Before finishing this book, I thought unequivocally NK Jemisin was my favorite author and her books were my favorite books. How glad am I now though to be uncertain again of which book could ever possibly be my most favorite and which author could I be more excited to read??

An Unkindness of Ghosts was incredible. I listened to it on audiobook and the narrator Cherise Boothe is now among my favorite audiobook narrators as well. She read the different characters and accents and tones better than I ever could have imagined in my own mind.

This book was revolutionary in so many ways, some that I’ve read before and will always love reading again and many that I have never encountered before in a book-especially all in one book.

In one scene written so matter of factly (as the main character’s inner monologue often was) the main character, Aster, performs an abortion and so simply states the incomprehensibility of gender binaries. After removing the fetus, Aster’s patient says “do you know what it was? Girl? boy?” And Aster says, “I don’t understand such things.”

Aster is a woman, but she isn’t. Theo, the Surgeon, her friend and then lover is non-binary. Aster is neuroatypical and I loved learning about her world through her thoughts. Her best friend Giselle suffered so much trauma that she was angry, mean, abusive, and very mentally unstable, but Aster still loved her and so did I.

I don’t usually like to read books with so much mention of sexual assault, but Rivers Solomon wrote it so well that I agonized with the characters and believed and understood why it was a part of the plot. It wasn’t just there as some hurdle for the characters to overcome or a way to add tragedy to the story. It was written in a way that is so important. A way that would force someone to see how rape is used as a weapon against people, especially women of color. And the way the characters fought back gave me so much joy.

Race and structural racism is also central to the plot and the uprising at the end of the book had me sobbing with joy and heartache and cheering for the death of the guards and the Sovereign.

This book is everything and I will be waiting excitedly to buy every single thing Rivers Solomon ever writes.

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Likewise Book Reviews

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