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The Continent #1
The Continent
For her sixteenth birthday, Vaela Sun receives the most coveted gift in all the Spire—a trip to the Continent. It seems an unlikely destination for a holiday: a cold, desolate land where two nations remain perpetually locked in combat. Most citizens lucky enough to tour the Continent do so to observe the spectacle and violence of battle, a thing long vanished in the peaceful realm of the Spire. For Vaela, the war holds little interest. As a smart and talented apprentice cartographer and a descendent of the Continent herself, she sees the journey as a dream come true: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve upon the maps she’s drawn of this vast, frozen land.
But Vaela’s dream all too quickly turns to nightmare as the journey brings her face-to-face with the brutal reality of a war she’s only read about. Observing from the safety of a heli-plane, Vaela is forever changed by the sight of the bloody battle being waged far beneath her. And when a tragic accident leaves her stranded on the Continent, Vaela finds herself much closer to danger than she’d ever imagined—and with an entirely new perspective as to what war truly means. Starving, alone, and lost in the middle of a war zone, Vaela must try to find a way home—but first, she must survive.
But Vaela’s dream all too quickly turns to nightmare as the journey brings her face-to-face with the brutal reality of a war she’s only read about. Observing from the safety of a heli-plane, Vaela is forever changed by the sight of the bloody battle being waged far beneath her. And when a tragic accident leaves her stranded on the Continent, Vaela finds herself much closer to danger than she’d ever imagined—and with an entirely new perspective as to what war truly means. Starving, alone, and lost in the middle of a war zone, Vaela must try to find a way home—but first, she must survive.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published March 27, 2018
40 people are currently reading
10273 people want to read
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November 5, 2016
I received an arc copy of this book on a giveaway so I spent no money and I still want a refund or a brain wipe to erase it from my memory.
The inside cover has a small scrawl from Kiera Drake saying that she hopes I enjoy my “trip to the continent”.
Sorry to say, I very much did not enjoy it. I basically spent a couple of hours reading almost every racist stereotype in existence. DEAR GOD, how was this even published?
There are two warring sides of this book. The Topi, based on Native Americans, and the Aven’ei, based on Japanese people.
And actual quote from the book:
“We don’t know much about the Topi, do we? Other than how vulgar and warmongering they are?”
The Topi have “rich reddish-brown” skin, wear human bones and are described as savages with a “primitive culture”. Brutally killing and drinking themselves silly. They spend the night “dangerously drunk” throwing clods of dirt at each other “like children” before they try to rape the white girl.
She is saved by a ninja who shows up just in time to slit the native’s throat. The ninja is Aven’ei.
So now we leave the complete dehumanization of Native Americans to explore the fetishizing of Asian culture.
The Aven’ei are said to have a rich culture without the modern consciences…which is “Wholly surprising and impressive” to the naive white girl.
Every time the MC describes these people, she does so by being completely astonished they manage to run to brain cells together. It is so condescending, I couldn’t roll my eyes hard enough.
She spends a lot of book, telling these angry poc to more compassionate to their enemies when she isn’t spending two-three pages explaining indoor plumbing to the barbarians.
The only black people in the book are part of the council, they have no sympathy for the warring Topi and Aven’ei, until the white gives a passionate speech about doing the right thing. It tugs at their heartstrings enough for them to show up just in the nick of time, to save the white girl and disappear again.
Oh! And there is only one woc in the entire book that has speaking lines. She is the only redeemable part of the book. Her name is Yuki and she is killed off, so the white girl can grieve some more.
The back cover of the arc brags that “The Continent will haunt readers long after its covers have been closed.”
It’s closest thing to truth about the book, it will haunt you but not in a good way. I felt almost physically ill after reading it.
I can’t believe something like this was written in 2016. Yet alone, published.
Seriously do yourself a favor, DO NOT READ THIS. DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON IT.
Pretend you’ve never heard of it…I wish I could.
The inside cover has a small scrawl from Kiera Drake saying that she hopes I enjoy my “trip to the continent”.
Sorry to say, I very much did not enjoy it. I basically spent a couple of hours reading almost every racist stereotype in existence. DEAR GOD, how was this even published?
There are two warring sides of this book. The Topi, based on Native Americans, and the Aven’ei, based on Japanese people.
And actual quote from the book:
“We don’t know much about the Topi, do we? Other than how vulgar and warmongering they are?”
The Topi have “rich reddish-brown” skin, wear human bones and are described as savages with a “primitive culture”. Brutally killing and drinking themselves silly. They spend the night “dangerously drunk” throwing clods of dirt at each other “like children” before they try to rape the white girl.
She is saved by a ninja who shows up just in time to slit the native’s throat. The ninja is Aven’ei.
So now we leave the complete dehumanization of Native Americans to explore the fetishizing of Asian culture.
The Aven’ei are said to have a rich culture without the modern consciences…which is “Wholly surprising and impressive” to the naive white girl.
Every time the MC describes these people, she does so by being completely astonished they manage to run to brain cells together. It is so condescending, I couldn’t roll my eyes hard enough.
She spends a lot of book, telling these angry poc to more compassionate to their enemies when she isn’t spending two-three pages explaining indoor plumbing to the barbarians.
The only black people in the book are part of the council, they have no sympathy for the warring Topi and Aven’ei, until the white gives a passionate speech about doing the right thing. It tugs at their heartstrings enough for them to show up just in the nick of time, to save the white girl and disappear again.
Oh! And there is only one woc in the entire book that has speaking lines. She is the only redeemable part of the book. Her name is Yuki and she is killed off, so the white girl can grieve some more.
The back cover of the arc brags that “The Continent will haunt readers long after its covers have been closed.”
It’s closest thing to truth about the book, it will haunt you but not in a good way. I felt almost physically ill after reading it.
I can’t believe something like this was written in 2016. Yet alone, published.
Seriously do yourself a favor, DO NOT READ THIS. DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON IT.
Pretend you’ve never heard of it…I wish I could.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
absolutely-not
February 20, 2018[EDIT 2/20/2018]
Since a new version of this book is coming out this year, I cleared my one star rating. I hope the revisions fix a lot of the issues, but I still won't be reading it. The entire premise of the book seems incredibly flawed.
Pro Tip: Read books by WoC and you probably won't run into a lot of problems
[EDIT 3/21/17]
Since lots of people are still liking this review, I wanted to note that the publisher did push back publication to work out some of these issues. As the author wasn't very receptive of criticism, I don't have high hopes, but it's something that might keep racist descriptions out of the hands of teenagers. Regardless, I probably won't be reading this. There are other writers who actually take criticism without fighting back as well as PoC who manage to not write racist books to start with. I'll stick with those.
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This book is super racist and should not be published. People with "red skin" described as drunks and savages? "Almond shaped" eyed characters with Japanese naming conventions? PASS PASS PASS. White Saviorism to the max.
Just because a book is set in the future or some made up land, doesn't mean you can describe characters in ways that are racist in the real world. Harlequin Teen should not let this into the hands of young readers.
Since a new version of this book is coming out this year, I cleared my one star rating. I hope the revisions fix a lot of the issues, but I still won't be reading it. The entire premise of the book seems incredibly flawed.
Pro Tip: Read books by WoC and you probably won't run into a lot of problems
[EDIT 3/21/17]
Since lots of people are still liking this review, I wanted to note that the publisher did push back publication to work out some of these issues. As the author wasn't very receptive of criticism, I don't have high hopes, but it's something that might keep racist descriptions out of the hands of teenagers. Regardless, I probably won't be reading this. There are other writers who actually take criticism without fighting back as well as PoC who manage to not write racist books to start with. I'll stick with those.
--------
This book is super racist and should not be published. People with "red skin" described as drunks and savages? "Almond shaped" eyed characters with Japanese naming conventions? PASS PASS PASS. White Saviorism to the max.
Just because a book is set in the future or some made up land, doesn't mean you can describe characters in ways that are racist in the real world. Harlequin Teen should not let this into the hands of young readers.
March 20, 2018
3/19 update: Oh no. We're still talking about this book?
I've read the updated version. My review has not changed.
***
11/25/16: ETA: Review here:
http://www.bookrookreviews.com/home/1...
***
Yes, I did read it.
I read it - after putting it down a month ago, when the first chapter failed to capture my interest - simply so I can provide information for anyone who seems to think that this book shows us how to be ~better~ as humans and isn't a white savior book.
(Yes, I saw that comment elsewhere.)
And yes, the book is a mess. Outside of some truly terrible writing - a la The Selection - I really don't know why and how this slipped through the radar at Harlequin. There's problematic content on almost every page.
If you want an idea of what this book is like, it's like Disney's Pocahontas intermixed with even more blatant racism and obvious xenophobia.
I'm going to begrudgingly write a review, because I'm tired of books like this being published, and I want to help provide a resource for people to point to, when they're asked what's problematic about this book.
Also, because this is apparently an issue: *rolls eyes* I'm not calling the author racist - she seems nice, if in need of a crash course on life - I'm calling the book and its content, problematic as hell. As someone else pointed out, the author was failed badly at every stage of the acquisition and editorial process. Unfortunately, it's now on her.
I've read the updated version. My review has not changed.
***
11/25/16: ETA: Review here:
http://www.bookrookreviews.com/home/1...
***
Yes, I did read it.
I read it - after putting it down a month ago, when the first chapter failed to capture my interest - simply so I can provide information for anyone who seems to think that this book shows us how to be ~better~ as humans and isn't a white savior book.
(Yes, I saw that comment elsewhere.)
And yes, the book is a mess. Outside of some truly terrible writing - a la The Selection - I really don't know why and how this slipped through the radar at Harlequin. There's problematic content on almost every page.
If you want an idea of what this book is like, it's like Disney's Pocahontas intermixed with even more blatant racism and obvious xenophobia.
I'm going to begrudgingly write a review, because I'm tired of books like this being published, and I want to help provide a resource for people to point to, when they're asked what's problematic about this book.
Also, because this is apparently an issue: *rolls eyes* I'm not calling the author racist - she seems nice, if in need of a crash course on life - I'm calling the book and its content, problematic as hell. As someone else pointed out, the author was failed badly at every stage of the acquisition and editorial process. Unfortunately, it's now on her.
February 19, 2018
edit 2/19/18: (so apparently all those rewrites keira drake was supposed to be doing didn't fix a Damn Thing. yall..... if this book was a person id fight it in a Wal-Mart parking lot.)
It's racist trash, and I'm getting really sick and tired of my genre being fucking corrupted by bullshit like this-- A black groundskeeper, a pack of "savage" men obviously based on First Nations people, and a wise, calm ninja "with almond eyes".
And, of course, the lily-white MC.
Look, as a white writer and critic, it is my moral obligation to tell the rest of y'all that this is not acceptable and, in fact, is just bad writing. So, you're being a terrible person and terrible at your job. When people say they want diversity, this is not what they mean.
Listen better. Writer better. Be better.
It's racist trash, and I'm getting really sick and tired of my genre being fucking corrupted by bullshit like this-- A black groundskeeper, a pack of "savage" men obviously based on First Nations people, and a wise, calm ninja "with almond eyes".
And, of course, the lily-white MC.
Look, as a white writer and critic, it is my moral obligation to tell the rest of y'all that this is not acceptable and, in fact, is just bad writing. So, you're being a terrible person and terrible at your job. When people say they want diversity, this is not what they mean.
Listen better. Writer better. Be better.
November 4, 2016
My first hint should have been the fact this is a Harlequin Teen novel. Romance novels make me roll my eyes too much but a YA romance makes me roll them so hard they get stuck to the back of my head. The Continent is a perfect example of an eye-rolling, face-in-palm planting, groaning out loud “why am I still reading this?” YA romance.
Vaela Sun of the Spire is celebrating her sixteenth birthday. The Spire is a technologically advanced country with heli-planes and magnetic trains but is still old world culture where people use calling cards and address one another by their surname. Women are regarded as fragile creatures and must hide their bare legs from men. A courtship is declared before a couple may date. The Spire is peaceful and perfect and everyone is happy, unlike the citizens of the Continent. Its indigenous tribes have been at war for over two hundred years and the Spire has found this to be a source of entertainment. With a multi-year waiting list, people of the Spire gladly pay big bucks to go on safari and fly their heli-planes over the battlefields to watch the two tribes murder one another. And Vaela’s parents have pulled strings and probably sold their souls to take her on one of these gruesome expeditions.
Please don’t even think of comparing this to The Hunger Games.
Obviously this is not the experience Vaela was hoping for as she becomes stranded in the frozen and unfriendly wastelands. It is at this point the book becomes a bit more interesting as the scenes in the Spire were painful and forced. The family Vaela is traveling with could not be more obnoxious. Let me clarify: the mother was unbelievably fussy and whiny, she found the natives “gaudy” and as she sat in her futuristic heli-plane, she complained that she doesn’t believe in technology. There were times I wondered why the woman was even on the damn trip. What made these scenes even worse was the dialogue; clunky and pretentious, I actually read it out loud just to hear how badly it was written.
Then Vaela meets the natives. Somehow after not seeing another Spirean for almost 300 years, one of the tribes of the Continent is quite fluent in English. Their grasp of the language is amazingly good as they are able to use words like indolent, tactician, and fertility. It was a groan out loud moment when a ten year-old used the word ‘subterfuge’ correctly.
Of course, the pampered Vaela is initially useless; she can’t cook, hunt, field dress a kill, or even clean her own house. Servants did everything. But, of course, after meeting the spunky and gorgeous Yuki, this changes. No surprise. Also no surprise, Vaela falls madly in love with one of the natives (Harlequin, remember) and must help_____ and has to make a choice between______ and____because these people are_______.
This is one of those books that, with each page, you find yourself more and more aggravated or dumbfounded but there is no way you’re going to throw it across the room like you really want to. It’s the proverbial train wreck; you can’t look away, you want to see what happens. Some of the more unbelievable moments: Vaela actually argues with the man who saved her from certain rape about her love for cartography: it’s educational and not for battle (that’s where the word tactician came in). Somehow there are oranges in the arctic tundra. The natives speak perfect English. The existence of Mrs. Shaw. I could go on, and from looking on Goodreads I can see The Continent has a lot of fans, so I know I’m in the minority, but it just didn’t click with me. I won’t be continuing this series.
Addedum: SPOILER ALERT. I left blanks because I didn't want to "ruin" the book for anyone but this is how the sentence reads out: Vaela falls madly in love with one of the natives (Harlequin, remember) and must help them survive and has to make a choice between the whites and the natives because these people are "now her people". The Spirean council even tells her she must forfeit her place in the Spire if she chooses to help those on the Continent.
Vaela Sun of the Spire is celebrating her sixteenth birthday. The Spire is a technologically advanced country with heli-planes and magnetic trains but is still old world culture where people use calling cards and address one another by their surname. Women are regarded as fragile creatures and must hide their bare legs from men. A courtship is declared before a couple may date. The Spire is peaceful and perfect and everyone is happy, unlike the citizens of the Continent. Its indigenous tribes have been at war for over two hundred years and the Spire has found this to be a source of entertainment. With a multi-year waiting list, people of the Spire gladly pay big bucks to go on safari and fly their heli-planes over the battlefields to watch the two tribes murder one another. And Vaela’s parents have pulled strings and probably sold their souls to take her on one of these gruesome expeditions.
Please don’t even think of comparing this to The Hunger Games.
Obviously this is not the experience Vaela was hoping for as she becomes stranded in the frozen and unfriendly wastelands. It is at this point the book becomes a bit more interesting as the scenes in the Spire were painful and forced. The family Vaela is traveling with could not be more obnoxious. Let me clarify: the mother was unbelievably fussy and whiny, she found the natives “gaudy” and as she sat in her futuristic heli-plane, she complained that she doesn’t believe in technology. There were times I wondered why the woman was even on the damn trip. What made these scenes even worse was the dialogue; clunky and pretentious, I actually read it out loud just to hear how badly it was written.
Then Vaela meets the natives. Somehow after not seeing another Spirean for almost 300 years, one of the tribes of the Continent is quite fluent in English. Their grasp of the language is amazingly good as they are able to use words like indolent, tactician, and fertility. It was a groan out loud moment when a ten year-old used the word ‘subterfuge’ correctly.
Of course, the pampered Vaela is initially useless; she can’t cook, hunt, field dress a kill, or even clean her own house. Servants did everything. But, of course, after meeting the spunky and gorgeous Yuki, this changes. No surprise. Also no surprise, Vaela falls madly in love with one of the natives (Harlequin, remember) and must help_____ and has to make a choice between______ and____because these people are_______.
This is one of those books that, with each page, you find yourself more and more aggravated or dumbfounded but there is no way you’re going to throw it across the room like you really want to. It’s the proverbial train wreck; you can’t look away, you want to see what happens. Some of the more unbelievable moments: Vaela actually argues with the man who saved her from certain rape about her love for cartography: it’s educational and not for battle (that’s where the word tactician came in). Somehow there are oranges in the arctic tundra. The natives speak perfect English. The existence of Mrs. Shaw. I could go on, and from looking on Goodreads I can see The Continent has a lot of fans, so I know I’m in the minority, but it just didn’t click with me. I won’t be continuing this series.
Addedum: SPOILER ALERT. I left blanks because I didn't want to "ruin" the book for anyone but this is how the sentence reads out: Vaela falls madly in love with one of the natives (Harlequin, remember) and must help them survive and has to make a choice between the whites and the natives because these people are "now her people". The Spirean council even tells her she must forfeit her place in the Spire if she chooses to help those on the Continent.
nope
November 7, 2016Describes indigenous people with red skin as savages who are prone to raping and drinking, as well as other egregious stereotypes.
See these Twitter threads for more info:
https://twitter.com/theauslibrary/sta...
https://twitter.com/elleonwords/statu...
Edited to add: a link to a thread featuring a review of the book. https://twitter.com/justinaireland/st...
See these Twitter threads for more info:
https://twitter.com/theauslibrary/sta...
https://twitter.com/elleonwords/statu...
Edited to add: a link to a thread featuring a review of the book. https://twitter.com/justinaireland/st...
June 11, 2017
Note: This book is being revised based on feedback from marginalized voices, which is great. I have not yet read the revised version. If you're interested in these issues, please take some time to listen to and consider the varied opinions and experiences of marginalized voices before coming to any conclusions.
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Previous Review:
The best word I can think of to describe this book is POWERFUL. Because it's powerful on every level.
It's powerful on a sentence level. There are so many lines that jump out as deep and profound and terribly beautiful. Like:
“I feel like a fool, having somehow failed to ever mark the difference between spectacle and death.”
and
"But one cannot stay forever in the eclipse of tragedy, and though I try to avoid both the darkness and the light, each waits for me in turn."
It's powerful on a scene level. There were multiple times where I had to stop and read a paragraph or a scene over and over because it was so moving and thought-provoking.
And it's powerful on a story level. When high society cartographer Vaela Sun is stranded alone on the isolated, war-torn continent, she is exposed to war for the first time in her life. And discovers, along with the reader, that war isn't a spectacle. It's a brutal, complicated, morally complex, terrible thing. And the same way its heaviness impacts Vaela, the weight of it sits on your mind and your heart long after you've finished reading.
This is a book that’ll have you turning the pages frantically to see what happens next. It's a book that'll make your heart go mushy as you and the characters fall in love. It's a book you'll be excited to read. But it's also a book that'll make you want to be better. To do more. To try harder. And that's a powerful thing.
--------
Previous Review:
The best word I can think of to describe this book is POWERFUL. Because it's powerful on every level.
It's powerful on a sentence level. There are so many lines that jump out as deep and profound and terribly beautiful. Like:
“I feel like a fool, having somehow failed to ever mark the difference between spectacle and death.”
and
"But one cannot stay forever in the eclipse of tragedy, and though I try to avoid both the darkness and the light, each waits for me in turn."
It's powerful on a scene level. There were multiple times where I had to stop and read a paragraph or a scene over and over because it was so moving and thought-provoking.
And it's powerful on a story level. When high society cartographer Vaela Sun is stranded alone on the isolated, war-torn continent, she is exposed to war for the first time in her life. And discovers, along with the reader, that war isn't a spectacle. It's a brutal, complicated, morally complex, terrible thing. And the same way its heaviness impacts Vaela, the weight of it sits on your mind and your heart long after you've finished reading.
This is a book that’ll have you turning the pages frantically to see what happens next. It's a book that'll make your heart go mushy as you and the characters fall in love. It's a book you'll be excited to read. But it's also a book that'll make you want to be better. To do more. To try harder. And that's a powerful thing.
Read
December 9, 2016y'all know how I feel about colonizers' fantasies of White Saviorism so I will be passing HARD on this book.
November 4, 2016
This isn't a review, but if for some reason, I ever read this book, I'm sure the rating won't change so the rating can be at 1 star. I'd just like to point out a few things.
When I read the synopsis I KNEW that the "savage people" would be Native Americans. Why? Because white people only see Native people as being savages. And would you look at that: the other reviewers have let me know that I was right. Now, knowing this, I thought that perhaps this would be something like the Disney Pocahontas movie where the white people learn that Natives are not savages and are not beneath white people. If that happens in the sequels to this book, that's great but as of now, this just looks like your typical racist white garbage.
The next thing I noticed is that nearly the 5 stars "omg this book was great, I want to live in this world" were given by white readers. Let that sink in. And let that be an indicator to how diversity keeps getting pushed to the background by books that are extremely racist. Let that show you how racist books with white supporters can go on to become popular/successful, even if minorities are offended by it because who cares about how minority readers feel? We need those white people dollars!!
The final thing I'd like to point out is @ YA fiction, you can do better. I've seen you do better. The diversity movement is not happening just so things like this can be published anyway. @ Keira Drake, I'm sure you're a lovely person and all but please don't write another racist book again. It's not okay.
When I read the synopsis I KNEW that the "savage people" would be Native Americans. Why? Because white people only see Native people as being savages. And would you look at that: the other reviewers have let me know that I was right. Now, knowing this, I thought that perhaps this would be something like the Disney Pocahontas movie where the white people learn that Natives are not savages and are not beneath white people. If that happens in the sequels to this book, that's great but as of now, this just looks like your typical racist white garbage.
The next thing I noticed is that nearly the 5 stars "omg this book was great, I want to live in this world" were given by white readers. Let that sink in. And let that be an indicator to how diversity keeps getting pushed to the background by books that are extremely racist. Let that show you how racist books with white supporters can go on to become popular/successful, even if minorities are offended by it because who cares about how minority readers feel? We need those white people dollars!!
The final thing I'd like to point out is @ YA fiction, you can do better. I've seen you do better. The diversity movement is not happening just so things like this can be published anyway. @ Keira Drake, I'm sure you're a lovely person and all but please don't write another racist book again. It's not okay.
November 3, 2016
Apparently this book is Super Fucking Racist. Calling natives "red skinned", calling them "savages". From what I've heard, the main character is a white girl who's going to save these native people. How did this book get published? *side eyes this book so hard*
November 3, 2016
After what several trusted authors/reviewers/book people have said on Twitter today, there is no way I'll be reading this book.
May 15, 2018
Update: 15/5:
Read my review: https://yadramallama.wordpress.com/
Here's an excerpt:
"The Continent was released as an ARC in 2017 for willing participants who would give a fair and valued response to the book. I feel both of those words no longer apply to the reviews I see on GoodReads most of the time now. When the ARC was released, reviews hit her GoodReads page, and not all of them were fair.
Assumptions were made, accusations were thrown, and an author was listed as ‘racist’ because of her debut novel. Let’s discuss some of the reasons why and then go into detail about the actual book without ripping it to pieces and removing context. By the way, a lot of reviews started with “I heard” or “apparently” which proves the majority of one-star reviews trying to bitterly tear the author apart are from people jumping on the bandwagon of hate."
Update 16/4/2018:
I finished it! I really enjoyed this book! I have a feeling some of the new bad reviews are because of the things she had to change. It would really take away from the essence of this novel.
Update 6/4/2018:
THEY'RE PRINTING THE ORIGINAL IN MY COUNTRY!!! I HAVE THE ORIGINAL!!! I am so insanely excited!
First Impressions:
I wouldn't mind reading a copy of the original story rather than have it policed for me. I can decide what's offensive for myself and I wish the author hadn't felt the need to change things so she wouldn't be attacked.
The author has every right to write however she wants. You have every right to disagree. But to attack her? How disgusting some people are acting in a community that's meant to embrace differences and support authors.
Read my review: https://yadramallama.wordpress.com/
Here's an excerpt:
"The Continent was released as an ARC in 2017 for willing participants who would give a fair and valued response to the book. I feel both of those words no longer apply to the reviews I see on GoodReads most of the time now. When the ARC was released, reviews hit her GoodReads page, and not all of them were fair.
Assumptions were made, accusations were thrown, and an author was listed as ‘racist’ because of her debut novel. Let’s discuss some of the reasons why and then go into detail about the actual book without ripping it to pieces and removing context. By the way, a lot of reviews started with “I heard” or “apparently” which proves the majority of one-star reviews trying to bitterly tear the author apart are from people jumping on the bandwagon of hate."
Update 16/4/2018:
I finished it! I really enjoyed this book! I have a feeling some of the new bad reviews are because of the things she had to change. It would really take away from the essence of this novel.
Update 6/4/2018:
THEY'RE PRINTING THE ORIGINAL IN MY COUNTRY!!! I HAVE THE ORIGINAL!!! I am so insanely excited!
First Impressions:
I wouldn't mind reading a copy of the original story rather than have it policed for me. I can decide what's offensive for myself and I wish the author hadn't felt the need to change things so she wouldn't be attacked.
The author has every right to write however she wants. You have every right to disagree. But to attack her? How disgusting some people are acting in a community that's meant to embrace differences and support authors.
November 5, 2016
How did such racist fuckery get so many 5 star reviews?
January 3, 2019
*Updates on Controversy at End of Review*
4.5 STARS
"Snow and ice, miles and miles of treacherous wilderness…Let’s be honest—it’s not the scenery that has every citizen in the Spire clamoring to see the Continent. It’s the war.”
Premise : Vaela Sun is going to the Continent. Citizens of the Spire, a peaceful federation of nations, rarely get a chance to visit the mysterious Continent, but it is the focus of much curiosity and speculation, for it is home to a curious anachronism of the past: warfare. On the Continent, two “uncivilized” societies engage in bloody battle, and Spirians are drawn to witness the barbaric pageantry.
“Living in the Spire is like looking at the world from behind a veil—we don’t have a true sense of what things are like. Not really. I just want to see something real.”
Soon, Vaela and her parents set off on the tour and find themselves marveling both at the landscapes and the foreign spectacle of the savages at war. But Vaela is wholly unprepared for the tragedy that brings her face-to-face with the violence of genocide. YA Alternative History/F/SF. Expected publication: January 3rd 2017 by Harlequin TEEN.
Wow.
No book is perfect, but this one comes pretty close to "genre perfect." Crossover appeal will be limited by a few elements, but the book will find many eager readers among the YA, Alternative History and Fantasy crowds. Fans of Veronica Rossi's wonderful Under the Never Sky trilogy will love The Continent.
The universe quickly establishes itself as a sort of “alternative Victorian.” No magic, no monsters and no huge tech changes (except, perhaps, a heavier reliance on steam than on other sources of energy). There are two main changes: (1) the worldwide peace treaties that boast 300 years of success (excluding the Continent, of course) and (2) the general land formations and their ethnic distributions.
What I Liked : (1) The storyline is perfectly set up and paced. Literally, by 5%, Vaela is climbing on board a “heli-plane” for her tour, and before long, she’s mapping the Continent from aerial views, feeling horribly transfixed by the violence and tramping around on the actual terrain.
During this period of further setup, readers spend a lot of time with Vaela’s very Victorian sensibilities and her rapturously loving and proud parents, and nothing terribly exciting happens. This will irritate some readers; but I was never bored, even during quiet periods of setup and recovery, because I knew Vaela’s happy, naïve existence would not last. Drake foreshadows the tragedy in store for this rich Victorian heiress, so I knew her happiness was temporary.
And when the tragedy comes, at exactly 20%, it’s just as shocking as if I hadn’t been expecting it. Certain details enliven the setup and the twist and make it far more engrossing than it would have otherwise been. It begins to highlight the theme of the work—that savagery and nobility can be found in any society.
(2) I was engrossed in Vaela’s point of view and character arc, as she matured and interacted with other characters throughout the book; I love how she overcomes the Victorian attitude that exertion is unladylike. She becomes a much more confident, capable woman.
“'You would stay Noro’s hand in defense of a man who knowingly slanders your honor?’ ‘Oh, honestly, you Aven’ei!’ I say. ‘My honor is intact, whether Shoshi slanders it or not. I don’t need his good opinion to know myself.’”
(3) It surprised me to find that the warring tribes of the Continent were of an Asian-like culture, and I enjoyed the Asian-flavored details, like the dance of manners and the languages.
You May Not Like This Book If… : Readers of fantasy and historical fiction might find a moving read in The Continent, depending on what they’re looking for. The main reason I say “crossover appeal will be limited” has to do with the 300 years of world peace. How did it happen? The Continent never really explains the history of the treaty. The book gives most of its attention to the characters and their reactions to seeing, experiencing and coping with violence for the first time, instead of developing the worldbuilding history. As with many novels, good writing can help suspend disbelief, and I was hooked once the story took off toward the Continent; but some readers will not be satisfied with this.
In addition, readers who require complicated, well-detailed milieus may be disappointed, as the book focuses much more on humanity than on how the world itself works. For example, the solution to the war, in this book, makes war seem overly simple. Also, the world displays an utter lack of religious development. Nobody swears or prays or does anything remotely religious (or irreligious), during the whole book, even before going to war and even though Asian cultures often have strong religious components; it’s as if the book is sanitized from anything controversial. Perhaps the insinuation is that religion has been eradicated right along with war; but in that case, at least one of the warring tribes would be religious, wouldn’t it?
Finally, I would not recommend this book to readers who value a tactically complex plot or riveting action over emotionally complex work. They might find this book rather boring. There are few battle scenes and no quick-thinking, clever plot fixes.
Recommendations : If you like YA, READ THIS BOOK. I recommend it, in fact, to anyone who enjoys emotional complexity, even at the expense of plot complexity. Vaela is a fabulous heroine finding her way in a world that has suddenly thrown her the king of curveballs. I love every word of her journey and I can’t wait to try the audio version!
Thanks you so, so much to Keira Drake, Harlequin TEEN & Netgalley for my review copy of The Continent.
Update 11/12/2016- On the recent controversy criticizing this book as “racist”: My original thoughts still stand. Portraying racism does not make a book racist (see Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Earnest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying), especially when the point of the book is about overcoming cultural assumptions and superiority. Young people need books that help them understand racism; shielding them from racist thought does absolutely no good.
The Continent is no Huckleberry Finn, but I think it’s an important pop culture read for teen girls. The heroine’s inner journey repudiates the racism portrayed earlier in the book. Please consider reading the book before you make judgments about the content.
Update 11/16/16- For those who are saying the “white savior” trope makes this book racist, I don’t buy it. If Vaela were any color but white, no one would be complaining about her saving the world. I’m all for multicultural heroines, but that includes white heroines as well.
My personal reviewing policy is to give credit where credit is due and to be honest about a book’s weaknesses. Therefore: This book uses the “teen girl saves the world” trope, which is among the most common in YA; that is part of why I took away a half star–it’s unoriginal and unrealistic. It makes the war plot seem overly simplistic. But that’s a relatively small fault for a beautiful character-driven allegory.
The reviewer outcry against this book frustrates me. Many reviewers just seem to be shaming this author because it’s popular and easy to do.
*Update 5/11/17- Thanks to clearer heads and the rise of more coherent, helpful discussion from authors and others, I finally understand why the original ARC of The Continent frustrated readers:
In The Continent, two cultures are at war with each other for reasons of genocide or material gain. (Wars have been fought on these bases, of course, but it’s certainly unflattering for the cultures described in The Continent.) Although this is a fantasy book world with allegedly fantastic races of humanity, these two warring civilizations closely resemble colonial Native American and medieval Japanese cultures in certain descriptions. The other main culture in the book (there are lots of cultures, but only three are directly involved in this novel’s plot) is a white Victorian England-ish culture, and it has somehow inexplicably made peace with all other nations except these two warring nations, who refuse to participate in the alliance with the other multi-colored nations.
Put as such, I can see why readers may feel the the skin color distribution unintentionally implies white racial superiority. I’m grateful to those who took pains to explain this carefully, instead of jumping on the bully-train and muddying the waters without actually bothering to understand the issue.
I personally still think the outrage is over-the-top because the author is clearly not racist, but we’re all allowed our opinions.
If you liked this review, you can read more of my speculative fiction reviews on my blog, here.
4.5 STARS
"Snow and ice, miles and miles of treacherous wilderness…Let’s be honest—it’s not the scenery that has every citizen in the Spire clamoring to see the Continent. It’s the war.”
Premise : Vaela Sun is going to the Continent. Citizens of the Spire, a peaceful federation of nations, rarely get a chance to visit the mysterious Continent, but it is the focus of much curiosity and speculation, for it is home to a curious anachronism of the past: warfare. On the Continent, two “uncivilized” societies engage in bloody battle, and Spirians are drawn to witness the barbaric pageantry.
“Living in the Spire is like looking at the world from behind a veil—we don’t have a true sense of what things are like. Not really. I just want to see something real.”
Soon, Vaela and her parents set off on the tour and find themselves marveling both at the landscapes and the foreign spectacle of the savages at war. But Vaela is wholly unprepared for the tragedy that brings her face-to-face with the violence of genocide. YA Alternative History/F/SF. Expected publication: January 3rd 2017 by Harlequin TEEN.
Wow.
No book is perfect, but this one comes pretty close to "genre perfect." Crossover appeal will be limited by a few elements, but the book will find many eager readers among the YA, Alternative History and Fantasy crowds. Fans of Veronica Rossi's wonderful Under the Never Sky trilogy will love The Continent.
The universe quickly establishes itself as a sort of “alternative Victorian.” No magic, no monsters and no huge tech changes (except, perhaps, a heavier reliance on steam than on other sources of energy). There are two main changes: (1) the worldwide peace treaties that boast 300 years of success (excluding the Continent, of course) and (2) the general land formations and their ethnic distributions.
What I Liked : (1) The storyline is perfectly set up and paced. Literally, by 5%, Vaela is climbing on board a “heli-plane” for her tour, and before long, she’s mapping the Continent from aerial views, feeling horribly transfixed by the violence and tramping around on the actual terrain.
During this period of further setup, readers spend a lot of time with Vaela’s very Victorian sensibilities and her rapturously loving and proud parents, and nothing terribly exciting happens. This will irritate some readers; but I was never bored, even during quiet periods of setup and recovery, because I knew Vaela’s happy, naïve existence would not last. Drake foreshadows the tragedy in store for this rich Victorian heiress, so I knew her happiness was temporary.
And when the tragedy comes, at exactly 20%, it’s just as shocking as if I hadn’t been expecting it. Certain details enliven the setup and the twist and make it far more engrossing than it would have otherwise been. It begins to highlight the theme of the work—that savagery and nobility can be found in any society.
(2) I was engrossed in Vaela’s point of view and character arc, as she matured and interacted with other characters throughout the book; I love how she overcomes the Victorian attitude that exertion is unladylike. She becomes a much more confident, capable woman.
“'You would stay Noro’s hand in defense of a man who knowingly slanders your honor?’ ‘Oh, honestly, you Aven’ei!’ I say. ‘My honor is intact, whether Shoshi slanders it or not. I don’t need his good opinion to know myself.’”
(3) It surprised me to find that the warring tribes of the Continent were of an Asian-like culture, and I enjoyed the Asian-flavored details, like the dance of manners and the languages.
You May Not Like This Book If… : Readers of fantasy and historical fiction might find a moving read in The Continent, depending on what they’re looking for. The main reason I say “crossover appeal will be limited” has to do with the 300 years of world peace. How did it happen? The Continent never really explains the history of the treaty. The book gives most of its attention to the characters and their reactions to seeing, experiencing and coping with violence for the first time, instead of developing the worldbuilding history. As with many novels, good writing can help suspend disbelief, and I was hooked once the story took off toward the Continent; but some readers will not be satisfied with this.
In addition, readers who require complicated, well-detailed milieus may be disappointed, as the book focuses much more on humanity than on how the world itself works. For example, the solution to the war, in this book, makes war seem overly simple. Also, the world displays an utter lack of religious development. Nobody swears or prays or does anything remotely religious (or irreligious), during the whole book, even before going to war and even though Asian cultures often have strong religious components; it’s as if the book is sanitized from anything controversial. Perhaps the insinuation is that religion has been eradicated right along with war; but in that case, at least one of the warring tribes would be religious, wouldn’t it?
Finally, I would not recommend this book to readers who value a tactically complex plot or riveting action over emotionally complex work. They might find this book rather boring. There are few battle scenes and no quick-thinking, clever plot fixes.
Recommendations : If you like YA, READ THIS BOOK. I recommend it, in fact, to anyone who enjoys emotional complexity, even at the expense of plot complexity. Vaela is a fabulous heroine finding her way in a world that has suddenly thrown her the king of curveballs. I love every word of her journey and I can’t wait to try the audio version!
Thanks you so, so much to Keira Drake, Harlequin TEEN & Netgalley for my review copy of The Continent.
Update 11/12/2016- On the recent controversy criticizing this book as “racist”: My original thoughts still stand. Portraying racism does not make a book racist (see Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Earnest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying), especially when the point of the book is about overcoming cultural assumptions and superiority. Young people need books that help them understand racism; shielding them from racist thought does absolutely no good.
The Continent is no Huckleberry Finn, but I think it’s an important pop culture read for teen girls. The heroine’s inner journey repudiates the racism portrayed earlier in the book. Please consider reading the book before you make judgments about the content.
Update 11/16/16- For those who are saying the “white savior” trope makes this book racist, I don’t buy it. If Vaela were any color but white, no one would be complaining about her saving the world. I’m all for multicultural heroines, but that includes white heroines as well.
My personal reviewing policy is to give credit where credit is due and to be honest about a book’s weaknesses. Therefore: This book uses the “teen girl saves the world” trope, which is among the most common in YA; that is part of why I took away a half star–it’s unoriginal and unrealistic. It makes the war plot seem overly simplistic. But that’s a relatively small fault for a beautiful character-driven allegory.
The reviewer outcry against this book frustrates me. Many reviewers just seem to be shaming this author because it’s popular and easy to do.
*Update 5/11/17- Thanks to clearer heads and the rise of more coherent, helpful discussion from authors and others, I finally understand why the original ARC of The Continent frustrated readers:
In The Continent, two cultures are at war with each other for reasons of genocide or material gain. (Wars have been fought on these bases, of course, but it’s certainly unflattering for the cultures described in The Continent.) Although this is a fantasy book world with allegedly fantastic races of humanity, these two warring civilizations closely resemble colonial Native American and medieval Japanese cultures in certain descriptions. The other main culture in the book (there are lots of cultures, but only three are directly involved in this novel’s plot) is a white Victorian England-ish culture, and it has somehow inexplicably made peace with all other nations except these two warring nations, who refuse to participate in the alliance with the other multi-colored nations.
Put as such, I can see why readers may feel the the skin color distribution unintentionally implies white racial superiority. I’m grateful to those who took pains to explain this carefully, instead of jumping on the bully-train and muddying the waters without actually bothering to understand the issue.
I personally still think the outrage is over-the-top because the author is clearly not racist, but we’re all allowed our opinions.
If you liked this review, you can read more of my speculative fiction reviews on my blog, here.
February 9, 2018
You may recall that, back in 2016, there was a lot of pushback to Keira Drake's The Continent. I recommend you read Zoraida Córdova's critique on November 7, 2016, at YA Interrobang. It is excellent. In response to the intense conversations on social media, Drake and her publisher, Harlequin Teen (a division of HarperCollins), decided to postpone the release of The Continent to give Drake an opportunity to revise it. I wonder if their decision is based on a multi-book contract? mThe Continent is the first book in a series she is going to write. It is "Book 1" in the series, and will be released on March 27, 2018.
~~~~
In their announcement on November 7, 2016 (posted to their Tumblr page), Harlequin Teen said:
I wrote about the 2016 ARC (advance review copy) on January 31, 2017. Over the last couple of weeks, I've read the 2018 ARC.
My conclusion?
Drake's revisions are superficial.
The Continent is not better now than it was in 2016.
~~~~
If you haven't read the book, here is what you need to know to make sense of my review:
The main character is a teen named Vaela Sun who lives on a land mass called the Spire. In their heli-planes, people of the Spire like to fly over a land mass they call the Continent, to see the battle there between two nations of people. It reminds them how far they've come. Vaela and her parents are on the tour with Mr. and Mrs. Shaw and their son, Aaden. When their heli-plane crashes on the Continent, Vaela is captured by the Xoe and rescued by Nomo, who is of the Aven'ei nation.
Let's start with changes to the books description. The first and last paragraphs are unchanged. The middle paragraph has some changes. The word "uncivilized" is gone from the 2018 description. The significant change, however, as shown here is about who Vaela is:
In the revision, Drake has made Vaela a descendent of one of the nations on the Continent. That information is presented on page 18:
At her website, Drake said that she is Sicilian, Native American, French, Irish, and Danish and that she takes great pride in her ancestry. Vaela and her mother, in this revision, have pride in their Aven'ei ancestry. She's got it a bit odd, though. Miss Delia Waters was not Aven'ei. She fell in love and married an Aven'ei man. Their son, Roderick, is the ancestor with Aven'ei heritage. An interesting note: as this story unfolds, Vaela falls in love with Nomo, who is Aven'ei.
For many years while I was at the University of Illinois, I worked towards helping the university get rid of its "Chief Illiniwek." It was stereotypical, but fans loved and love it. When I or others described its history and its stereotypical aspects, we were sometimes countered by a person who said "well I'm part Native American and I think it honors Native Americans." That claim was put forth as a shield to give their point of view credibility. When pressed, they could not specify a Native nation (some said "Cherokee" -- which is not surprising). For others, a research process was being done--much like the one that Vaela and her mother have done. It'd be interesting to know Drake's backstory for their claim. What was Drake thinking of as she developed this for them? And was she (or is she) undertaking similar research on her own Native American ancestry? Either way, her decision to give Vaela that ancestry feels to me like a shield that gives Drake a way to say that this is not a White savior story. If Vaela's actions in the rest of the story changed in some way as a consequence of that identity, it might have worked, but there isn't any change. That identity is just inserted. It is returned to at the end, but all those pages in the middle are unchanged.
When Vaela's mother tells Mrs. Shaw that they have Aven'ei ancestry, Mrs. Shaw has some racist ideas that she doesn't hesitate to speak aloud. Mr. Shaw replies to her. Here's that passage (p. 19):
In recent conversations about racist characters and the words they utter, writers and critics state that there has to be someway to immediately check that racism, on that page. Mr. Drake is doing that, above. But, seeing it in action... it feels forced. It, like the passages about Vaela's identity, are simply pasted into this story. There's nothing to make them work as part of the story. Cut them out, and you wouldn't miss them. Why, then is all of this here? As I said above, it feels like Drake is inserting them as a shield to protect her from criticism. Another change to the 2018 ARC is that Vaela prays, here and there, to "Maker." I wonder if that is Drake's effort to turn that Aven'ei heritage into some semblance of an Aven'ei religion? That is possible, but I didn't find it significant enough to matter.
~~~~
Some of the changes Drake made were easy to do. She was able to easily replace every use of "Topi" with "Xoe." She was able to search for "natives" and replace that, too, sometimes making minor edits in the words before and after the change. Here's an example:
Those changes, however, are superficial. You can swap "natives" for "Xoe" and unless major revisions are done to the ways that group is depicted, it doesn't matter. We still see them as brutal, doing things like hurling a head at the heli-plane. There's one part in both books where Vaela tells Nomo that they are people, too, but--as before--that effort is overwhelmed by the rest of the book. Indeed, when the Topi/Xoe are attacking the Aven'ei village, Vaela sets out to kill one with her knife and she kills others, later, on a battlefield. Her statement to Nomo that they're people, too, is feeble in light of all else she says and does, and all the ways that Drake describes them.
If you read my review in January of 2017, you may recall that I was especially troubled by Drake's description of the Topi village. That is gone, but the changes do nothing, because the Topi/Xoe's character (as a people) is unchanged. Here's a passage about their villages from the 2016 ARC. In each of these two excerpts, I'll highlight the major changes (p. 47):
And here's the revised passage in the 2018 ARC (p. 51):
Where she used "war paint" to describe the Topi, Drake is using "colorful tattoos" instead. Instead of having "reddish brown" skin, their skin is pale. What they look like, though, doesn't ultimately matter. What they do, is unchanged. When the heli-plane flies over a field where the Topi/Xoe and the Aven'ei are fighting, there's blood everywhere, spattered on the snow. The Xoe have killed all the Aven'ei and decapitated an archer. The Topi/Xoe then scream, raise their fists in the air, "drunk with victory, reveling in blood" and heave the severed head at the heli-plane (p. 51/56). See what I mean? It doesn't matter if the Topi/Xoe are in face paint or tattooed. It doesn't matter how much Vaela's thoughts here and there seem to think well of them.
At the end of the story, Vaela returns to the Spire to ask for help. In the 2016 ARC, her idea is that the Spire can use its resources to build a wall between the two nations of people. In the 2018 ARC, her idea is that the Spire can build towers. Here's those two passages:
Having given Vaela Aven'ei ancestry, Drake must think that her not-Spire-alone identity solves the White Savior problem of those passages. Who Vaela is, however, doesn't matter. She went to the Spire--to the more "civilized" people--to get help. By the end of both versions, the Spire arrives. They are exercising their power to stop the war on the Continent. I should note that there's more than one nation on the Spire, and it isn't all four that come to help.
~~~~
I think that Drake was also criticized for the language she created for the Aven'ei. They, and the language they speak, she said on her website, were inspired by Asian and European peoples--in particular--Japanese. Here's some of them:
Name changes:
Inzu is now Kinza
Teku is now Nadu
Keiji is now Kiri
Shoshi is now Shovo
Yuki is now Raia
Hayato is now Kastenai
Some are words:
miyake is miyara (supposed to be a term of endearment)
takaharu is tanadai (supposed to mean something akin to a whore)
Some of the physical description of the Aven'ei is gone or changed, too. In the 2018 ARC, Nomo's eyes aren't described as being "almond shaped."
~~~~
As noted above, I do not think the revisions are substantial enough to address the issues raised in 2016. There are many who wonder what Drake could have done to fix The Continent.
Frankly, I think these kinds of books rest on a flawed foundation. They're written by people who want to use race and racial issues, misrepresentations of the past and present, to help -- let's be real -- White readers learn about injustice. Along the way, readers of the groups that, historically and in the present, experience oppression and racism on a daily basis, are essentially asked to be patient. I think that's wrong. Drake is trying to be a savior. Her editor is enabling that motivation. Her publisher is putting money into this project. Those are my thoughts. I welcome yours.
~~~~
In their announcement on November 7, 2016 (posted to their Tumblr page), Harlequin Teen said:
Over the last few days, there has been online discussion about racial stereotypes in connection with one of our upcoming 2017 titles, The Continent by Keira Drake.
As the publisher, we take the concerns that have been voiced seriously. We are deeply sorry to have caused offense, as this was never our or the author's intention. We have listened to the criticism and feedback and are working with the author to address the issues that have been raised.
We fully support Keira as a talented author. To ensure that the themes in her book are communicated in the way she planned, we will be moving the publication date.
- HarlequinTeen
I wrote about the 2016 ARC (advance review copy) on January 31, 2017. Over the last couple of weeks, I've read the 2018 ARC.
My conclusion?
Drake's revisions are superficial.
The Continent is not better now than it was in 2016.
~~~~
If you haven't read the book, here is what you need to know to make sense of my review:
The main character is a teen named Vaela Sun who lives on a land mass called the Spire. In their heli-planes, people of the Spire like to fly over a land mass they call the Continent, to see the battle there between two nations of people. It reminds them how far they've come. Vaela and her parents are on the tour with Mr. and Mrs. Shaw and their son, Aaden. When their heli-plane crashes on the Continent, Vaela is captured by the Xoe and rescued by Nomo, who is of the Aven'ei nation.
Let's start with changes to the books description. The first and last paragraphs are unchanged. The middle paragraph has some changes. The word "uncivilized" is gone from the 2018 description. The significant change, however, as shown here is about who Vaela is:
2016:
For Vaela--a talented apprentice cartographer--the journey is a dream come true: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve upon the maps she's drawn of this vast, frozen land.
2018:
For Vaela, the war holds little interest. As a talented apprentice cartographer and a descendant of the Continent herself, she sees the journey as a dream come true: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve upon the maps she’s drawn of this vast, frozen land.
In the revision, Drake has made Vaela a descendent of one of the nations on the Continent. That information is presented on page 18:
“Did you know, my mother says, addressing the Shaws, “that Vaela and I are of Aven’ei descent?”
Aaden looks back and forth between the two of us. “Are you quite sure?” he says. “Many claim as much, but its rarely true.”
She smiles. “We can trace it all the way back to one of my ancestors, a Miss Delia Waters. She was a cultural attaché for the East—an illustrious position, all told—and spent a great deal of time on the Continent, back in that all-too-short bit of time when we had contact with those living overseas. Anyhow, we haven’t all the details, but we know she married an Aven’ei by the name of Qia who died soon after their wedding. She returned to the Spire, kept her given name, and gave birth to a baby boy—Roderick—a man of considerable accomplishment, so the story goes.”
At her website, Drake said that she is Sicilian, Native American, French, Irish, and Danish and that she takes great pride in her ancestry. Vaela and her mother, in this revision, have pride in their Aven'ei ancestry. She's got it a bit odd, though. Miss Delia Waters was not Aven'ei. She fell in love and married an Aven'ei man. Their son, Roderick, is the ancestor with Aven'ei heritage. An interesting note: as this story unfolds, Vaela falls in love with Nomo, who is Aven'ei.
For many years while I was at the University of Illinois, I worked towards helping the university get rid of its "Chief Illiniwek." It was stereotypical, but fans loved and love it. When I or others described its history and its stereotypical aspects, we were sometimes countered by a person who said "well I'm part Native American and I think it honors Native Americans." That claim was put forth as a shield to give their point of view credibility. When pressed, they could not specify a Native nation (some said "Cherokee" -- which is not surprising). For others, a research process was being done--much like the one that Vaela and her mother have done. It'd be interesting to know Drake's backstory for their claim. What was Drake thinking of as she developed this for them? And was she (or is she) undertaking similar research on her own Native American ancestry? Either way, her decision to give Vaela that ancestry feels to me like a shield that gives Drake a way to say that this is not a White savior story. If Vaela's actions in the rest of the story changed in some way as a consequence of that identity, it might have worked, but there isn't any change. That identity is just inserted. It is returned to at the end, but all those pages in the middle are unchanged.
When Vaela's mother tells Mrs. Shaw that they have Aven'ei ancestry, Mrs. Shaw has some racist ideas that she doesn't hesitate to speak aloud. Mr. Shaw replies to her. Here's that passage (p. 19):
“I do hope you haven’t inherited any violent tendencies,” says Mrs. Shaw, before sticking a forkful of duck confit into her mouth, chewing it carefully, and swallowing. “I suspect that sort of thing gets passed right down through the generations. Bit of a questionable lineage, isn’t it?
A hush falls over the table at this remark; my mother and father shift in their chairs, and I sit quietly, poking at my entrée, my face flaming even though I am certainly not the one who should be embarrassed. Eventually, Mrs. Shaw looks round at us, her eyes wide. “What? Have I said something off?”
Mr. Shaw clears his throat. “Now dearest,” he says, “that’s a rather singular way of thinking, isn’t it? An outmoded way of thinking? Violence itself is not a thing exclusive to the Xoe and the Aven’ei. After all, before the Four Nations united to become the Spire, the people of our own lands were ever locked in some conflict or another.”
In recent conversations about racist characters and the words they utter, writers and critics state that there has to be someway to immediately check that racism, on that page. Mr. Drake is doing that, above. But, seeing it in action... it feels forced. It, like the passages about Vaela's identity, are simply pasted into this story. There's nothing to make them work as part of the story. Cut them out, and you wouldn't miss them. Why, then is all of this here? As I said above, it feels like Drake is inserting them as a shield to protect her from criticism. Another change to the 2018 ARC is that Vaela prays, here and there, to "Maker." I wonder if that is Drake's effort to turn that Aven'ei heritage into some semblance of an Aven'ei religion? That is possible, but I didn't find it significant enough to matter.
~~~~
Some of the changes Drake made were easy to do. She was able to easily replace every use of "Topi" with "Xoe." She was able to search for "natives" and replace that, too, sometimes making minor edits in the words before and after the change. Here's an example:
2016, p. 15:"Have you any thoughts, Mr. Shaw, about the natives on the Continent?"
2018, p. 17:"Have you any thoughts, Mr. Shaw, about the Xoe and the Aven'ei?"
Those changes, however, are superficial. You can swap "natives" for "Xoe" and unless major revisions are done to the ways that group is depicted, it doesn't matter. We still see them as brutal, doing things like hurling a head at the heli-plane. There's one part in both books where Vaela tells Nomo that they are people, too, but--as before--that effort is overwhelmed by the rest of the book. Indeed, when the Topi/Xoe are attacking the Aven'ei village, Vaela sets out to kill one with her knife and she kills others, later, on a battlefield. Her statement to Nomo that they're people, too, is feeble in light of all else she says and does, and all the ways that Drake describes them.
If you read my review in January of 2017, you may recall that I was especially troubled by Drake's description of the Topi village. That is gone, but the changes do nothing, because the Topi/Xoe's character (as a people) is unchanged. Here's a passage about their villages from the 2016 ARC. In each of these two excerpts, I'll highlight the major changes (p. 47):
The architecture is different from that of the Aven'ei: cruder harsher, yet terribly formidable, even in the frozen, icy territory the Topi call home. The little towns, too, are much closer together than Aven'ei villages; I am reminded of an ant colony, with many chambers all connected together, working to support a single purpose.
And here's the revised passage in the 2018 ARC (p. 51):
The architecture is different from that of the Aven’ei: the buildings are small, for the most part, with long triangular rooftops dipping low toward the ground. Roads and walking paths twist here and there, looking around and about the small homes and other structures. All is sturdy and formidable in this frozen, icy territory the Xoe call home. The towns, too, while small, are much closer together than Aven’ei villages. I have the sense of greater cooperation, of community, of connection—of something like we’ve established in the Spire.
Where she used "war paint" to describe the Topi, Drake is using "colorful tattoos" instead. Instead of having "reddish brown" skin, their skin is pale. What they look like, though, doesn't ultimately matter. What they do, is unchanged. When the heli-plane flies over a field where the Topi/Xoe and the Aven'ei are fighting, there's blood everywhere, spattered on the snow. The Xoe have killed all the Aven'ei and decapitated an archer. The Topi/Xoe then scream, raise their fists in the air, "drunk with victory, reveling in blood" and heave the severed head at the heli-plane (p. 51/56). See what I mean? It doesn't matter if the Topi/Xoe are in face paint or tattooed. It doesn't matter how much Vaela's thoughts here and there seem to think well of them.
At the end of the story, Vaela returns to the Spire to ask for help. In the 2016 ARC, her idea is that the Spire can use its resources to build a wall between the two nations of people. In the 2018 ARC, her idea is that the Spire can build towers. Here's those two passages:
2016 (p. 262):“Build walls. Destroy access points. Create defenses the likes of which have never been seen on the Continent! Spirian construction is vastly superior to anything the natives can contrive, don’t you see? You can save the Aven’ei without ever raising so much as a finger against the Topi. You have the power to end this. You have the power to stop another war."
2018 (p. 265):“Build towers, so that the Aven’ei might see when a Xoe force is coming. Establish plain sight of all access points. Create defenses the likes of which have never been seen on the Continent! And then, down the line, perhaps the Spire can help the Aven’ei and the Xoe to meet in the middle, to accomplish a peace of their own accord. Don’t you see? You can help without ever raising so much as a single weapon. You have the power to end this. You have the power to stop another war."
Having given Vaela Aven'ei ancestry, Drake must think that her not-Spire-alone identity solves the White Savior problem of those passages. Who Vaela is, however, doesn't matter. She went to the Spire--to the more "civilized" people--to get help. By the end of both versions, the Spire arrives. They are exercising their power to stop the war on the Continent. I should note that there's more than one nation on the Spire, and it isn't all four that come to help.
~~~~
I think that Drake was also criticized for the language she created for the Aven'ei. They, and the language they speak, she said on her website, were inspired by Asian and European peoples--in particular--Japanese. Here's some of them:
Name changes:
Inzu is now Kinza
Teku is now Nadu
Keiji is now Kiri
Shoshi is now Shovo
Yuki is now Raia
Hayato is now Kastenai
Some are words:
miyake is miyara (supposed to be a term of endearment)
takaharu is tanadai (supposed to mean something akin to a whore)
Some of the physical description of the Aven'ei is gone or changed, too. In the 2018 ARC, Nomo's eyes aren't described as being "almond shaped."
~~~~
As noted above, I do not think the revisions are substantial enough to address the issues raised in 2016. There are many who wonder what Drake could have done to fix The Continent.
Frankly, I think these kinds of books rest on a flawed foundation. They're written by people who want to use race and racial issues, misrepresentations of the past and present, to help -- let's be real -- White readers learn about injustice. Along the way, readers of the groups that, historically and in the present, experience oppression and racism on a daily basis, are essentially asked to be patient. I think that's wrong. Drake is trying to be a savior. Her editor is enabling that motivation. Her publisher is putting money into this project. Those are my thoughts. I welcome yours.
August 30, 2016
Wow this book was so beautiful! Such heartbreak and beauty in one amazing story! I loved Vaela she was such an awesome heroine and man Noro! Can I have a Noro for myself *swoons* I can't wait for book 2!!!!!
May 30, 2017
Review removed until I read the updated version of the book (expected release in early 2018).
Read
November 6, 2016Short version: Life's too short to read a book I know I won't like.
Long version: Life's too short to read a book that contains and perpetuates racist stereotypes of Native Americans and indigenous peoples, Asian fetishism, colonialist/imperialist undertones and themes that are largely unchallenged and lack self-awareness, and a protagonist who is a white saviour (irrespective of Drake's intentions).
I have 250+++ books on my TBR. I think I'll read those instead.
Long version: Life's too short to read a book that contains and perpetuates racist stereotypes of Native Americans and indigenous peoples, Asian fetishism, colonialist/imperialist undertones and themes that are largely unchallenged and lack self-awareness, and a protagonist who is a white saviour (irrespective of Drake's intentions).
I have 250+++ books on my TBR. I think I'll read those instead.
November 4, 2016
I'm not sure how this book even got published.
White savior complex, PoC willing to do anything to protect the precious white girl, and calling Native/Indigenous people 'savages' and 'red skins'.
Keira Drake, I'm not your savage and you can suck it.
White savior complex, PoC willing to do anything to protect the precious white girl, and calling Native/Indigenous people 'savages' and 'red skins'.
Keira Drake, I'm not your savage and you can suck it.
September 16, 2018
The perfect underdog story for teens / young adults with a strong female heroine.
Vaela Sun lives oblivious to the world outside in the Spire, her home. She has a talent for mapmaking and has earned herself a place in an apprenticeship with a renowned mapmaker. Any of her daily conveniences she takes for granted without ever thinking of them, like so many. She works hard, is very smart and her aspirations are about to come true.
On her sixteenth birthday, Vaela’s parents gift her a trip to The Continent. A war ridden place with battles between nations. A once in a lifetime opportunity for only the most privileged of the Spire. Together with her parents and another family, they embark on this journey to spectate on the wars going on from heliplanes. A gruesome slaughter most are eager to see awaits them, but Vaela’s interest lies only in mapping the area. This will be the chance of a lifetime before her apprenticeship.
The Spire has a settlement or transit station in a safe zone at which visitors will stay when not touring The Continent. On day three of their trip, the heliplane suffers a malfunction and the entire crew and families fall from the sky. Except Vaela! She was shoved into the escape pod by her parents right before disintegration. She will be the only survivor in a desolate, icy landscape. This is where she almost dies. This is where she is found by killing warriors. This is where she finds the love and comforts she never did in her old life.
***
So the premise isn’t new but I am a sucker for it. Think of a sweet young girl tossed into the circumstance where she has to earn her place and respect by the people she showed up at. Think ‘Outlander’ or ‘Vikings’ where the female protagonist has to gain the trust and loyalty by working extra hard. The girl that did not know her own strengths.
Who comes out on top of it? Yes, Vaela makes it…but not without getting dishonored by her own people first. She has lost it all, yet gained so much. For details you have to read it! It is quite a journey :)
There is a development of real romance in this novel. Unlike so many other YA books of today, it is sweet, clean and meaningful.
I liked this novel from the get-go. Well written it tells of new worlds, new chances, travel and romance. What is not to love? I do think this book has slipped under the radar of most readers, but it deserves to be read. It is sweet and entertaining with a message for global peace. I cannot wait to read the sequel to it.
Enjoy.
More of my reviews: https://scarlettreadzandrunz.com/
Vaela Sun lives oblivious to the world outside in the Spire, her home. She has a talent for mapmaking and has earned herself a place in an apprenticeship with a renowned mapmaker. Any of her daily conveniences she takes for granted without ever thinking of them, like so many. She works hard, is very smart and her aspirations are about to come true.
On her sixteenth birthday, Vaela’s parents gift her a trip to The Continent. A war ridden place with battles between nations. A once in a lifetime opportunity for only the most privileged of the Spire. Together with her parents and another family, they embark on this journey to spectate on the wars going on from heliplanes. A gruesome slaughter most are eager to see awaits them, but Vaela’s interest lies only in mapping the area. This will be the chance of a lifetime before her apprenticeship.
The Spire has a settlement or transit station in a safe zone at which visitors will stay when not touring The Continent. On day three of their trip, the heliplane suffers a malfunction and the entire crew and families fall from the sky. Except Vaela! She was shoved into the escape pod by her parents right before disintegration. She will be the only survivor in a desolate, icy landscape. This is where she almost dies. This is where she is found by killing warriors. This is where she finds the love and comforts she never did in her old life.
***
So the premise isn’t new but I am a sucker for it. Think of a sweet young girl tossed into the circumstance where she has to earn her place and respect by the people she showed up at. Think ‘Outlander’ or ‘Vikings’ where the female protagonist has to gain the trust and loyalty by working extra hard. The girl that did not know her own strengths.
Who comes out on top of it? Yes, Vaela makes it…but not without getting dishonored by her own people first. She has lost it all, yet gained so much. For details you have to read it! It is quite a journey :)
There is a development of real romance in this novel. Unlike so many other YA books of today, it is sweet, clean and meaningful.
I liked this novel from the get-go. Well written it tells of new worlds, new chances, travel and romance. What is not to love? I do think this book has slipped under the radar of most readers, but it deserves to be read. It is sweet and entertaining with a message for global peace. I cannot wait to read the sequel to it.
Enjoy.
More of my reviews: https://scarlettreadzandrunz.com/
November 4, 2016
I don't normally do this type of thing, but the fact that this book was written and published is beyond me.
I don't want to read racist books that portrays Native Americans and Asians as "savages" and portrays the white protagonist as the white savior. The fact that the publishers saw nothing wrong with this book is absolutely ridiculous.
I've never heard of this book before all of this drama started. I am glad I've never heard of it before. Books like this don't deserve to be published. Native Americans and Asians do not deserve to be constantly portrayed as savages.
Shame on this author and the publisher for writing and publishing this book.
I don't want to read racist books that portrays Native Americans and Asians as "savages" and portrays the white protagonist as the white savior. The fact that the publishers saw nothing wrong with this book is absolutely ridiculous.
I've never heard of this book before all of this drama started. I am glad I've never heard of it before. Books like this don't deserve to be published. Native Americans and Asians do not deserve to be constantly portrayed as savages.
Shame on this author and the publisher for writing and publishing this book.
Read
November 5, 2016Why waste your precious time reading a novel that does a terrible job at not being racist when there are 28353535272819 wonderful and truly diverse books out there? #IJS
*If you feel the need to defend this book, the only things I can advise you is to look at your life and look at your choices. :-/
*If you feel the need to defend this book, the only things I can advise you is to look at your life and look at your choices. :-/
September 28, 2016
"You must reserve your pain for quiet moments. You must not let it soften you, but rather you must become sharpened by its edges, made stronger by its grip. When it claws at your heart, you must roar back. This is not a place for softness."
If that quote doesn't reach inside of you and squeeze your soul then you are in deep trouble.
Borrowed an arc from JT!! He received it at ALA Orlando!! Thanks!!
I didn't know what I was getting myself into with this one. The hype for this is overwhelming and I just thought... well, here it goes. (eye roll) And then this book hits you like bricks being thrown off a roof and you're mesmerized by the beauty and knowledge that were put into making this book. Blows you away.
Spire! The little land beyond the Continent. All the sides come together for peace and unity. No blood has been shed for quite some time and this is how it shall stay.
Vaela Sun is turning sixteen and her Mum and Pop throw her a magnificent party to celebrate. Opening gifts, her father is overly filled with joy. Three gifts are brought to her one by one and they are more breathtaking and gorgeous than the last. The last one is small and feels like it contains nothing but air. She gets the shock of her life when she opens the box and out comes tickets to tour The Continent.
Let's side note here for a bit.... These tickets are harder to come by than Jesus coming back to earth and moon walking into outer space.
Her family and the Shaws are off on their own adventure into The Continent.
Picture this as you're in a helicopter arriving into Jurassic Park.
Imagine the choppy cool air and the theme to match. Da da da da da da da! Da da da da!!
This book is powerful! Sitting on the edge on your seat, biting your fingernails and shivering at the coldness that is the Continent.
It will amaze you at how this will leave you begging for book two. I can't wait to take this journey again!!
This will be one of the top books of 2017. Hold on to your britches!!
If that quote doesn't reach inside of you and squeeze your soul then you are in deep trouble.
Borrowed an arc from JT!! He received it at ALA Orlando!! Thanks!!
I didn't know what I was getting myself into with this one. The hype for this is overwhelming and I just thought... well, here it goes. (eye roll) And then this book hits you like bricks being thrown off a roof and you're mesmerized by the beauty and knowledge that were put into making this book. Blows you away.
Spire! The little land beyond the Continent. All the sides come together for peace and unity. No blood has been shed for quite some time and this is how it shall stay.
Vaela Sun is turning sixteen and her Mum and Pop throw her a magnificent party to celebrate. Opening gifts, her father is overly filled with joy. Three gifts are brought to her one by one and they are more breathtaking and gorgeous than the last. The last one is small and feels like it contains nothing but air. She gets the shock of her life when she opens the box and out comes tickets to tour The Continent.
Let's side note here for a bit.... These tickets are harder to come by than Jesus coming back to earth and moon walking into outer space.
Her family and the Shaws are off on their own adventure into The Continent.
Picture this as you're in a helicopter arriving into Jurassic Park.
Imagine the choppy cool air and the theme to match. Da da da da da da da! Da da da da!!
This book is powerful! Sitting on the edge on your seat, biting your fingernails and shivering at the coldness that is the Continent.
It will amaze you at how this will leave you begging for book two. I can't wait to take this journey again!!
This will be one of the top books of 2017. Hold on to your britches!!
April 12, 2018
8/22/2017 Update (Note that there are spoilers further down, so avoid if you care about being spoiled.)
There is something I have been thinking on from a few conversations I've had with several people on and off Goodreads. It is regarding racial inequalities in the United States and my place/role as a white person amidst it all, and I've come realize that it is a very precarious position to be. (I can only speak on behalf of the United States, since that is my home. I know racial inequalities the world over are different, but I cannot personally attest to what those are like.) On the one hand I wish for my non-white brothers and sisters to excel and flourish: I want them to live happy, wonderful lives; I want them to not know the meaning of fear, what it means to be targeted or oppressed, but what it means to walk through life whole and well, strong and confident. On the other hand, despite my wishing and my personal investment in being a good ally, I still benefit from my white privilege in this country even though I wish I could say that I didn't. Having read about/noticed on my own the need for diversity in all areas of American life--sports, advertisements, BOOKS, movies, music, the list goes on--I just wanted to take a moment in my review of a book that sparked and fueled many deep, heated conversations to say that I wish I could change everything negative in the world for those who are POC. I am only one person, but I'm doing my best to police myself into destroying verbiage that does not help the situation or further perpetuates the inequalities. I'm doing me absolute best to turn to others who say inappropriate things, or veiled/obvious discriminatory and racist sentiments, and help them better understand the negativity that is within their words and actions. But I'm also trying my best to not let myself be heard louder than those who are POC--the individuals who need to be heard right now, the ones who have been silent or silenced for too long, the ones who have had to endure instead of enjoy life.
The reason all of this has been floating around my head is because someone explained to me a long time ago what a white savior is and it has been weighing on my mind. In the draft of The Continent I read, the protagonist was exactly that--a white savior acting and speaking on behalf of POC, trying to convince people from her homeland to help the POC. She was a white person trying to save them, which is problematic to many because it portrays POC as unable to save themselves, unable to act or speak for themselves. POC can act and speak for themselves, and this is a narrative that has been done time and again. So even though I did enjoy reading this book, and even though I rated it highly and think it contains great writing, I understand how the overall plot is a problem--not to mention I can see how the first ARCs that went out were problematic as well due to depiction and tone regarding POC. It isn't healthy for this kind of narrative to continue on, which is why the need for diversity of authors and books is so important. We need new narratives to replace the old problematic ones, the narratives that have persisted for far too long.
So even though this devolved into a rambling update, what I am ultimately saying is this: I am an ally, and I am trying my damnedest to be the best ally I can. I see you, I hear you, and I want you to be noticed and heard. I will do my best to be a support and not a savior. I respect you, and I acknowledge that this cause is necessary for the world to improve.
And real quick: please no arguing or fighting if you disagree. There is enough hate in this world, enough strife, enough pain, enough frustration and anger. If there are to be comments, let this be a place where minds and ideologies meet--let this be a respectful discussion. Please.
***
5/6/2017: I received a draft from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I cannot speak for the ARCs that went out last year and sparked such intense controversy and emotional disparity--I cannot, because I did not have the opportunity to read one of those copies. The version I received is the resulting revision of how the previous round of ARCs had been received.
Vaela Sun, an affluent young citizen of the Spire, celebrates her sixteenth birthday with a lavish party amidst family and close friends, receiving a once in a lifetime gift that many envy: a ticket guaranteeing her a spot on the next tour of the Continent with her parents and the wealthy, powerful family they will accompany. As an already talented aspiring cartographer who has expressed a special interest in thoroughly mapping the Continent's land, this gifted trip is that extra oomph to ensure her success for the future. The Continent is a land of stark, harsh, and breath-taking beauty, but the peoples of this land--the Xoe and Aven'ei--are waging a war that has endured for more than two hundred years. Just as much as the landscape entices Spirians to vie for the scarce spots available to visit this foreign and exotic Continent, the violence and warfare there also piques their interest. Long ago, the four nations that make up the Spire set aside weaponry and brutality for a treaty of peace, and these four nations swore to never partake in violence, war, killing, or to interfere and interact with peoples who do. After an event of heart-breaking tragedy, Vaela finds herself at the heart of the Continent, attempting to survive among strangers. She realizes that the life she had led was with people who were unsympathetic to those they deemed inferior and unworthy of saving, and the stories she had learned about the Continent are incomplete and misleading. Throughout and by the end, her life is turned upside down, inside out, and nearly shattered with revelations as she realizes how sheltered, privileged, entitled--inhumane, even--Spirians prove to be.
Overall, I really love this book. I read it in one sit down, because it was near impossible to put down for longer than a couple minutes at a time. Keira's writing is a pleasure to read. She doesn't mince her words when it comes to depicting scenes of brutality, of introducing ideas that threaten great danger to the characters, and highlighting the importance of people of different backgrounds and localities remembering that they are all firstly human and should never forget. At the heart of this story is the conflict that Spirians have forgotten what it means to empathize with even those who differ greatly from them; not to mention there is a latent thread (revealed later in the novel and hinted at throughout) of Spirians viewing inhabitants of the Continent as lesser, inferior, savage, unworthy of aid, good for Spirians as a form of entertainment, which results in three of the four nations unwilling to intervene when the Aven'ei are threatened with extinction at the hands of the Xoe--the leaders of the three nations that vehemently declined do express the upholding of their peace is more important than saving a race of people, even though Vaela argues just as passionately on behalf of the Aven'ei after having lived with them for six months and fallen in love with one of them, seeing how wrong the Spirians are in their knowledge and understanding. Spirians have lived without hunger, without fear, without worry, without inconvenience when it comes to essential needs--they have stood on a pedestal that doesn't allow them to see the humanity in the Xoe and Aven'ei, and Vaela wants so much for them to see that they have blinded themselves from finding the positives in connecting with the Continent, because they are selfish and unwilling to discomfort themselves.
But alas, there is hope for the humanity in this world--first in Vaela and her parents, then with the Aven'ei man Vaela fell in love with, then Mr. Cloud (director of the island just off the coast of the Continent that housed those on the tours) who understood and saw, and then the leader of the one nation that agreed to help the Aven'ei not perish and the Continent's peoples work toward peace as well.
I could go on, but I don't want to spoil the book for anyone.
And for those concerned about issues regarding racism: In this updated ARC, there are actually very few physical descriptions of the different peoples (of hair mostly, a couple times in reference to the color of skin--including Vaela's physical transformation from the elements; no description of eye shapes or an association of darkness with villainy or savagery; the people of the Spire are also described as very diverse in their appearance, so it gives the impression that they are a melting pot much like the United States and would be aware of diversity and acceptance--which totally helps make it more surprising for the majority of the Spirian nation's leaders to refuse helping the Continent's peoples, since they are comprised of multiple peoples). Also, the only expressions of negativity toward the Continent's inhabitants are by the characters in the story who are blatantly made out to be villainous, wrong, unjust, selfish, or negative. It is made very clear by the end of the story that having/upholding racist beliefs and tendencies is the bane of humanity and that it needs to be shed so that people can come together, work with one another, and ultimately prosper.
There is something I have been thinking on from a few conversations I've had with several people on and off Goodreads. It is regarding racial inequalities in the United States and my place/role as a white person amidst it all, and I've come realize that it is a very precarious position to be. (I can only speak on behalf of the United States, since that is my home. I know racial inequalities the world over are different, but I cannot personally attest to what those are like.) On the one hand I wish for my non-white brothers and sisters to excel and flourish: I want them to live happy, wonderful lives; I want them to not know the meaning of fear, what it means to be targeted or oppressed, but what it means to walk through life whole and well, strong and confident. On the other hand, despite my wishing and my personal investment in being a good ally, I still benefit from my white privilege in this country even though I wish I could say that I didn't. Having read about/noticed on my own the need for diversity in all areas of American life--sports, advertisements, BOOKS, movies, music, the list goes on--I just wanted to take a moment in my review of a book that sparked and fueled many deep, heated conversations to say that I wish I could change everything negative in the world for those who are POC. I am only one person, but I'm doing my best to police myself into destroying verbiage that does not help the situation or further perpetuates the inequalities. I'm doing me absolute best to turn to others who say inappropriate things, or veiled/obvious discriminatory and racist sentiments, and help them better understand the negativity that is within their words and actions. But I'm also trying my best to not let myself be heard louder than those who are POC--the individuals who need to be heard right now, the ones who have been silent or silenced for too long, the ones who have had to endure instead of enjoy life.
The reason all of this has been floating around my head is because someone explained to me a long time ago what a white savior is and it has been weighing on my mind. In the draft of The Continent I read, the protagonist was exactly that--a white savior acting and speaking on behalf of POC, trying to convince people from her homeland to help the POC. She was a white person trying to save them, which is problematic to many because it portrays POC as unable to save themselves, unable to act or speak for themselves. POC can act and speak for themselves, and this is a narrative that has been done time and again. So even though I did enjoy reading this book, and even though I rated it highly and think it contains great writing, I understand how the overall plot is a problem--not to mention I can see how the first ARCs that went out were problematic as well due to depiction and tone regarding POC. It isn't healthy for this kind of narrative to continue on, which is why the need for diversity of authors and books is so important. We need new narratives to replace the old problematic ones, the narratives that have persisted for far too long.
So even though this devolved into a rambling update, what I am ultimately saying is this: I am an ally, and I am trying my damnedest to be the best ally I can. I see you, I hear you, and I want you to be noticed and heard. I will do my best to be a support and not a savior. I respect you, and I acknowledge that this cause is necessary for the world to improve.
And real quick: please no arguing or fighting if you disagree. There is enough hate in this world, enough strife, enough pain, enough frustration and anger. If there are to be comments, let this be a place where minds and ideologies meet--let this be a respectful discussion. Please.
***
5/6/2017: I received a draft from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I cannot speak for the ARCs that went out last year and sparked such intense controversy and emotional disparity--I cannot, because I did not have the opportunity to read one of those copies. The version I received is the resulting revision of how the previous round of ARCs had been received.
Vaela Sun, an affluent young citizen of the Spire, celebrates her sixteenth birthday with a lavish party amidst family and close friends, receiving a once in a lifetime gift that many envy: a ticket guaranteeing her a spot on the next tour of the Continent with her parents and the wealthy, powerful family they will accompany. As an already talented aspiring cartographer who has expressed a special interest in thoroughly mapping the Continent's land, this gifted trip is that extra oomph to ensure her success for the future. The Continent is a land of stark, harsh, and breath-taking beauty, but the peoples of this land--the Xoe and Aven'ei--are waging a war that has endured for more than two hundred years. Just as much as the landscape entices Spirians to vie for the scarce spots available to visit this foreign and exotic Continent, the violence and warfare there also piques their interest. Long ago, the four nations that make up the Spire set aside weaponry and brutality for a treaty of peace, and these four nations swore to never partake in violence, war, killing, or to interfere and interact with peoples who do. After an event of heart-breaking tragedy, Vaela finds herself at the heart of the Continent, attempting to survive among strangers. She realizes that the life she had led was with people who were unsympathetic to those they deemed inferior and unworthy of saving, and the stories she had learned about the Continent are incomplete and misleading. Throughout and by the end, her life is turned upside down, inside out, and nearly shattered with revelations as she realizes how sheltered, privileged, entitled--inhumane, even--Spirians prove to be.
Overall, I really love this book. I read it in one sit down, because it was near impossible to put down for longer than a couple minutes at a time. Keira's writing is a pleasure to read. She doesn't mince her words when it comes to depicting scenes of brutality, of introducing ideas that threaten great danger to the characters, and highlighting the importance of people of different backgrounds and localities remembering that they are all firstly human and should never forget. At the heart of this story is the conflict that Spirians have forgotten what it means to empathize with even those who differ greatly from them; not to mention there is a latent thread (revealed later in the novel and hinted at throughout) of Spirians viewing inhabitants of the Continent as lesser, inferior, savage, unworthy of aid, good for Spirians as a form of entertainment, which results in three of the four nations unwilling to intervene when the Aven'ei are threatened with extinction at the hands of the Xoe--the leaders of the three nations that vehemently declined do express the upholding of their peace is more important than saving a race of people, even though Vaela argues just as passionately on behalf of the Aven'ei after having lived with them for six months and fallen in love with one of them, seeing how wrong the Spirians are in their knowledge and understanding. Spirians have lived without hunger, without fear, without worry, without inconvenience when it comes to essential needs--they have stood on a pedestal that doesn't allow them to see the humanity in the Xoe and Aven'ei, and Vaela wants so much for them to see that they have blinded themselves from finding the positives in connecting with the Continent, because they are selfish and unwilling to discomfort themselves.
But alas, there is hope for the humanity in this world--first in Vaela and her parents, then with the Aven'ei man Vaela fell in love with, then Mr. Cloud (director of the island just off the coast of the Continent that housed those on the tours) who understood and saw, and then the leader of the one nation that agreed to help the Aven'ei not perish and the Continent's peoples work toward peace as well.
I could go on, but I don't want to spoil the book for anyone.
And for those concerned about issues regarding racism: In this updated ARC, there are actually very few physical descriptions of the different peoples (of hair mostly, a couple times in reference to the color of skin--including Vaela's physical transformation from the elements; no description of eye shapes or an association of darkness with villainy or savagery; the people of the Spire are also described as very diverse in their appearance, so it gives the impression that they are a melting pot much like the United States and would be aware of diversity and acceptance--which totally helps make it more surprising for the majority of the Spirian nation's leaders to refuse helping the Continent's peoples, since they are comprised of multiple peoples). Also, the only expressions of negativity toward the Continent's inhabitants are by the characters in the story who are blatantly made out to be villainous, wrong, unjust, selfish, or negative. It is made very clear by the end of the story that having/upholding racist beliefs and tendencies is the bane of humanity and that it needs to be shed so that people can come together, work with one another, and ultimately prosper.
January 8, 2019
I obviously read this after all the edits that people are discussing that the author did, but I did not read the pre-edited version, so I can only say that the edited version is actually a very interested premise and world. It is difficult to imagine such a place but there are unfortunately plenty of places ravaged by wars. I know this was a controversial book, but I did not read the version that caused such a stir so I can only speak of this edited version. I was glad to see how the battle was ended and hope the assistance continues. However, the divide between the Spire is another reason to keep interest in the series also. I will read the sequel in July to see how things pan out.
My quick and simple overall: an interested story that moves rather fast for the reader.
My quick and simple overall: an interested story that moves rather fast for the reader.
Read
December 11, 2016I
September 13, 2016
look at that cover JUST LOOK AT IT'S GLORY
June 26, 2016
This book was such a joy to read. I read it in two days and would've finished sooner if I wasn't so busy. But never busy enough to stop reading this book. From beginning to end, the plot and pacing will have you yearning for more, and the characters! Oh man, I just want to put them all in a padded room and make sure they're all safe and happy for the rest of time. This is another book I'll be screaming about to everyone on its release day. Thank you Keira Drake for a wonderful wonderful book!
November 10, 2016
The Continent is an interesting sort of fantasy novel - no magic, but set in a new and strange world that is half old-world traditions and some of today's technology where peace reigns and half a land torn apart by war, where the inhabitants fight the elements and each other to survive.
Vaela lives a safe and privileged life in the Spire, where there has been no wars for many years. She is a cartographer and thrilled when her parents gift her with a trip to the Continent, where the landscape is rugged and a bloody war is still fought between those that live there. But Vaela's exploration of the Continent ends in disaster and she is left alone to fight for survival, both against the icy and treacherous landscape and the inhabitants. But as she makes a home there, Vaela learns to look anew at life on the Continent and hopes the war can somehow be ended before she once again loses everyone she holds dear.
It is the writing that makes this book, that sets it apart from other books. The writing truly creates the setting, with the old-worldly phrasing evoking images of the Edwardian era of long dresses, suits and hats, propriety and old fashioned traditions.
The pacing of this book is very interesting. For the most part it feels slow. Not uninteresting, but it takes its time to establish the setting and characters, let's the reader get to know the situation before events slowly unfold. For example, the scene of Vaela's life in the Spire is well established before she and her parents journey to the Continent. And there is a good portion of the book that takes place before Vaela becomes stranded on the Continent, and again as Vaela stops to grieve her family and then learns to live with the native people of the Continent. Yes, it means that the book isn't action-packed, but it makes the most of all the emotions involved.
The romance, too, follows the sedate pacing of the novel, with Noro and Vaela spending many months together (and apart) after first meeting before they decide to act upon their awareness of each other and start a strong relationship. Their chemistry is a quiet contentedness, a peace when they are together, that is very lovely to read. Vaela is so innocent, hopeful and good intentioned. And Noro, while an assassin, is gentle, loves fiercely and grieves his family. I loved both characters, as well as all the other vibrant faces, both from the Spire and the Continent (though I was very happy to see the back of Mrs Shaw).
There was a whole lot less harsh survival than I expected. Yes, when Vaela is initially stranded on the Continent she is exposed to the harshness of the environment and peoples who live there, but once she is rescued and goes to live with the Aven'ei people, she resumes a life where there are houses and markets and plenty of food and jobs (even if it's a job she isn't used to). But the last quarter of the book brings with it action, battle and bloodshed (I liked that bit and thought it a great end to this book).
I'm very curious about how this series will progress. There is so much room for this story to expand, and yet I would be perfectly happy to return to the simplicity of life in the Aven'ei village, where family and friendship are valued in the midst of their desperation for survival.
The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.
Find more reviews on my blog Madison's Library.
Vaela lives a safe and privileged life in the Spire, where there has been no wars for many years. She is a cartographer and thrilled when her parents gift her with a trip to the Continent, where the landscape is rugged and a bloody war is still fought between those that live there. But Vaela's exploration of the Continent ends in disaster and she is left alone to fight for survival, both against the icy and treacherous landscape and the inhabitants. But as she makes a home there, Vaela learns to look anew at life on the Continent and hopes the war can somehow be ended before she once again loses everyone she holds dear.
It is the writing that makes this book, that sets it apart from other books. The writing truly creates the setting, with the old-worldly phrasing evoking images of the Edwardian era of long dresses, suits and hats, propriety and old fashioned traditions.
The pacing of this book is very interesting. For the most part it feels slow. Not uninteresting, but it takes its time to establish the setting and characters, let's the reader get to know the situation before events slowly unfold. For example, the scene of Vaela's life in the Spire is well established before she and her parents journey to the Continent. And there is a good portion of the book that takes place before Vaela becomes stranded on the Continent, and again as Vaela stops to grieve her family and then learns to live with the native people of the Continent. Yes, it means that the book isn't action-packed, but it makes the most of all the emotions involved.
The romance, too, follows the sedate pacing of the novel, with Noro and Vaela spending many months together (and apart) after first meeting before they decide to act upon their awareness of each other and start a strong relationship. Their chemistry is a quiet contentedness, a peace when they are together, that is very lovely to read. Vaela is so innocent, hopeful and good intentioned. And Noro, while an assassin, is gentle, loves fiercely and grieves his family. I loved both characters, as well as all the other vibrant faces, both from the Spire and the Continent (though I was very happy to see the back of Mrs Shaw).
There was a whole lot less harsh survival than I expected. Yes, when Vaela is initially stranded on the Continent she is exposed to the harshness of the environment and peoples who live there, but once she is rescued and goes to live with the Aven'ei people, she resumes a life where there are houses and markets and plenty of food and jobs (even if it's a job she isn't used to). But the last quarter of the book brings with it action, battle and bloodshed (I liked that bit and thought it a great end to this book).
I'm very curious about how this series will progress. There is so much room for this story to expand, and yet I would be perfectly happy to return to the simplicity of life in the Aven'ei village, where family and friendship are valued in the midst of their desperation for survival.
The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.
Find more reviews on my blog Madison's Library.
never-ever-fucking-reading-this
November 5, 2016I hadn't heard of this book until the other day and I wasn't interested because of the 'uncivilized' nations part of the synopsis.
AND THEN today I see that POC women are receiving death threats and people are trying to sabotage POC women writer's books on Amazon because they dared speak out about the racism in this book. Like how dare they speak out about something that effects them on a daily basis and that is fucking harmful in a book geared towards teenagers. If you can't handle that people feel this way and deal with this shit the continue to live in your little bubble and scroll on past. Otherwise STOP BEING FUCKING DOUCHEBAGS. STOP SENDING DEATH THREATS TO PEOPLE WHO DARE SPEAK UP ABOUT RACISM. Because of you douchebags I've put this on my 'nope never ever fucking reading this book' list (ya know I'm re-titling this list). So *claps* good job, I know I've seen a lot of people on twitter have made that decision recently and not just because of the racist issues in the book (which already made me not going to read it). *middle finger emoji*
To Keira Drake, I really hope that you take the time to listen to the concerns of the POC who are raising legitimate concerns about the racism in your book, learn, and do better in the future.
AND THEN today I see that POC women are receiving death threats and people are trying to sabotage POC women writer's books on Amazon because they dared speak out about the racism in this book. Like how dare they speak out about something that effects them on a daily basis and that is fucking harmful in a book geared towards teenagers. If you can't handle that people feel this way and deal with this shit the continue to live in your little bubble and scroll on past. Otherwise STOP BEING FUCKING DOUCHEBAGS. STOP SENDING DEATH THREATS TO PEOPLE WHO DARE SPEAK UP ABOUT RACISM. Because of you douchebags I've put this on my 'nope never ever fucking reading this book' list (ya know I'm re-titling this list). So *claps* good job, I know I've seen a lot of people on twitter have made that decision recently and not just because of the racist issues in the book (which already made me not going to read it). *middle finger emoji*
To Keira Drake, I really hope that you take the time to listen to the concerns of the POC who are raising legitimate concerns about the racism in your book, learn, and do better in the future.
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