A coming of age story tethered to a society only a few people will actually understand, Rubyfruit Jungle follows Molly Bolt, an adopted girl who is desperate to find a place for herself. In this no-nonsense narrative, Brown breaks down the reality of growing up gay. With a style akin to Harper Lee, Brown takes the reader into the mind of a child growing into her sexual identity, and learning to accept and understand herself.
Not only does Molly fight to be included as woman, but as a lesbian. Being born in 1944, she has her work cut out for her. She battles with her family, with the world, but most of all with herself. Growing up, Molly didn’t have access to modern popular culture and being homosexual wasn’t a well known issue. People mostly just kept themselves to themselves. Molly goes a different route altogether and no level of intolerance or disdain was ever going to sway her from that route.
Unlike so many, she lets her talent and intelligence define her before any sexual identity. She is open about being a lesbian, but to her it’s like being open about her hair color. It is what it is.
I think anyone in the LGBT community or allies of the LGBT movement would benefit from reading this book. Beautifully composed dialogue, first person POV, and a strict linear plot tell this story in an unforgettable way.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Predator's Gold
This installment in The Hungry Cities saga is introduced by a new character, Freya, the margravine of Anchorage, a peaceful traction city which is overcoming the after affects of a pestilence that had wiped out a majority of the population, including Freya’s parents.
London has been dead for two years, and Tom and Hester have spent that time cruising the bird roads in the Jenny Haniver, left unclaimed after Anna Fang’s death. They’ve been in the north, trading with arctic cities and hiding from both the anti-traction league and willful Urbivores such as Arkangel. After taking in a strange passenger and out-flying a troupe of gunships, Hester and Tom have been forced to dock in Anchorage until they can repair their ship.
Much to Hester’s dismay, this puts Tom in Freya’s path. Freya, who was an amateur historian, Freya, who had her own museum and has read all the same books as Tom, Freya who did not have feature-distorting scars on her face. Needless to say this puts Hester in a bad place, emotionally. Her decisions as a result of this turbulence change not only Tom’s life, but the entire city of Anchorage. Tom is her predator’s gold. Love is her downfall.
After selling out Anchorage to get Tom back, Hester is captured by a splinter group of the anti-traction league called the Green Storm under the command of a overzealous acolyte of Anna Fang who has taken to adapting old tech and muddled alchemy to bring Anna back from the dead. She doesn’t understand until it’s too late that such a thing is not possible.
Action-packed from page one, Reeve takes the reader deep into the lives of his characters. Not only do you fall in love with each one, Reeve shows you what is possible with strong female protagonists and minimal romantic splinter plots. I look forward to the next book.
London has been dead for two years, and Tom and Hester have spent that time cruising the bird roads in the Jenny Haniver, left unclaimed after Anna Fang’s death. They’ve been in the north, trading with arctic cities and hiding from both the anti-traction league and willful Urbivores such as Arkangel. After taking in a strange passenger and out-flying a troupe of gunships, Hester and Tom have been forced to dock in Anchorage until they can repair their ship.
Much to Hester’s dismay, this puts Tom in Freya’s path. Freya, who was an amateur historian, Freya, who had her own museum and has read all the same books as Tom, Freya who did not have feature-distorting scars on her face. Needless to say this puts Hester in a bad place, emotionally. Her decisions as a result of this turbulence change not only Tom’s life, but the entire city of Anchorage. Tom is her predator’s gold. Love is her downfall.
After selling out Anchorage to get Tom back, Hester is captured by a splinter group of the anti-traction league called the Green Storm under the command of a overzealous acolyte of Anna Fang who has taken to adapting old tech and muddled alchemy to bring Anna back from the dead. She doesn’t understand until it’s too late that such a thing is not possible.
Action-packed from page one, Reeve takes the reader deep into the lives of his characters. Not only do you fall in love with each one, Reeve shows you what is possible with strong female protagonists and minimal romantic splinter plots. I look forward to the next book.
Blood of Wonderland
In this second installment of the Queen of Hearts trilogy, Oakes ups the stakes once again. Dinah is exiled, on the run from the King of Hearts as a scapegoat for his grab at absolute power. Her younger brother, the Mad Hatter, has been killed by the King, and her half-sister is now a puppet queen. The young former princess is losing herself in the Twisted Wood, running from the King and his loyal Cards. Hope seems lost when a party catches up to her, but a rogue Spade, Sir Gorrann, finds her in time.
Like all young women, Dinah is set upon a journey with no end, no logical one in any case. Surrounded by others who knew its purpose, while she was ignorant of all the intricacies. Oakes elegantly takes a well known antagonist and shows her humanity, her pain, her growth, and even her broken heart. Awakened to the machinations of the men around her, Dinah takes her crown, and prepares to conquer not only the king, but herself.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
A new look into the story of a classic villain, Queen of Hearts is a fresh take on the character of the notorious queen of Wonderland.
Before Alice came down the rabbit hole, Dinah was a princess and heir to the throne of Wonderland. As a princess, Dinah had in depth training and restrictive social protocols to adapt and overcome. She had responsibility to her family, her mad younger brother and the memory of her dead mother, as well as a constant battle with the tyrant her father, the king, had become. Her life is going well, or was at least somewhat normal for a princess. Until her father brings her half sister to court.
Lewis Carol’s classic is given wings in this interpretation of the Red Queen’s story. By putting human faces on the fantastic characters we already know and love, Oakes pulls the reader fully into her version of Wonderland. From conspiracy to adventure, childhood to first love, there’s an identifiable character for everyone who reads it.
An overall thrilling start to the series, and I look forward to more.
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
Book one of Philip Reeve’s The Hungry City Chronicles is an imaginative steampunk adventure that keeps you hooked from page one. In the future, cities are on wheels, roaming across what has become a post-apocalyptic waste and they conquer other “traction cities” as their called to prey on their resources and laborers. This practice is called Municipal Darwinism. Big towns “eat” small towns, cities go after suburbs, and the largest cities are terror to townships and settlements.
The story follows Tom, an apprentice historian in the predator city of London, and Hester, a rogue from the “out country” through murder, vengeance, and regret. A dash of conspiracy, strong wills, and character development stand this romp across Europe above almost any steampunk story of its kind. Adding classic steampunk culture and dystopian undercurrents gives this series a strong start.
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