SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley: https://t.co/sJHZgmWpb3
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) December 8, 2021
Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3
Short Review (cont): A YA Fantasy novel set in 1884 London, featuring amnesiac Iris, the girl who cannot die, who is in hiding as an "African Tightrope Dancer" until she comes to the attention of a rich white cult's tournament of freaks. Strong themes, dialogue & characters
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) December 8, 2021
2/3
The Bones of Ruin is the first in a new young adult* historical fantasy series by author Sarah Raughley, taking place in an alternate 1884 London. It's a story featuring a cast featuring of people of color with various magical powers forced into conflict by a wealthy white society who believes in a coming apocalypse and that only they can lead the way into a new world. It's a story that reminded me a bunch of Roshani Chokshi's The Gilded Wolves (indeed, the book's marketing makes that very comparison) in how it features a cast of outcasts dealing with a racist/imperialist society that tries to use and crush them.
*The book is published by a YA imprint and advertised as young adult; however, I don't really think it fits many of the usual characterizations of YA in character age/atmosphere necessarily. YA readers will enjoy this, but so will adult ones, for what that's worth.*
And the Bones of Ruin is very good at dealing with those themes while keeping the story moving and centered around a really solid main character - amnesiac and seemingly immortal African tightrope dancer Iris, whose quest to discover who she really is will lead her to answers she may not really want. The side characters, such as Iris' companions in this deadly contest of champions all generally work really well, with each having their own personalities and backstories that makes them all feel three dimensional, even the ones we only see in small part. And the story may be the first in a "series" (as described on the author's page, no idea how long this is meant to be), but it is satisfying in and of itself, even with it ending on a major cliffhanger.
---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
London, 1884.
It's been ten years since Iris stumbled into a circus travelling Europe, without having any memories of her own to guide her, and became the circus' African tightrope dancer, performing death defying stunts as if she had no fear of death in the world. Which, unknown to everyone else, was true: as for some unknown reason Iris cannot die, with her body coming back together no matter how horribly mangled. It's a secret Iris keeps close because if others know it, she knows she would be taken advantage of - like by her gambling-addicted debt-ridden circus master. But Iris' body isn't visibly aging, and she knows soon she'll have to leave lest others grow suspicious. If only Iris could discover who she is first, or why she feels a connection to one old lady at the circus.
So when a rich young white man Adam comes to Iris and promises answers to her identity, Iris can' fully say no - even as Adam's appearance causes her to vaguely remember parts of her past that tell her she should run. But Adam has his own ulterior motives, and he is a member of a committee of rich White folk who are running a Tournament of Freaks - for people with special magical powers like Iris to compete in a deadly contest to determine which member of the committee will lead humanity through a prophesized apocalypse. And so Iris finds herself among a group of powered others competing for seemingly the committee's amusement...a group of people that includes some she grows to care about a little.
But it soon becomes apparent that Iris isn't like any of the others - a fact known only to Adam and a mysterious Doctor who arouses memories of fear and hatred in her brain. And if Iris finds out who she is, she might not like the answers she finds....and if others find out as well, they will stop at nothing to take advantage to devastating result.....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bones of Ruin features two point of view characters - we mainly focus upon our main protagonist Iris, a "African Tightrope Walker" (because she's Black and that's how the circus can sell her in 1884 to a racist white Imperialist audience) Iris, but we get occasional interludes, including in the prologue, from white young adult Adam. That said, Adam is clearly never portrayed as the protagonist or as someone to sympathize too much with - he's clearly a dangerous, deadly character with motives that are sketchy, the only question is what those motives truly are and how they differ from his racist classist Imperialist contemporaries....who believe not only that the world is soon to end, but that they should each be the messiah deciding who should come into the new world that results.
And then there's Iris and her companions. Iris is the classic amnesiac heroine, desperate to find out who she is, even as she's not super concerned about doing good for others - she's not "heroic" in the classic sense I guess. Iris' main motivations are to both find out her identity and to not wind up being used by anyone, whether that be Adam or her old circus master or the Committee or anyone else. And yet as she grows to know her companions - whether that be her old Circus partner Jinn or her fellow teammate Maximo or many of the other competitors in the Tournament - she begins to unwillingly become loyal to them as well, and struggles between her own desires to find out the truth and their welfares, a conflict that causes her a lot of problems. It makes her a more interesting and conflicted character because she will lie to those allies for the sake of finding out the truth....while at the same time be immensely offended when one of those allies acts disloyal in a way that causes harm to another. And of course there's her conflicted romantic feelings for both Maximo and Jinn (the most YA aspect of this book).
Raughley does a great job with the secondary characters as well, such that even the ones who are given less page time feel very real in their motivations and actions; whether that be Maximo with his found family of street thieves and his lost sister; Jinn with the tragedy that orphaned him; or Maximo's found family which includes two boys with feelings for one another that are made complex by their ties to another thought lost....or even the more lesser characters. Even Adam's motivations and background turns out to be really well done and fascinating, with him turning out to be quite understandable, in a very sad and dangerous way.
The result is a story that works thanks to its strong themes of Empire, of Race, of Privilege and more. Each of the contestants in the tournament, and beyond, is touched by the Imperialist agendas of others, and there seems to be nothing that can be done about it other than causing another apocalypse...or is there? And as Iris really sees how Empire has taken powerful artifacts, how it has stolen people and power and now claims overtly to have stopped doing so (but has really not), and how it still uses and abuses those who it victimizes, the book questions whether that is wrong. And so it carries forward, with a really often exciting and fun plot in dealing with these themes till it hits a satisfying but very cliffhangery ending.
I should point out that the dialogue here is really well done as well, with a lot of very quotable moments, which makes this book really readable. As I mentioned before the jump, this book definitely reminds me of The Gilded Wolves in its themes and setting, but it is far better done too. Definitely a recommend, and one I will be continuing with its eventual sequel.
So when a rich young white man Adam comes to Iris and promises answers to her identity, Iris can' fully say no - even as Adam's appearance causes her to vaguely remember parts of her past that tell her she should run. But Adam has his own ulterior motives, and he is a member of a committee of rich White folk who are running a Tournament of Freaks - for people with special magical powers like Iris to compete in a deadly contest to determine which member of the committee will lead humanity through a prophesized apocalypse. And so Iris finds herself among a group of powered others competing for seemingly the committee's amusement...a group of people that includes some she grows to care about a little.
But it soon becomes apparent that Iris isn't like any of the others - a fact known only to Adam and a mysterious Doctor who arouses memories of fear and hatred in her brain. And if Iris finds out who she is, she might not like the answers she finds....and if others find out as well, they will stop at nothing to take advantage to devastating result.....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bones of Ruin features two point of view characters - we mainly focus upon our main protagonist Iris, a "African Tightrope Walker" (because she's Black and that's how the circus can sell her in 1884 to a racist white Imperialist audience) Iris, but we get occasional interludes, including in the prologue, from white young adult Adam. That said, Adam is clearly never portrayed as the protagonist or as someone to sympathize too much with - he's clearly a dangerous, deadly character with motives that are sketchy, the only question is what those motives truly are and how they differ from his racist classist Imperialist contemporaries....who believe not only that the world is soon to end, but that they should each be the messiah deciding who should come into the new world that results.
And then there's Iris and her companions. Iris is the classic amnesiac heroine, desperate to find out who she is, even as she's not super concerned about doing good for others - she's not "heroic" in the classic sense I guess. Iris' main motivations are to both find out her identity and to not wind up being used by anyone, whether that be Adam or her old circus master or the Committee or anyone else. And yet as she grows to know her companions - whether that be her old Circus partner Jinn or her fellow teammate Maximo or many of the other competitors in the Tournament - she begins to unwillingly become loyal to them as well, and struggles between her own desires to find out the truth and their welfares, a conflict that causes her a lot of problems. It makes her a more interesting and conflicted character because she will lie to those allies for the sake of finding out the truth....while at the same time be immensely offended when one of those allies acts disloyal in a way that causes harm to another. And of course there's her conflicted romantic feelings for both Maximo and Jinn (the most YA aspect of this book).
Raughley does a great job with the secondary characters as well, such that even the ones who are given less page time feel very real in their motivations and actions; whether that be Maximo with his found family of street thieves and his lost sister; Jinn with the tragedy that orphaned him; or Maximo's found family which includes two boys with feelings for one another that are made complex by their ties to another thought lost....or even the more lesser characters. Even Adam's motivations and background turns out to be really well done and fascinating, with him turning out to be quite understandable, in a very sad and dangerous way.
The result is a story that works thanks to its strong themes of Empire, of Race, of Privilege and more. Each of the contestants in the tournament, and beyond, is touched by the Imperialist agendas of others, and there seems to be nothing that can be done about it other than causing another apocalypse...or is there? And as Iris really sees how Empire has taken powerful artifacts, how it has stolen people and power and now claims overtly to have stopped doing so (but has really not), and how it still uses and abuses those who it victimizes, the book questions whether that is wrong. And so it carries forward, with a really often exciting and fun plot in dealing with these themes till it hits a satisfying but very cliffhangery ending.
I should point out that the dialogue here is really well done as well, with a lot of very quotable moments, which makes this book really readable. As I mentioned before the jump, this book definitely reminds me of The Gilded Wolves in its themes and setting, but it is far better done too. Definitely a recommend, and one I will be continuing with its eventual sequel.
No comments:
Post a Comment