The content warning that our book club wished we’d known ahead of time: sexual violence, rape of a child, pregnancies as a consequence of rape. So, yeah. Be warned. That said, this was a very powerful and fascinating story and is DEFINITELY worth reading. Just know there's some heavy ugliness mentioned (but not told in vivid detail, you just know it happened) This Afro-Caribbean colonized future planet is so amazingly well realized, and the way that Hopkinson unveils the world-building is super satisfying. An extremely successful “drop the reader into the action” approach, without paragraphs of exposition. Yet you are very quickly exposed to and learning about how this world works. Truly fascinating and engaging. Seeing this imagined future and how different pieces of culture and folklore have traveled through the generations. The role of the Nanny (implanted neural network) is handled in such a unique way, as well as the off-shoot group of “extremists/weirdos” who preach the importance of making objects by hand and eschewing technology. And just as you’re starting to settle into this new world, our lead Tan-Tan is shunted off to a whole other planet. A prison exile planet, where we get to learn even more interesting and new world building. I LOVE learning about created cultures, and the douen were some of the most interesting alien creatures/cultures I’ve read about. I loved it! And I loved how different facets of knowledge and understanding unfold throughout. These characters will make your heart ache!!! Tan-Tan is a narrator I won’t soon forget. She’s also beautifully and believably flawed, too. Which I feel like we often don’t allow our female characters to be imperfect, but this felt so damn real and relatable and my heart just hurt for her and understood her and hoped for her. As one would expect, a prison exile planet is a harsh environment (not only the lack of resources and human comforts, but also the different aliens and creatures who are a threat). But as always proves the case, the biggest monsters are fellow humans, darn it. This book is written in a stylized patois, and at times I found it a little difficult to get started (but in those times, I’d read it aloud, focusing on the sound of the words and then the meaning generally revealed itself and I’d find myself slipping into its hypnotic rhythms. Definitely added to the sense of immersion and strong sense of place on these future planets. A friend listened to the audio book but also struggled to comprehend/follow sometimes. The BEST approach was in one pal who listened to the audio book WHILE reading along with the text, for a truly textured experience. Still, I was honestly able to sink into these words and their meanings relatively quickly. I don’t have extensive knowledge of Afro-Carribean myths and culture, and so I’m sure I missed several of the allusions and symbolism (apparently the doeun are party modeled after creatures from folklore), but I still loved and was able to fully enjoy this. (less)

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