Michael Barnes
In an opening note, Johnson acknowledges that it is a book born from rage. You can feel it pulsing out of the pages as you read. Its is angry, it is visceral and it is in every sense of the world righteous.
The world crafting for Wiley town and Ashtown, are amazing and where where those same dynamics are negotiated with violence.
Adrienne Martini at Locus magazine gives us this beautiful description
"What kicks Mr. Scales’s story off is the gruesome murder of a dancer, who is essentially turned inside-out in front of a room full of paying customers. Mr. Scales – all of Ashtown’s enforcers are Mister, no matter what their gender identity is – is sent into Wiley City for answers. And those answers only lead to more questions. ‘‘I fix things, I guess. It’s what I do,’’ Mr. Scales says. Ultimately she does, but not in the way anyone would anticipate.
While Mr. Scales’s arc is tightly plotted and powerfully rendered, what stands out more is how Johnson plays with the idea of what we use stories for. Do we use them to find something true? Or heal something broken? And how can we do that while negotiating what we see in our actual lives when it comes to power and class? What do we do when the stories we know are proven to be built on lies?"
But it isn't just about the justified anger but about using rage to build something better.
In an opening note, Johnson acknowledges that it is a book born from rage. You can feel it pulsing out of the pages as you read. Its is angry, it is visceral and it is in every sense of the world righteous.
The world crafting for Wiley town and Ashtown, are amazing and where where those same dynamics are negotiated with violence.
Adrienne Martini at Locus magazine gives us this beautiful description
"What kicks Mr. Scales’s story off is the gruesome murder of a dancer, who is essentially turned inside-out in front of a room full of paying customers. Mr. Scales – all of Ashtown’s enforcers are Mister, no matter what their gender identity is – is sent into Wiley City for answers. And those answers only lead to more questions. ‘‘I fix things, I guess. It’s what I do,’’ Mr. Scales says. Ultimately she does, but not in the way anyone would anticipate.
While Mr. Scales’s arc is tightly plotted and powerfully rendered, what stands out more is how Johnson plays with the idea of what we use stories for. Do we use them to find something true? Or heal something broken? And how can we do that while negotiating what we see in our actual lives when it comes to power and class? What do we do when the stories we know are proven to be built on lies?"
But it isn't just about the justified anger but about using rage to build something better.