I’ve Got The Power!

Clearly I was of an impressionable age in the 90’s, as “I’ve Got the Power” by Snap goes through my head whenever the words “the power” are brought up. And it always goes through my mind when we lose power due to a storm or winter being the troll that it is, and when it comes back on I go around humming “I’ve got the power” to myself. But I digress! This post is not about Snap or awesome 90’s dance music, or power outages. This is a review of Naomi Alderman’s excellent novel The Power.

The premise is simple and brilliant. Young girls begin experiencing a change in their genetic makeup. They develop a “skein” of electrical power that runs along their collarbones, and enables them to electrify items and people with their hands. The power varies in strength from girl to girl, but almost all have the ability to kill. They can wake up this dormant power in older women, and all young baby girls are soon born with it. Chaos ensues. The aftermath and Alderman’s perception of what would happen if the power tables were turned is a fascinating one…also a pretty dark one at moments. I don’t want to give anything else away but be prepared for multiple POVs that do not necessarily all converge, some pretty unlikable characters, and also some real truths about humans to be revealed. The ending was truly outstanding. I’m really picky about how books end and usually feel somewhat let down. At first I was a little frustrated by the end, but I quickly warmed to her storytelling strategy, and the final line of the book is just pure genius. Now go get yourself The Power – and try not to sing that song by Snap every time you look at the cover.

Legendary – Released May 29, 2018

I was extremely excited in April when I was granted the ability to preview Legendary, the sequel to Stephanie Garber’s Caraval, via NetGalley and Flatiron Books. Then, life got crazy and I just now read the book, only a couple weeks away from its published debut. I’d like to comment that I tend to agree with the widely held belief that sequels rarely are as good as the original. Sometimes, in a trilogy, book 3 ends up close to the quality of the first book, but usually it’s a decline after the first book. Not with Legendary! I actually enjoyed this as much or even more than Caraval.

The story begins literally as Caraval ends, but the POV switches to Donatella, who is Scarlett’s sister and played a minor role in Caraval. It’s only at the very end of Caraval that we actually learn a bit more about “Tella” and Legendary goes much further at fleshing out her character. I loved how she seemed somewhat annoying and totally frivolous in Caraval, but we see an entirely different side of her in Legendary. I grew to like her more than I like Scarlett.

Once again Caraval takes center stage, although this time the game is different and is written differently. There is less emphasis on the magic and mystery of the game, and more focus on Tella and her relationships with people. Also, the backstory only hinted at in Caraval is fully developed.

Some of the backstory is a bit…strange. And, I didn’t feel the game of Caraval made a lot of sense this time. But, Tella is a great character to root for, as is Dante (another mostly unlikable character from Caraval who turns into something quite different in Legendary). Plus, the Prince of Hearts is very entertaining. The writing in these book is unique in that it has fantastic imagery. Stephanie Garber is good at creating a world you feel you can see – even if not everything in that world makes complete sense. I didn’t mind since this is fantasy anyway, and the characters were what really made this book work for me. I look forward to Finale, the last book in the trilogy!

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