by Yoon Ha Lee
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 12th June 2018
spoilers? some
Goodreads
tw for rape, dubious consent relationships (unhealthy power dynamics), torture, death
Galley provided by publisher
But that didn’t mean those things weren’t worth doing. Someone had to carry on with the small acts that kept civilization moving. And this time it was her turn.
You know those series that make you kind of reluctant to read the final book because you don't quite trust the author not to break your heart into a million pieces? This was one of those ones. I've had the ARC of this for a good 4 months, and it's only now, a full three weeks after its release, that I've finished it. And you know what? Yoon Ha Lee broke my heart into a million pieces.
Revenant Gun picks the story up around 9 years after the end of Raven Strategem. The high calendar has been destabilised by Cheris, who has subsequently gone missing, leaving Brezan to assume the mantle in her stead, opposed by self-proclaimed Protector-General Inesser. More sinisterly, Nirai Kujen, the only hexarch besides Mikodez to avoid the assassination, is eager to restore the high calendar, for reasons known only to himself.
To be perfectly honest, reading the blurb for the first time had me incredibly confused. Thankfully, that clears up within the first few chapters. Kujen has resurrected Shuos Jedao, based on the remaining memories he has stored away, from Jedao before he joined the Shuos Academy. This kind of brings me to my first point (or not point as such, but first comment). Kujen and Jedao's relationship is definitely unhealthy and just reading the chapters they shared made me pretty uncomfortable. There's a really unhealthy power dynamic in there - Kujen can basically control Jedao because he can return him to the black cradle and shut him away if he wants to, so how is Jedao going to be able to refuse Kujen anything. You can see why I didn't really like reading those chapters. Not to mention it gets even more skeevy when the big reveal comes. (Although it's not outright condemned as a relationship in the text, Jedao's POV makes it clear he does know it's not healthy.)
There is also another unhealthy relationship between Jedao and Dhanneth (also with some unbalanced power dynamics - Jedao is Dhanneth's commander, and Kel formation instinct means he pretty much can't disobey him. Not to mention Kujen (again) did some shit to Dhanneth to break him). This one made me sad more than disgusted though - it is definitely not presented as being good, just fyi - because it's exactly what happened to Jedao in the Academy. But he doesn't have those memories because of Kujen, so he's just perpetuating the abuse and he doesn't even realise it.
Despite having parts where I felt fairly uncomfortable, I loved this book. This series as a whole has just got better and better as I read it. I can't believe now that I was considering DNF-ing the first book because I didn't like the characters or the writing. Past me was obviously delusional. I think if I went back and reread Ninefox Gambit now I would like it a lot more, because I know what's coming. I would also probably spend the whole time spotting parallels or foreshadowing and start crying or something too - that's how thinking about this series is going to be for me from now on.
So now all that's left is to avoid the inevitable book slump caused by this book.
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