PRISONER OF NEW HALF-WAY TREE It's Carnival time and the Caribbean-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 favorite 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.
what I liked most about the book is that there are so many different, fresh ideas in it. I loved the way the different societies are described and the non-human sentient creatures plus flora and fauna of New-Half-Way Tree. Also pretty cool that it is written in caribbean patois and that I learned something about caribbean culture e.g. the traditional carnival and its characters.
Also the story of Tan-Tan (the main character) is very intriguing and in many places it is unpredictable what will happen next.
I noticed that I hadn't actually came back to review this, so I feel like I should.
First, there are not nearly enough books set in the Caribbean or in a setting that even resembles the Caribbean. Maybe I got super lucky in hearing about it at some point, but I almost never run across books set there (unless it's some deserted island theme where everyone is stuck there because of... a plane crash or faulty boat, which also applies to Polynesian islands). That alone makes this interesting.
Second, one of the complaints I most often read/hear is of language. Do not, under any circumstance, complain about that because it is an absurd complaint that is often laced with racism and ethnocentrism, connected to an unwillingness to try. Yes, for people unfamiliar with any dialect/creole, it can be more difficult to read a novel written entirely in that dialect/creole; it …
I noticed that I hadn't actually came back to review this, so I feel like I should.
First, there are not nearly enough books set in the Caribbean or in a setting that even resembles the Caribbean. Maybe I got super lucky in hearing about it at some point, but I almost never run across books set there (unless it's some deserted island theme where everyone is stuck there because of... a plane crash or faulty boat, which also applies to Polynesian islands). That alone makes this interesting.
Second, one of the complaints I most often read/hear is of language. Do not, under any circumstance, complain about that because it is an absurd complaint that is often laced with racism and ethnocentrism, connected to an unwillingness to try. Yes, for people unfamiliar with any dialect/creole, it can be more difficult to read a novel written entirely in that dialect/creole; it takes time to get accustomed to it, to learn it, to understand it. But once you actually put in the effort to learn it and integrate that knowledge into your mind, it makes everything so much better, more interesting, more genuine. It's part of the world, and it makes you feel like you're part of that world, too.
From the outset, the one thing I never expected was a theme around sexual assault and its impacts. Not only that, but it weaves through interconnected themes and actions that can sometimes accompany sexual assault: incest and domestic abuse. More than just that, it shows the varying responses by the community to such a thing, ranging from the knowledge that people have to the actions people take to make even a small difference. And it completes everything by showing how Tan-Tan responds to everything and is able to survive.
The settings and world-building in this book are among some of my favourite; they still stick with me quite a lot and are a large part of why I consistently recommend this book to people. Everything feels so well-crafted that it makes me wish I could actually just play a game to exist within the world. Perhaps Nalo Hopkinson should take on the gaming world, teaming up to help build something reminiscent of her novels.
I don't know that any review can do this book justice, but it's something that I quite enjoyed and would recommend to anyone.
Toussaint is a world first settled by people from the Caribbean. Everything is controlled and monitored by nanobots. People are provided for and no one needs to do manual labor unless they want to do it. Tan-Tan's father is the mayor of her town. He and her mother have a tempestuous relationship. Both are immature and self-centered. When her father commits a crime, he knows how he will be punished. He will be sent through a dimensional rift to New Half-Way Tree, another version of Toussaint without the technology. This is a one way journey. No one ever comes back.I'm been meaning to read Nalo Hopkinson for a while. In the beginning this was a very difficult book for me to read because of the Creole that it is written in. She uses pronouns and verb tenses that don't match. It actually hurt to read. I'm such a grammar snob, …
Toussaint is a world first settled by people from the Caribbean. Everything is controlled and monitored by nanobots. People are provided for and no one needs to do manual labor unless they want to do it. Tan-Tan's father is the mayor of her town. He and her mother have a tempestuous relationship. Both are immature and self-centered. When her father commits a crime, he knows how he will be punished. He will be sent through a dimensional rift to New Half-Way Tree, another version of Toussaint without the technology. This is a one way journey. No one ever comes back.I'm been meaning to read Nalo Hopkinson for a while. In the beginning this was a very difficult book for me to read because of the Creole that it is written in. She uses pronouns and verb tenses that don't match. It actually hurt to read. I'm such a grammar snob, that even though I knew it was deliberate, it was so jarring that I didn't think I could get into the story because of it. Eventually, I was able to let it slide enough to read the story. I think it was the repetitive nature of the wrongness that numbed me to it.Another thing I wondered while reading this - Are there any novels about Caribbean men that portray them in a positive light? Granted, I've only read novels written by Caribbean women so they may be biased but they can't all be this horrible. Tan-Tan's father is lazy and arrogant. He takes Tan-Tan to New Half-Way Tree with him without making any preparations for their new life. He is mean to the local population. He doesn't have any redeeming qualities. It is hard to read about Tan-Tan loving him so much when he is so awful.This is also a story about colonization. There is a native race on New Half-Way Tree. The prisoner-immigrants from Toussaint treat them as inferior. They don't know that the natives are playing along with their ignorance. Tan-Tan finds herself at the mercy of them after a few years on the planet. Should they help her or will her presence in their community lead to disaster?This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
Nalo Hopkinson is a champion world builder. The cultures, the native flora and fauna, the implied evolutionary paths... Everything is lush, and detailed, and believable. My main complaint with this novel is that it isn't 200 pages longer. The epic breadth of the plot, Tan-Tan's growth into her role as Robber Queen and legend, happens far too quickly and without the organic flow that characterizes the rest of the narrative. I would definitely have stuck around for further tales of her daring exploits.
