Tag: slavery

REVIEW: Star Wars: A Queen's Hope by E. K. Johnston

REVIEW: Star Wars: A Queen’s Hope by E. K. Johnston

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Disney Lucasfilm Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

The Clone War is heating up. And that means even though Anakin and Padmé are married now, they each have a job to do. Yes, it means secrets – from their closest friends and at times from each other. But they can keep their love and their duty separate.

Padmé’s handmaidens have duty as well. Sabé is on Tatooine hoping to make headway on her mission when Padmé calls her into service. Sabé will pretend to be the Senator while Padmé goes off on a crucial mission for the war. A lot has changed since they last used this trick – can they really pull it off again?

Review

I have so enjoyed the characters in this series. It’s been great to get more about Padmé, but it’s the handmaidens that I have found fascinating. And I love how the author has let them evolve over time, especially as Padmé’s role has changed.

There are a few fantastic “interludes” through the book that focus on a female character in the larger story. Each passage begins with the character unnamed, and we only get her name at the end. They are all cleverly written and left me wanting more.

While I enjoyed those things, I felt like there wasn’t one driving storyline here. Instead, this seems to be filling in around Star Wars events we know from the movies and shows. We know about Geonosis, we know about Palpatine’s secret agenda, we know about clone troops, and we know about the wedding. So the author takes those things – and some others – and then lets us experience them from other perspectives, like those of the handmaidens.

For a plot-driven reader, this can be less than satisfying. Any danger situation is over fairly quickly, and the stakes are low because we know the main characters exist past this book. But character-driven readers will find a LOT here to enjoy. How does Padmé’s secret relationship change how she relates to her friends and her job? When people find out about her marriage, what changes?

Series fans should definitely pick this up. Newcomers should probably start with the earlier books to get to know the handmaidens in order to enjoy this one to its fullest.

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good +

REVIEW: The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris

REVIEW: The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Simon and Schuster in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Alex can see the future when he touches an object. The longer he holds it, the farther forward he can see. He’s learned to shut most of his visions down immediately. (He really doesn’t need to see himself pick up a napkin in his mind and throw it away just before he throws it away in real life.) He’s also learned that he tends to cause more trouble when he tries to fix things or stop things from happening. The thing he tries to fix always happens anyway.

The visions started at the hospital after Alex’s parents died. They are a constant companion, and a constant burden. The anxiety he lives with, braced for the incoming images all the time, is devastating.

But then he has the vision about his younger brother, Isaiah.

Review

Wow. Reading this book over several hours one evening felt like I took a journey. For a long time, the journey was full of anxiety and fear. Then, Alex was able to share his burden with one person. And sharing the load and being seen and understood lessened the weight of it for Alex – and for me. But it was still heavy.

But there was a moment, in the pain and strain of Alex’s journey, where it all clicked. The whole journey, all of time and space of this story came together. It was like someone flipped a switch. Suddenly, I “got” it at a whole new level. I understood the author’s message and her point in a way I just didn’t get until that precise moment. And it is something that has stuck with me since I finished the book. (Be sure to read the author’s note/acknowledgements, too. It’s the perfect closing after finishing the story. You can also read my review of the author’s book. Slay, here. I loved it!)

This was a hard story to love early on. While I adored Alex and Isaiah from the start, and I was engaged with their story, the angst and anxiety and burden of Alex’s visions are tremendous. But there’s a reason, a purpose to it that is not to be missed. The book touches on many issues – racism, gun violence, grief and loss, slavery – but in a way that felt new and fresh for me. And I think the story will stick with readers in ways a more straightforward story might have missed. I highly recommend this one. It would be a fascinating book to discuss with other readers! This book releases NEXT WEEK, April 6th. (Language, TW: anxiety, racism, grief and loss, gun violence)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read.

REVIEW: In the Shadow of Liberty by Kenneth C. Davis

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

A book for kids about slavery. We all know that slavery is an ugly part of American history. When we think about slavery, we might think of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, and the Emancipation Proclamation. But our history with slavery goes all the way back to the Pilgrims. And every President we had before Lincoln had a stance on the issue. Some of them even owned slaves. How could some of our Founding Fathers, people who wrote about “all men” being created equal, own some of those people as property?

In the Shadow of Liberty

Review

This book, written for students in middle school and high school, does a great job of outlining the history of slavery in America in a clear, matter-of-fact way. It doesn’t shy away from the complexities of the issue. It includes discussion of famous founders who said and wrote that they felt slavery was wrong while they still had enslaved people working for them. The book was honest about the economic issues faced by those with enslaved workers whom they thought should truly be fee. Some of those people felt “powerless” to change things because they were so tied into the systems that perpetuated slavery.

While the focus is on four presidents for the most part – Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson – there are also historic notes about the roles of African Americans in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. And there are also notes about the abolitionist movement and its proponents. All of the “who” is tied to the “when” and “where” of the growth of our country as new states and territories are added and debates raged over slave states or free states.

This is a great resource. It will raise questions for students – which is what reading and studying history should do for all of us! I recommend this for middle school and high school libraries. It would also be good for history classrooms, English classrooms that want to expose students to excellent informational books, and public libraries. This would also be a great resource for families to talk about racial history in America.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥