are a number of events that made me fervently wish that published fiction came with the same kind of trigger warnings as fanfiction does. At the very least it requires a warning for non-consenual sex and violent character death, with possibly one for kidnap of a child. This last I possibly might have been able to infer from the the synopsis, but I didn't work it out at the time. I suspect that had I been aware of these issues, I may not have read it, and I am certainly not going to give it the quality of review that it deserves, as just reflecting back on it is verging on distressing.
Having pointed out my issues with the story, I do want to emphasise that it is a very well written, very strong story. The world building is fabulous, smoothly incorporating a myth/belief system that was not previously familiar to me (I am assuming from the back that this is a Caribbean myth/belief system, but beyond that I am woefully ignorant). The protagonist grows to be a strong female character with faults that don't turn her into a fainting heroine, and her relative weakness at the beginning of the story, both in absolute and personal power terms, is not written in a way that detracts from this. I was fascinated by the 'first contact' sub-plot, although technically that isn't valid, as the alien race have been interacting with humans for many years, but in only superficial ways.
Having pointed out my issues with the story, I do want to emphasise that it is a very well written, very strong story. The world building is fabulous, smoothly incorporating a myth/belief system that was not previously familiar to me (I am assuming from the back that this is a Caribbean myth/belief system, but beyond that I am woefully ignorant). The protagonist grows to be a strong female character with faults that don't turn her into a fainting heroine, and her relative weakness at the beginning of the story, both in absolute and personal power terms, is not written in a way that detracts from this. I was fascinated by the 'first contact' sub-plot, although technically that isn't valid, as the alien race have been interacting with humans for many years, but in only superficial ways.