Anna North

"Knowledge can be very valuable," she said, "but only if people want it. If they don't, it can be worse than useless."

I wanted to love this one. I was so excited when I read it was a Feminist Western. And I did think the plot was interesting - the group of people on the fringe of society banding together in hiding to stay safe and find purpose and family in their life. I liked the band of thieves Ada finds herself attached to, even if I didn't think they were nice or even fair. They were pretty realistic. I adored Lark.

But somehow the storytelling never pulled me in. I think the narrator would have worked better for me as journal entries. The ending also felt abrupt.… (more)

"People like you and me, we're the next generation."

This was a very odd book. At first, it was jarring - full of weird lingo, a lot of food with the word 'jelly fish' in front of it, and jobs and locations that were familiar but not. Soon enough, I got the rhythm of the storytelling and it all started to meld together. The circus, the missing, the hunt, the rulers and the haves/have nots. It's still a weird story that didn't feel cohesive from beginning to end but it was interesting.

I thought finding out the information about each area and the food were intriguing. The order of the boats and how their caste system worked was interesting too. The search for the missing, though, was odd and full of weird sexual situations. It's not that I don't think these types of situations could be present, I'm sure they would be, but they just felt odd in the story.

But once we got moving on the plot and figured out what everyone planned to do and she got her ankle finally set (along with some answers), then the story went faster and was more interesting. The end is probably the most disappointing part of the story.… (more)