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A Landscape of Shadows de Julie Upshur
de Julie Upshur - Género: English
Sinopsis
In the walled Diadem City, everyone is on a psychic spectrum, and those with the smallest amount of the gift are bought and sold as Seconds: slaves held captive mind and body by a more powerful psychic. Sol, traumatized by an incident a year ago that stole her willpower, has determined to never be enslaved again. But caring for herself and her paralyzed twin brother Lu in a city that thrives on poverty-stricken workers is only getting harder, and when Lord Faisal, famous for controlling more Seconds than anyone, offers her a deal she can't refuse, Sol and Lu are whisked away into a life of luxury. But there's a steep cost.
Faisal recruited Sol for an impossible mission. His sister has been forcibly taken as Second by Nikara Manfalon, the cruel unofficial princess of the city and the same woman who took control of Sol's mind a year ago. Nikara is untouchable, and the only way into her fortress, and to Faisal's sister, is through Sol's connection to Nikara's brother, the equally notorious non-psychic Tessan, who, for reasons Sol cannot fathom, is infatuated with her.
All Sol wants is to protect her family, but she is inextricably linked to Faisal and unfinished business for Nikara. Surrounded by power and unable to trust her own thoughts, Sol must navigate this bizarre new world where kindness is weakness, love is a weapon, and the consequence for losing the game is death, or worse.
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Reseñas Varias sobre este libro
If A Landscape of Shadows has a million fans, then I am one of them. If it has ten fans, then I am one of them. If it has only one fan, then that is me. If it has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against it, then I am against the world.
This novel is incredible. I have not been this excited about a book in a long time. I've had my love affairs with books, sure, and I have a lot I'm fond of, but this one wrapped its fingers around my heart, clenched, and didn't let go until I reached the end. It's 400 pages. I read it in 4 hours and change. I have never been the same.
I'd be hard-pressed to say what my favorite thing about it is, because I have a different answer for the question's every nuance. I can talk about strong female characterswhich Solara Barthelme isbut the phrase conjures a literary culture afraid of deviating from (patriarchal) typea culture that thinks strength precludes love, instead necessitates loneliness, or some level of isolation. But you find none of that here. Instead, you have a character who is powerful, whose morals she interrogates at every turn, who is driven by love (for family, for friends, her world. And yes, her lover.) And the narrative doesn't punish her for it. She's not the only one, either. The women here are angry, or feral, or sad. They are capable of laughter, at turns twisted and warm. They are real, and even when you have every reason to dis them, that emotion is earned.
I can talk about the world-building, and how built into the fabric of this particular world is a pointed critique of inequality. Of the privilege and the poverty the world holds on either hand at the same time, and the harm perpetuated to maintain it. This isn't waved away by the story, instead is integral to the decisions Sol makes. A metaphor for consent is wise embedded here, and by consent, I mean everything at the same time. At its broadest, there's an underlying critique of how consent is coerced by living conditions, by poverty, by the need to survive. And intentionally so. Power is front and center, and it's very seldom that a (contemporary) work is able to weave that without being performative about it.
I can talk about the romance, BUT I'M STILL NOT OVER THE EMOTIONAL TURMOIL SO MAYBE I'LL COME BACK TO IT. My Goodreads updates can attest to how wrecked I was, anyway. Upshur has no compassion for my poor nerves. I'm just a girl. (I will say, however, that the Twitter antis will have a field day with this. I will never learn peace until the world learns media literacy.)
There's so much I can still talk about, but I'm going to luxuriate in this feeling a bit more. It has been a long while since I've felt this elated over a novel. At some point, words fail you. 1 Grace Hable 5 1 follower
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