Publisher's Weekly Review
Roy (The Hotel Alleluia) turns to speculative fiction for the first time with this lyrical, Afrofuturist hero's quest set in the not-too-distant future. The "Civil War Sequel" led to the reinstitution of slavery in the Homestead Territories; now plantation owners import Black folks from the Cradle to work and breed multiracial laborers. The spunky Jellybean "Ji-Ji" Lottermule has found a way out: as the fastest runner in Planting 437, she'll compete in the Freedom Race. If she wins, she and her family would be emancipated. But to enter, she must first win her mother's support and get ratified for the race--and these tasks prove to be just the first of many hurdles for Ji-Ji. Things get off to a slow start; Roy front-loads the story with extensive background for the "disunited states" and an elaborate lexicon of new racial classifications, creating a steep learning curve for readers. But once the world is established and Ji-Ji's story takes off, her harrowing but profoundly spiritual quest for sovereignty against all odds impresses. Readers who stick with this will appreciate both the tenacious heroine and Roy's intricate prose stylings. Agent: Jennifer Weltz, Jean V. Naggar Literary. (July)
Booklist Review
Novelist, poet, and memoirist Roy ventures into speculative fiction with this first book in the Dreambird Chronicles. The United States was divided into three self-governing regions after the Civil War Sequel. Jellybean "Ji-ji" Lottermule lives on Planting 437, a deeply segregated compound within the Homestead Territories. By classifying laborers from Africa as botanical and propagating with their "seeds," the father-men of the Territories have created a color-based slave system. The only way to escape is to enter the Freedom Race, and Ji-ji is the best runner around. Between Planting 437 and the finish line in Dream City are mutant animals and gangs of violent men, but also the Friends of Freedom, a network working to emancipate people in the Territories. Roy's comprehensive world building and immersive language create a tapestry that blends realistic fantasy with the Black experience in the United States. The deliberate pacing and visceral descriptions of planting life will not suit all readers, but the investment is worthwhile. Ji-ji's journey is a story of resilience and hope rooted in a place where Octavia Butler and Rivers Solomon intersect with The Handmaid's Tale.
Library Journal Review
In two-time Nebula Award winner Benford's Shadows of Eternity, earthlings have established a SETI library on the moon in two centuries hence to interpret messages from alien societies, and beginner Librarian Ruth is encountering their hostility (35,000-copy first printing). Begun with the LJ Best SF/Fantasy The Grey Bastards, the "Lot Lands" trilogy now wraps with The Free Bastards and inevitable war. In A Brief History of Living Forever, an edgy, politically informed follow-up to Kalfař's multi-finalist debut, Spacemen in Bohemia, a young woman in surveillance-heavy 2029 America must convince the Czech brother she's never met to help her find the remains of their mother, buried in a mass grave for immigrants (35,000-copy first printing). Set in 1345 China, debuter Parker-Chan's big-buzzing She Who Became the Sun follows a peasant girl who adopts her brother's identity after his death to enter a monastery as a young male novice (125,000-copy first printing). Activist/author Roy turns to speculative fiction with Freedom Race, with a new slave trade from Africa instituted after a second Civil War and a young woman named Ji-ji Lottermule the key to challenging the power of the Homestead Territories of the Disunited States (125,000-copy first printing). In Van Loan's The Justice in Revenge, second in a series begun with the LJ-starred The Sin in the Steel, young toughie Buc has won a seat on the board of Kanados Trading Company and plans to destroy the gods that have caused so much suffering (75,000-copy first printing).
