About the Book
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Author:
- Ally Condie
Cover Story: Gold In This River
BFF Charm: Caution
Talky Talk: Consistently Condie
Bonus Factors: Cameo, Faith and Doubt
Anti-Bonus Factors: Religious Hypocrisy, Ambiguous Ending
Relationship Status: Let Me Off This Ship
Cover Story: Gold In This River
“ … that I’ve been washing my hands in forever … ” Anyone remember the Adele song? Never mind.
The Deal:
Machinist Poe Blythe and her boyfriend Call signed up for a gold-mining voyage to see the world outside their isolated city, only for Call to be killed and their ship destroyed by raiders. Since then, Poe has made it her life’s work to design deadly sharp armor for the city’s second mining ship. When their leader, the Admiral, orders her to mine a river that goes deep into the raiders’ territory, she grimly looks forward to seeing her armor in action. But when anonymous messages appear in her cabin – “This is not your river”; “This is not your gold” – she realizes that someone on her crew may actually be working for the raiders. Who are these people she’s been hating for so long, and what do they really want? Can it be that the real enemy is much closer to home?
BFF Charm: Caution
Poe’s worldview is bleak, let me tell you. She’s not only obsessed with revenge after losing the only person she’s ever cared about, but she also suspects spies on board her ship. Since gauging people’s trustworthiness isn’t her strong point, she defaults to suspecting everybody, all the time. “This could get exhausting,” ship’s cook Tam complains when she takes away his knife and makes him taste-test his own food. He’s got a point there (pun intended). I was exhausted after every chapter.
Swoonworthy Scale: 3
Call, Poe’s lost love, is very sweet, even though we only get to know him through flashbacks. Her current love interest, Brig, would be much more attractive if she didn’t compare him to Call so much. She can’t help it, but it feels like he’s a consolation prize. Also, they’re both so emotionally withdrawn that they hardly talk to each other. And that name – seriously, who names their son after a ship’s prison?
Talky Talk: Consistently Condie
Poe is pretty much a gender-flipped Ky Markham from Matched: orphaned, better with machines than people, and idealizing a missing lover almost to the point of worship. No wonder she sounds like him too – I’d know that laconic voice anywhere:
“I was this ship’s captain.
Now I’m its ghost.”
Bonus Factor: Cameo
I was so happy to see a certain character from the Matched trilogy again that I kept reading just for them. This makes for some confusing geopolitics – did Condie have to give all her nations names like “Union”, “Territory” and “Society”? – but at least it means this character survived.
Bonus Factor: Faith and Doubt
Poe is an atheist. What struck her about the sight of Call’s dead body is “how gone he was”, meaning she cannot believe in souls or an afterlife. This actually keeps her alive, since she believes that when she dies, Call’s legacy dies with her. But a life without faith is also lonely, and Poe needs to learn to believe in someone – if not God, at least her fellow humans – if she ever wants to do more than just survive.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Religious Hypocrisy
The Admiral is the kind of leader who loudly declares that God is on his side, even – especially – when he’s committing genocide. He also has a nun and a bishop on his council who agree to everything he says, and gloat visibly when they see him abusing his power. No wonder Poe doesn’t believe in God if that’s how the people in her life portray Him.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Ambiguous Ending
These sorts of endings may be very sophisticated, but I’m a person with simple tastes. If there’s a villain, I want to see him pay.
Relationship Status: Let Me Off This Ship
There may be gold in this river, but it’s a long and grueling ride. Quite frankly, I’d rather have stayed at home.
Literary Matchmaking
Crossed (Matched #2) by Ally Condie is the book in which the cameo character first appears.
(S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi is another story about revenge.
Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy #1) by Rae Carson is another story about a dangerous journey in search of gold.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review.
