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A review by mswocreader
The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion
4.0
The Record Keeper follows Arika Cobane who lives in an area in the post World War III Earth called Kongo. She's been training for 10 years to become a record keeper and keep the history records of her people. She's nearing the end of her schooling and hoping to become a Senator of the Assembly. This post-apocalyptic world consists of the remains of what is formerly America split into three distinct territories with The English in the north; The Clayskin in the central area; and The Kongo in the south. Each faction has an Assembly of elected Senators to guide them following the rules laid out in an agreement called the Niagara Compromise.
Arika experiences heavy trauma as a child upon entering the school that breaks her rebellious spirit. To counteract said trauma she becomes the model student inciting the doctrines to the point where she actually starts convincing herself that the doctrines are valid. Through this story we see her awakening as she finally looks beyond her privilege and realizes the suffering her people are facing. She gains an understanding of how the Niagara Compromise freely lists all of the darker skinned Kongo's supposed weaknesses but lists very few for the white skinned English. She also knew the school textbooks censored history but she did not truly understand to the extent.
The Record Keeper is a solid dystopian tale full of twists and strong but not overly complex world building that will have you craving for more. And since a second book is releasing next year I'm curious to see how things continue.
View full review on my blog
https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-record-keeper-by-agnes-gomillion.html
Arika experiences heavy trauma as a child upon entering the school that breaks her rebellious spirit. To counteract said trauma she becomes the model student inciting the doctrines to the point where she actually starts convincing herself that the doctrines are valid. Through this story we see her awakening as she finally looks beyond her privilege and realizes the suffering her people are facing. She gains an understanding of how the Niagara Compromise freely lists all of the darker skinned Kongo's supposed weaknesses but lists very few for the white skinned English. She also knew the school textbooks censored history but she did not truly understand to the extent.
The Record Keeper is a solid dystopian tale full of twists and strong but not overly complex world building that will have you craving for more. And since a second book is releasing next year I'm curious to see how things continue.
View full review on my blog
https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-record-keeper-by-agnes-gomillion.html