A review by anchovysaurus
When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

When the Reckoning Comes provides a rich, nuanced, and brutal look at the US's history of slavery. The first chapter alone had so much storytelling and social commentary about the characters' pasts and the state of education. It's definitely a challenging book, but it points out the effects of an unaddressed past on the present, which is unfortunately still so relevant.

My criticisms centre on the technical aspects of the novel:
  1. The first 50% felt more like a contemporary fiction novel that dealt with difficult subject matter. Only in the final third do the horror elements truly come into play.
  2. Mira struggles to put bits of information together to form meaningful conclusions.
    She encounters Lucy [a ghost] and tries to help her instead of escaping her dangerous situation. She doesn’t realise who Marceline is despite Roman calling the ghost by her name. She tells Phillip, the man who killed Celine and was holding a gun, that she wouldn’t “let him” blame Jesse for the murder.