Brown Girl in the Ring

"Enchanting, intoxicating blend of post-apocalyptic grimness and Caribbean magic. Ti-Jeanne and her grandmother Gros Jeanne live in the hellhole of near-future Toronto's inner ring, a dangerous place abandoned by the government and anyone with money. Gros-Jeanne is a healer with a complicated history, and when Ti-Jeanne's sort-of boyfriend Tony turns to her for help escaping the Posse, a ruthless gang headed by the terrifying Rudy, complications both familial and magical ensue. Hopkinson's brilliant descriptive powers render Ti-Jeanne's world in all it's beauty and horror, and many scenes are not for the squeamish. Creative, original and powerful, with a pair of remarkable female lead characters."

"It was the first afrofuturism book I've ever read. I really enjoyed the cultural integration and the commentary on class structures. The flow and the pacing was perfect. I also appreciated that the romance subplot was not stereotypical."

"In a post-riot Toronto that the rich and privileged have fled, barricaded, and left to crumble, the inner city has had to rediscover old ways: farming, barter and herb lore. Now the monied need a harvest of bodies, so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and a tragic mystery surrounding her family and bargain with the gods to save herself. My husband read this for his Caribbean Folklore class he took this term, and he’s been insisting that I read it ever since, even though I really didn’t think I’d like it that much. I was right: The dialect in this book was really difficult for me, but the traditional folk-tale structure of the story revived a lot of it. There were notes of African folklore, Anansi stories, and even a little bit of Neil Gaiman’s storytelling structure present. Not really for me, for the most part, but I can see why it was so well-loved."

"It was great! Did a wonderful job of merging post-apocalyptic futurism with traditional African spirituality. "