Predictable execution hampers what could have been an intriguing exploration of the mechanics of corruption Characters are stock, and the prose sometimes overexplains, even stretching beyond Ani’s first-person voice to reveal other characters’ emotions. (Colony wardens, oddly, seem immune to the Scourge.) Ani and Weevil play Colony rabble-rousers, resisting unfair treatment and working to untangle the governor’s statement that “River People are the Scourge.” Nielsen provides two major plot twists, and both are robust and horrifying in content however, the method and pace of divulging them are meandering and vague, lacking punch. The governor diagnoses Ani and her best friend, Weevil, with the Scourge and sends them to the Colony, a quarantined island from which nobody returns. The ruling townsfolk, on the other hand, have no specified ethnicity and seem white. The River People-forbidden from voting or owning property, not bathing “often enough”-are a stereotypical blend of Romany and indigenous peoples. It’s clearly a pretext: before they found her, Ani heard them mention their assignment to “come get” several people of Ani’s ethnic group. She’s done nothing wrong, but the wardens say that the red stain on her arm from the vinefruit juice is a symptom of the Scourge, a deadly, contagious, always-fatal disease. A baffling illness threatens a fantasy land.Īni’s up in a tree picking a vinefruit when wardens capture her.
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