alaskaisback's reviews
649 reviews

After the Problem Year, some people are left with Gifts.
I feel underwhelmed after finishing it.
I expected a dystopian story with queer characters, and it took quite a while for the queer elements to be part of the story.
I didn't really feel a connection to the characters, especially Ainsleigh. We learned much about her backstory as readers, but it all felt distanced and surface-level. 
I liked that we got an insight into Finchs and Ainsleighs and flashbacks into their past to see how they were formed as characters.
It was medium-paced but got slowed down by certain flashbacks. Some worldbuilding was established through the writing by exchanging gods for stars in certain exclamations. In retrospect, the characters spent much of the story wandering through the woods, which slowed the pace. It was easy to read and stayed consistent throughout the story, but it read YA.
The main protagonist is Ainsleigh, who is 26 years old but still seems quite juvenile in how she is written. I appreciated how effortless different forms of representation were put into the book and how they seemed like they needed to be more cohesive.
As the book takes place over a few days, there is only minor character development. Still, I liked how Finch and Ainsleigh built their platonic relationship. It showed how men and women can be platonic friends and care about one another deeply without having to be romantically involved. So a Pseudo-Platonic Friendship and an Odd friendship, Loner Turned Friend for Finch, Almost Kis between Cass and Ainsleigh.
I enjoyed how Cass, AInsleigh and Finch slotted into their relationship dynamic very quickly and how no time was wasted trying to make some love triangle between them all.
All the characters beyond those seemed too unformed for my personal liking.
In a world very close to ours, certain people born in a particular year have special abilities. I had trouble picturing the world and what was going on in it. It seemed so close to ours, and the only actual difference appeared to be the abilities that did not make a difference in how the world worked. And in addition to that, we spend quite a lot of time in the woods.
I was curious to know what time we were actually in, as well as which country. It was hard to grasp beyond the aspect of the Gifts and how they were involved in the story.
It explores the idea of what would happen if certain people were born with unique abilities and how that would drive some people to put these people at harm's risk to make a profit for themselves. It also focuses on family and how the incentive of money can change the whole family dynamic. Another prominent theme is loneliness, and the characters fight against the feeling that they deserve it. 
This is an excellent dystopian story for lovers of fantasy novels, as many of the characters' issues arise because of their gifts and supernatural abilities rather than the society they live in. 

Das Buch hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Tupoka Ogette kombiniert ihre eigenen Erfahrungen und Texte anderer Rassismusexpert*innen auf anschauliche und gut zu lesende Art und Weise. Es ist denke ich ein besonders guter Einstieg, wenn man sich vorher noch nicht mit Rassismuskritik beschäftigt hat und einen Einblick in verschiedene Themenbereiche bekommen möchte.