Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson
Synopsis: It's Carnival time, and the Carribean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. But to young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favourite costume to wear at the festival--until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgivable crime.
Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree. Here monstrous creatures from folklore are real, and the humans are violent outcasts in the wilds. Here Tan-Tan must reach into the heart of myth--and become the Robber Queen herself. For only the Robber Queen's legendary powers can save her life...and set her free.
Review: Let me start with the content warnings because they matter here: child abuse, incestuous rape, violence, psychological trauma. This book goes to genuinely dark places and doesn't soften them. If that's something you need to know going in, FOR SURE!
Okay, moving on.
The world-building in this book is extraordinary. A planet inspired by Caribbean descendants and their folklore, complete with its own culture, language, politics, and myths, and it all feels completely vivid. And the best part is that, none of it is over-explained. You just get dropped in and trusted to figure it out, which I always prefer and it does in such a manner that MAKES SENSE.
Such a unique sci-fi premise and I want MORE! ALSO, the language throughout? Audiobook x Book experience is the way to go because it fantastically done and I enjoyed it a lot. The structure wasn't too bad, watching the gap between what really happened and how the legend forms around it is doing a lot of thematic work without it that obvious, it just becomes central throughout.
The first half and second half feel like they belong to slightly different novels though, KIND OF. The first half is rich and sets up this whole world with a lot of momentum. The second half, after the story's major turning point, gets episodic in a way that slows things down. There are stretches where Tan-Tan is essentially navigating a lot and while that's thematically appropriate for where her character is, it does make the reading experience drag a tiny bit.
You can feel the book working toward its ending rather than arriving at it at a steady natural pace. I think if there was a better connection between Pt1 + PT2 then this for sure would've been 5 stars.
The emotional core of the book andTan-Tan's psychology. SOBS. But also, WOW. Rooting for Tan-Tan the entire way! The way abuse has fragmented her sense of self, her guilt and shame attaching to all the wrong places BUT YET you see Tan-Tan is TRYING. NAVIGATING. Strong character for sure.
It's not comfortable to read. It's not supposed to be. Hopkinson clearly understands what she's writing about.