- The cover looked interesting.
I recommend:
- Tankborn by Karen Sandler
Summary from GoodReads:
Eden Newman must mate before her 18th birthday in six months or she’ll be left outside to die in a burning world. But who will pick up her mate-option when she’s cursed with white skin and a tragically low mate-rate of 15%? In a post-apocalyptic, totalitarian, underground world where class and beauty are defined by resistance to an overheated environment, Eden’s coloring brands her as a member of the lowest class, a weak and ugly Pearl. If only she can mate with a dark-skinned Coal from the ruling class, she’ll be safe. Just maybe one Coal sees the Real Eden and will be her salvation her co-worker Jamal has begun secretly dating her. But when Eden unwittingly compromises her father’s secret biological experiment, she finds herself in the eye of a storm and thrown into the last area of rainforest, a strange and dangerous land. Eden must fight to save her father, who may be humanity’s last hope, while standing up to a powerful beast-man she believes is her enemy, despite her overwhelming attraction. Eden must change to survive but only if she can redefine her ideas of beauty and of love, along with a little help from her “adopted aunt” Emily Dickinson.
My Review:
I don’t do pure negative reviews very often – usually there’s some sort of saving grace in a book, a storyline I like, a character I admired, something I can pull from the book, but I can’t do it here.
Let’s look at the list of things that got to me:
1. Reverse racism. Foyt tried an experiment and, in my opinion, failed. Something that is a basic cornerstone of good writing is show, don’t tell. Don’t include a word and then reference it as being a “racist” term, in those exact words! There’s no need to turn history around to prove a point either. White-face bands? Reverse slavery/abuse? The whole idea just rubbed me the wrong way – especially since the idea for her earth was actually a good one, and so much could have been done with it that was fresh and new.
2. Beastiality. Have we gotten to the point that we’re angel/demon/vampire/werewolf/witch/mermaid/fairy -’d out? Do we really need to turn to beastial creatures to get that hot, romance-y, steam fix? I cannot tell you how much times “tail” was mentioned that seemed to get Eden all hot and bothered, and oh my goodness, it gave me the heebie-jeebies.
3. Plot. I couldn’t really find one. I mean, I could find a spoiled brat of a girl, but .. was the plot her intention to actually get away? or was it that she protests too much? or was it that.. you know, I don’t know. If you read this book, and like it, please tell me what the plot was? 75% in, I was talking about this book to a friend, and she asked what the plot was and it blew me away that I couldn’t articulate it.
I love dystopia books, I love science fiction, I love a good story with racial tension in it, it gets my mind working (Go read Tankborn by Karen Sandler). But, other than a spark of what could have been, I just didn’t find much of anything to like in this story.
Edited to add: People are taking this book to Tumblr and Twitter and protesting heavily against it. I am completely on board with that protest – I ranted about this book to people I came into contact with and felt disgusted and dirty while trying to figure out what all the good reviews were about.
I highly recommend you visit the following links for some great articles on what is wrong with this book (and much more succinctly put than my small review):
Nothing Like Being Punched in the Face by White Privilege by Shannon Barber
Mark Reads Revealing Eden Preview
Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!
