This was a fun and inventive read, really enjoyed the blending of Jamaican folklore but in modern Toronto. It did start a bit slow for how short it was, but it does win points for being fully self-contained. The use of dialogue and dialect to enhance characterization was especially impressive. ( )

Great book. About 1/2 way thru it seemed familiar, as if I had read it a long time ago, but not familiar enough to spoil the plot. I was puzzled why people from Caribbean culture ended up in Toronto ghetto--I'd have expected them to emigrate somewhere warmer. This is the 2nd book I've read touching on voodoo in future cities, competing with novels where celtic spirits have taken to modern cities.
Scary images--I'm glad I'm not seeing any of those spirits! Not something to mess with. I did like how Ti-Jeanne develops courage, stands up for herself. And her feelings about her baby are a familiar ambivalence.
2011 review ( )

It wasn't bad, though I didn't like it as much as Midnight Robber, but this was her first novel so I'll give her another chance. ( )

Octavia Butler Recommends.

3.5. Brown Girl in the Ring is a classic work of urban fantasy, or perhaps mythic horror, and I'm glad I read it. Hopkinson writes with grace and control, and her evocation of a near-future dystopian Toronto where Afro-Caribbean magic has turned a family dispute into a battle of epic proportions is fascinating and richly textured.

This novel is the best (perhaps only good?) SF portrayal of traditional Caribbean religion that I've read. While the antagonist's black magic is gruesome, the spirits themselves are the most memorable characters of the book, benevolent and full of personality. It's a welcome change from urban fantasies that feature spooooky Voodoo practitioners. The near-future setting is also memorable, and I'm a bit disappointed that there isn't a followup series where Ti-Jeanne and her neighbors solve magical crimes in inner-city Toronto.

I did think the characterization could have been stronger, or the storytelling better suited to such archetypal characters. I liked a lot about Ti-Jeanne's character, but the prose style created a distancing effect and I didn't feel fully invested in her fate. I suspect Hopkinson was trying to find a compromise between contemporary prose and her book's folktale antecedents, and for me she didn't hit quite the right note. ( )