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A review by marymagdalena
Outlawed by Anna North
2.0
i wanted to rate this higher so badly it's not even funny, but the further i got the more i just. stopped enjoying it.
i need to start off and say my favorite character is the kid. the kid has no pronouns and is clinically insane. (i genuinely feel like the author had no idea what. to do with the singular nonbinary character or how to like. handle it? and just straight up was like fuck it no pronouns.)
anyways the two stars go to the kid only, the longer i've sat and thought about the book and the plot, the more unhappy i am about the book. the premise is interesting but unfortunately the excecution of it was a complete dud.
the story kind of falls apart at some point, like i'm told that the stakes of everything that happened are So High but there is no urgency in the writing. the story just happens and it's like oh okay i guess that did happen yeah.
the politics of the story just feel so shallow. i've seen "white feminism" thrown around in other reviews and im not going to disagree. there's no Real or Impactful discussion of womanhood or anything anywhere in this to me. the queerness aspect completely falls flat and the discussions of race feel kind of. not hamfisted but i can't think of a better word for it right now. it all feels very "i, ada, hear these bigoted viewpoints and i think that's not right" and that's about as far as it goes really. the most insane part is when ada beefs with someone spouting eugenics talking points and when news, a mixed race character tells her to knock it off because it's causing unwanted attention and putting her especially in danger, ada gets butthurt about it. ada is like one of those annoying allies you see on twitter dot gov.
the book is marketed as a queer story but the queer characters are all just vessels to teach ada something and they all just. fall flat as characters. they're not mean spirited at least and they're the most relatable characters in the book but it's just such a bummer.
unfortunately all the characters suffer from a flatness that just doesn't help things. even ada doesn't really feel like she learns or grows or anything throughout the book. there's no Maybe The Real Answer Was The Friends We Made Along The Way but at the end she's still only focused on finding a cure for barrenness.
the whole lark stuff is just a bummer like this queer boy existed to us for like 3 chapters, ada thought he was hot, she gets to fuck him, and then he dies. and that's it. she's sad for a little bit and then it's just left at that.
the author wanted to do something with this concept, but she just fumbled and dropped the ball so hard. this book wanted to have depth but fell so incredibly short. i wanted to like this book and i was excited to read it because i've always wanted to read queer takes on western stories, but im so incredibly disappointed.
i need to start off and say my favorite character is the kid. the kid has no pronouns and is clinically insane. (i genuinely feel like the author had no idea what. to do with the singular nonbinary character or how to like. handle it? and just straight up was like fuck it no pronouns.)
anyways the two stars go to the kid only, the longer i've sat and thought about the book and the plot, the more unhappy i am about the book. the premise is interesting but unfortunately the excecution of it was a complete dud.
the story kind of falls apart at some point, like i'm told that the stakes of everything that happened are So High but there is no urgency in the writing. the story just happens and it's like oh okay i guess that did happen yeah.
the politics of the story just feel so shallow. i've seen "white feminism" thrown around in other reviews and im not going to disagree. there's no Real or Impactful discussion of womanhood or anything anywhere in this to me. the queerness aspect completely falls flat and the discussions of race feel kind of. not hamfisted but i can't think of a better word for it right now. it all feels very "i, ada, hear these bigoted viewpoints and i think that's not right" and that's about as far as it goes really. the most insane part is when ada beefs with someone spouting eugenics talking points and when news, a mixed race character tells her to knock it off because it's causing unwanted attention and putting her especially in danger, ada gets butthurt about it. ada is like one of those annoying allies you see on twitter dot gov.
the book is marketed as a queer story but the queer characters are all just vessels to teach ada something and they all just. fall flat as characters. they're not mean spirited at least and they're the most relatable characters in the book but it's just such a bummer.
unfortunately all the characters suffer from a flatness that just doesn't help things. even ada doesn't really feel like she learns or grows or anything throughout the book. there's no Maybe The Real Answer Was The Friends We Made Along The Way but at the end she's still only focused on finding a cure for barrenness.
the author wanted to do something with this concept, but she just fumbled and dropped the ball so hard. this book wanted to have depth but fell so incredibly short. i wanted to like this book and i was excited to read it because i've always wanted to read queer takes on western stories, but im so incredibly disappointed.