Ushers

by Brenda Rippeteau

One small town.

Three immortals.

One girl who can spark a movement.

Sixteen-year-old Samantha is just like any other teen. Looking forward to starting her junior year and competing in cross country, Samantha’s world suddenly changes when her father tragically dies in a bombing. She finds courage by carrying on with her father’s fight to preserve the ancient growth forest surrounding Westrock, a small town northeast of Seattle where the mayor and a wealthy businessman are determined to build a munitions plant.

As the fight for the forest, and eventually her community escalates, each action Samantha takes is met by even greater forces designed to shut her down, except . . . she finds unique strength from three individuals new to Westrock who, for some unexplained reason, are invested in her success. Kamau, Mina, and Blue Horse are Ushers, humans who become immortal for one purpose — to guide and protect potential reformers.

Samantha is also buoyed by her classmates — Noor is her good friend and a leader in student government; Gabriella competes with her at the state cross country championship; and Johnathan, a shy friend from church, shares a secret about his sexual identity. These friendships reveal profound struggles that lead Samantha to question her own faith as she makes deeper commitments to justice.

Can one girl save a forest? A world?

Ushers is an inspiring debut that tackles tough issues while weaving together important lessons from the American experience, including themes from Native American history and modern social justice movements.

350 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 25, 2019

About the author

I'm honored that you're reading my bio and interested in my first novel, Ushers! This novel has been in my heart for over a decade. I discussed it with several close friends and family members. I finally put pen to paper (literally) and composed the first passages while on a flight home in December 2016. It was a response to sheer frustration with our national discourse and what I observed right around me while I traveled. I sat near the back of the plane in a middle-row seat and drafted the final chapter.

My main character, Samantha, states late in the story, "This world is such a beautiful mystery." I believe this with all my heart. I hope you find beauty, mystery, and inspiration in this story. Like Samantha, I hope you also find more courage than you ever thought possible. I have!

In my professional career, I'm a long-tenured technical writer for Microsoft. I've survived the transformation of technology to cloud computing by illustrating and writing about cloud architecture and cybersecurity. Like my character, Samantha, I'm also a runner. My heart for running greatly exceeds my fitness and talent.

Reviews

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.25 stars

Wow. I did not expect this novel to be so powerfully inquisitive. Samantha Bell is such a unique character, and I loved the death aspect that created her to speak up for various issues. I love when females have a powerful role in novels, and Samantha was one of them. Kamau was such a unique character culturally, and I loved learning of Blue and Mina's backstory's. My one complaint with this story was that it was too much combined into one. What do I mean by this? Well, I believe that the whole thing with Kamau being an Usher was interesting, however, that sounded like a totally different plot to a totally different novel. I think that having Samantha being powerful and learning to believe in herself with Kamau was such an amazing plot that could've taken up a whole story, however, adding in the thing with Usher's was just too much for the plot to handle. It often made me confused about the story. However, I thought this book was quite inspiring for what it was, and I enjoyed it far more than I believed I was going to.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I loved this book a lot, and I'll probably need to go buy a physical copy to annotate all the parts that really made me think.

"Nothing draws fire like a woman moving forward. There's going to be a lot of fire."

The book starts off as a coming-into-your-own story, but grows into a book about making a difference in the world and bringing together social justice movements to fight those who serve only themselves and their bank accounts. It's incredibly inspiring, and there were multiple passages that brought me to tears, inspired me, and enraged me.

"This society allows these girls to be warriors in competition, even celebrate it... But, should one of those girls take their warrior skills off the field, hone these skills in the public arena, and target their weaponry toward power - that girl must be taken down. She is a bossy girl, too ambitious, thirsting for power..."

It would have been an easy 5 star just from the effect it had on me, but there were a couple of thing that stopped me. As someone else has said, the romance (only a very minor part) was unnecessary and added nothing to the story. Kamau's introspection and thoughts were some of the parts I found the most moving, but at times it was a little bit like an info dump. And then finally, I wish the fantasy element, the Ushers, were discussed more. I felt like Kamau could have just been a kind and wise person and the outcome would have been the same.

Overall though, this is a fantastic book, and I really wish I had read it when I was younger too.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantasy novel that starts with one heck of a bang. This subversive book seems to be all about finding paths to empowerment, as seen through the actions of Samantha, who becomes both heroine and ally through a series of tasks and tests that are, by no means, easy. She's ushered along from her victim-hood by the wisdom of Usher, Kamau, because, unbeknownst to Sam, she's a Reformer -- a special form of human life that exists to engage, protect, and in some cases resist. What it means to be a Reformer is a focus of this book. By pulling on the thread of that question, I believe a lot of young people today could be led to the same kind of personal awakenings that create a stronger and more socially aware Samantha.

This book is a must for readers interested in finding their place in movements like environmentalism, and, notably, for those who question religious edicts that are 'comfortable' excluding marginalized groups. Samantha grows into the person who will stand up and fight to turn the ship. This book is an excellent road-map for young women and men looking to do the same in their own lives. Grab a copy. Help Kamau and his team of Ushers uncover your inner Reformer.

[Liz Busby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book just didn't work for me, and I had to put it down after about 50 pages. The plot seems to be largely concerned with helping the main character be more politically proactive in all of the author's favorite causes. But neither the main character nor her supposedly magical helper struck me as fully-realized characters. There's a lot of pontificating about the importance of change and standing up for the right thing, but all these changes seem to happen much too easily with little struggle. The character instantly swallows everything the magical mentor tells her and then succeeds in conveying it to the people around her. Check the box, and move on to next important political message. There was no conflict to compel me to continue on with the plot.

I received a free copy of this book to review.

[KateJoanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Juvenile and simplistic, I got about halfway before DNFing but I feel maybe a younger audience might enjoy this book.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot and it almost really meant something to me...except she just had to throw in unneeded romance. It muddled the meaning and threw off the message’s delivery....all just to make us not be sure how one moment in the end is going to go? Bad author!