I wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did. On paper, there’s lots to love. It’s an alternate history set in present day Canada (or maybe a notch in the future) where the British Empire didn’t fall and instead the monarchy made much more humane and multicultural decisions about how to incorporate the subjects of their colonies into the Empire as a whole. There’s still a royal family but over the years the royals have made strategic marriage alliances with their colonies so the royal family, like many of its subjects, is multiracial. Though people can […]
What a strange, lovely little book.
That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston
I’m a little torn on this one, honestly! I thought it was a bit slow for my tastes, mostly at the beginning, and I would have appreciated a bit more wallowing in emotions, but I also understand this is a book designed in part to ape Victorian conventions and mores, so perhaps I was never going to get the version of this book that would have pleased me best. And what a strange little book it was! This is an alternate history/speculative take on quite a complicated scenario. Basically, what if Queen Victoria hadn’t been quite so Victorian, at least […]
E.K. Johnston also gives good Star Wars.
Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston
You know what, the old EU was great (for the most part), but every book I have read in the new Star Wars canon has been great as well. And Ahsoka was no exception. If you haven’t watched the Clone Wars cartoon, you really should. That show, for me, redeemed the younger versions of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it’s deeper examination of the Clone Wars was fascinating. It also introduced a handful of new characters to the Star Wars universe, including baddy Asajj Ventress and Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan. Over the course of the series, she grew […]
“I do not want to be anyone’s model for becoming a better person.”
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E. K. Johnston
I don’t want to sound overly dramatic when I say this, but I’m gonna go for it nonetheless: rape, or the possibility of rape, is such constant, persistent background noise in the life of most women that we forget the extent to which we negotiate around the threat. Even women who don’t consciously think of themselves as having ever explicitly feared rape or changed their behavior to avoid it will answer in the affirmative when you ask them more specific questions: do you and your female friends “rescue” each other in crowded bars when guys get handsy or aggressive? Do […]
The Not-so Stereotypical Cheerleading Drama
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E. K. Johnston
Rating: 4/5 Summary: Hermione is in her final year of high school and starts it off by attending her final cheer camp session. However, it ends with her being drugged, left in a lake and raped. Hermione doesn’t know how to feel afterward, though she knows she feels different. Matters are only complicated when she discovers she’s pregnant. I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice break from all the fantasy and magic I’ve been reading. I just needed something grounded in reality for a quick second and this did it for me. Hermione was a pretty strong […]
And it isn’t my fault that the barbarian raped me
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston
Because I’m not sure I’ll be able to properly summarise this book without getting all teary-eyed (the hormones I’m currently injecting daily make my moods a bit of a roller-coaster), I am resorting to the blurb: Veronica Mars meets William Shakespeare in E.K. Johnston’s latest brave and unforgettable heroine. Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this does not mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don’t cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team – the pride and joy of a tiny town. The team’s summer training camp […]
I’ve seen injustice in the world and I’ve corrected it
Exit, Pursued by Bear by E.K. Johnston
(My first attempt at a review of this book was: I can’t write this right now because it was deeply upsetting and made me feel too many things. So. You know. I’ll try to do a bit better than that below, but no promises.) (Also, before I start at the very beginning, I do want to say that the end of this novel was rather convenient but I was OK with it because this was a novel and not real life and in real life these stories never have satisfying endings because rape culture is FUCKED UP Y’ALL.) Ahem. But […]
“If you think I’m going to apologize for being drugged and raped, you have another thing coming.”
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston
This book was incredible. It was well-written, with an incredibly compelling story and characters that I felt I could reach out and touch. I devoured it, and it’s stuck with me for the last few days and probably will for years to come. “There’s a moment when I know that I should scream. But screaming would be hard. And blackness would be easy. Black picks me.” Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team in a small town where cheerleading means more than the actual sports cheered for. A couple weeks before school starts, she and her team (including her boyfriend Leo) attend […]