Chris Horne
A Dark Academia novel published in 2023 by former self publishing sensation M.L Wang.
This book really had me split down the middle. On the one hand, it is a tightly paced, well plotted, turn pager of a book. There is an unlikeable protagonist who the author skilfully makes you route for. The world building is fun and the prologue is a stand out moment of brilliant writing.
But on the other hand this book suffers from a white saviour issue that is very difficult to see past. The book spends little time with the oppressed people and most of them have limited personalities or agency.
The books political themes are heavy handed and lack nuance to the point where it often becomes tell rather than show.
Within this books pages there is the possibility of a great story, the character of Carra, a girl of the oppressed people, is charismatic, funny and dynamic. I would love to have spent more time with her and seen how she interacted with this world and what decisions she might have made when offered the possibility of freeing herself.
Overall this book is a miss for me, although there are many good parts to it and I would read the author again.
A Dark Academia novel published in 2023 by former self publishing sensation M.L Wang.
This book really had me split down the middle. On the one hand, it is a tightly paced, well plotted, turn pager of a book. There is an unlikeable protagonist who the author skilfully makes you route for. The world building is fun and the prologue is a stand out moment of brilliant writing.
But on the other hand this book suffers from a white saviour issue that is very difficult to see past. The book spends little time with the oppressed people and most of them have limited personalities or agency.
The books political themes are heavy handed and lack nuance to the point where it often becomes tell rather than show.
Within this books pages there is the possibility of a great story, the character of Carra, a girl of the oppressed people, is charismatic, funny and dynamic. I would love to have spent more time with her and seen how she interacted with this world and what decisions she might have made when offered the possibility of freeing herself.
Overall this book is a miss for me, although there are many good parts to it and I would read the author again.