In brief: Hazel Ellis has an English degree and no job, so she’s back home being a good daughter and grieving her father. Then Nanabush the trickster turns up, saying things like, “end of the world” and “destiny”, and people start talking about developing the quarry on the Ellis land.
Thoughts: This was a satisfying read, a story of a young woman finding her place, reconnecting with her heritage, and fighting injustice. It’s quiet, with tropes and beats that sneak up on you, and has a beautiful, positive portrayal of modern Indigenous life. There’s also some great dialogue. Unfortunately, I’ve read a lot of stories that use the same tropes and beats, and though McBride uses them well, they don’t seem to have much spark here. Still, it’s a solid debut and I’ll be interested to see where she goes from here.
My favourite parts, surprising nobody who knows me, were whenever Nanabush turned up, and the way McBride realizes the spirit world and its “magic”. Nanabush is wonderfully cranky and annoyingly cryptic (though I got frustrated a few times that he couldn’t just say something or understand where Hazel was coming from more), and McBride writes his crow body language wonderfully. And the spirit world? Lovely and eerie at the same time, definitely a timeless and separate world and exactly how it should be. The more magical elements of the story were great, and not overdone. I really liked how those worked and the sense of power behind them. There were a couple scenes where I thought, “Oh, that is cool.”
But enough about that. McBride’s also good with character. Her secondary characters shine especially, every one different and none of them playing to “type”. Even Hazel’s dad, who's only really seen in occasional flashbacks, is rounded and vibrant. Going along with the characterization are a strong ear for dialogue and an ability to create very solid, complex relationships. A lot of the conversations are snappy and realistic—McBride’s great at sass—and Hazel and her mom, to pick one example… that’s a mother and daughter, definitely.
That said, Hazel’s own personality didn’t always feel solid. Sometimes she was a believable twenty-something, and other times she seemed older and more jaded than she probably should have. Trying to get a handle on her was hard. I also struggled with some of her interactions with Nanabush—how long it had been since her last one, why she flipped between annoyance with him and a sort of angry, desperate need for his company, that sort of thing. I’m not sure if these are white reader problems, though. They certainly could be.
The same might go for my problem with the tropes and beats in general, or it could just be that I’ve read a lot of urban fantasy and know how these sorts of stories go. Even if McBride gets to the same places without the same kick as pure urban fantasy does, I was rarely surprised when one chapter had a moment of self-doubt or another featured an antagonist and a setback. That said, I appreciated that so much of the climax was still unexpected, and felt much the same as Hazel afterwards.
The final thing I liked about this book is McBride’s ability to interweave Hazel’s growing confidence in herself with the problems with the quarry, the white guy from town, and the spirit world. I loved seeing Hazel come into herself and her power and solve the mystery, but the parallels and complexities don’t stop there. McBride’s doing some interesting, clever things there, though it might be a white reader thing again that I felt they never quite clicked into place.
So yeah, there’s lots I liked about this, and some things that left me profoundly meh, and that evened out to an all right read. Can’t say I loved it or hated it. It’s a worthwhile read though, and like I said, a solid review. I suspect people who’re less familiar with urban fantasy plots would enjoy this more than I did.
To bear in mind: Contains racist and misguided white people, the past death of a parent, attempted suicide, and land rights … shenanigans, to put it nicely.
