2025 #26 Children of Anguish and Anarchy (Legacy of Orïsha, no. 3)

 

Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In my review of Children of Virtue and Vengeance, the second of the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy, I wrote: "I am still invested. I want to know where they are headed. I want to be invited back to the world of purples and golds. But I hope that the third book will let me stay awhile before the fighting begins. There's more to say about what lies behind the strife. There's more to tell us about what will be lost before we actually lose it. "

I'm sad to say that the long-awaited book did not fulfill this wish. If anything, there's even more fighting, and less substance. We have new enemies: King Baldyr and The Skulls and new allies: New Gaians. We barely get any time on Orisha to even care about what is happening in healing old wounds. There's a formula applied to the four main characters: Zelie, Tzain, Inan, and Amari -- each has regrets, each thinks about those who have passed, each cuts down and fights enemies...but there's not a lot else that is happening. We see hints of the deeper character studies present in the wonderful first installment, Children of Blood and Bone, particularly with Zélie teetering on the edge of her power being usurped for evil or for good, and there is one particular scene with Tzain, who is going through a similar struggle, that invests in the deeper themes. The book is too short to really get into too much world-building, so the net effect is one of a passive interest in the mythologies and theologies that seemed so crucial in the first book.

I don't know what it is to write a trilogy, and I imagine the creative commitment is immense. Is it still a good read? Sure, and if anything one might benefit more if they haven't read the other two (although I also want to recognize I probably should have gone back and reread the other two books because I was a bit iffy on some of the details). Adeyemi's descriptive writing is a pleasure, and her skill with it enlivens this particular book, especially in how she captures the Green Maidens, Mae'e, and Zélie's transformation(s).

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2023 #41: Landscape with Invisible Hand (Anderson)

 

Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Full disclosure: I know the author.

If Salvador Dali and H.G. Wells birthed a novella together, this is what I imagine it might look like. It is a model of crafting dystopia, wherein humankind seemingly has welcomed our vuvv overlords, and "creativity" becomes the currency of survival--at least for a time. Seemingly very few stones are left unturned as the book takes aim at the climate crisis, capitalistic inequity, voyeurism of social media...just to name a few.

While marketed as a book for young adults, I think anyone who enjoys satirical dystopian fiction would enjoy this. My only issue was that it seemed too short--I didn't get to invest deeply in any of the characters, but as they are stand-ins for you, me, and possibility, I guess that makes sense.

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2023 #25 The Trail (Hashimoto)

 

The Trail by Meika Hashimoto
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read a lot of reviews of this book because it occurred to me that I don't have a good sense of reading through an eleven or twelve-year old's eyes. My goddaughter was assigned this book for school, so I read it (as are her parents). I sat with it for awhile and looked back through it, trying to parse the pet peeves from the genuine criticisms.

There's a lot about it I don't like. The 12-year old protagonist Toby was not, in my opinion, at all memorable. When I think back to books I read at that age, even if I disliked them, the characters stuck with me (e.g. Holden Caulfield, Piggy, etc--and I REALLY disliked Lord of the Flies). Again, I recognize that having spent over four decades on the planet may bias me, but it wasn't until the last 15 pages or so that I started to like this character. I understand that he's on a journey and I do want to say that I respect that the "journey" does turn out to be far deeper and metaphorical than a 12 year old hiking the Appalachian Trail.  And the human characters he meets often give the story some more heft, but there is an imbalance and weak sense of rhythm in terms of how and when these characters appear. 

And yes, about that. How many 12 year olds undertake hiking the AT--by themselves? Is that something we really want 12 year olds thinking they should do to go find themselves? This isn't a situation where he's lost (at least physically), or some sort of adventure where he got marooned on a desert island and has to save himself. He makes a conscious decision to do this horribly dangerous thing, and evidently hiking with his friend Lukas and his dad a few times equips Toby to be fairly adept at solo hiking, for miles at a time, in all conditions--enough to feel confident hitchhiking. Again, I'm sure there are very adventurous 12 year olds out there, but the moral of this particular story doesn't necessarily dissuade readers from undertaking a similar journey.

This book barely passes the Bechdel test either--and while that normally isn't a huge issue for me, I think for a book that is assigned reading, it falls really short. There are only a few women characters: the "offscreen" Gran, Abbey with her "beautiful face", the spunky Sadie (who I wish had been a prominent character throughout), and the motherly Marsha. With the exception of Sadie, the interesting characters are all male (Denver, "Wingin' It", Washboard--even the dog) -- or presumably so. While race is not frequently mentioned (if at all -- I wasn't reading for it), let's just say The Bluest Eye this book is not. Again, for an assigned read, I would have hoped to have more obvious amplification of diversity. I don't believe we are yet at the place where we can take it for granted, particularly when it is part of living discourse for young folks.

In the first part of the book the product placement was to the point of distraction. I do realize this may be targeted to the age group and their budding consumerism, and while I, too, am a fan of Darn Tough socks, I'm just not sure what these particular details (REI, Subarus, etc) added to the narrative except to reinforce branding and consumerist culture.

What I did like was the specifics about the Appalachian Trail. Children who live outside of hiking culture might struggle with some of the references or lose interest. I liked the map at the end, but would have loved to see it integrated---perhaps tracing Toby's path as he moves through the trail in each chapter. Particularly for those readers who are not familiar with the AT, little details like that would have lent a lot to the book, making the ending all the more powerful. Like I said, I did like the end, and I hope that discussions and class sessions help young people see their personal Katahdins.

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