A review by kleonard
Updraft by Fran Wilde

1.0

There were a number of things about this book that I found disconcerting. First was the very close similarities in setting and plot to Garth Nix's Seventh Tower series. There was also a lot of casual, perhaps unintended, racism in the form of the Magical Negro, the Mammy, and the Mighty Whitey. Finally, it was enormously predictable. Of course the protagonist must fight her childhood best friend; of course the bureaucrats are corrupt; of course there's a single "good guy" among them; of course of course of course. Briefly, in a brutal and fascist world, an arrogant, thoughtless, and none-too-bright young woman repeatedly breaks laws, is given second chances, uncovers government secrets, and... continually repeats her mistakes without learning a damn thing.