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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"EXCELLENT...A BRIGHT, ORIGINAL MIX OF FUTURE URBAN DECAY AND WEST INDIAN MAGIC...STRONGLY ROOTED IN CHARACTER AND PLACE".
-- Sunday Denver Post on Brown Girl in the Ring
Book Description
Rediscover Nalo Hopkinson's previous books, now with fresh new covers.
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First Sentence
Oho. Like it starting, oui? Don't be frightened, sweetness; is for the best. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Oho. Like it starting, oui? Don't be frightened, sweetness; is for the best. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Occasionally one is privileged to stumble across a new writer who has it all: plot, style, wit and emotion. Nalo Hopkinson's Brown Girl in the Ring was a startling debut. Midnight Robber is even better. Midnight Robber is a fast paced sf novel which moves between two different worlds; between reality and myth making; and between human and alien. The language is a delight, intrinsic to a plot in which each character appropriates metaphor and sound for their individual purpose. One of the best sf books of the year.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful book, wonderful language
19 Mar 2000
Format:Paperback
I've just finished this book, and I enjoyed it tremendously, even the heartbreaking parts. Even the parts that pose major moral questions for which nobody has any answers. It's a great read, like all books by this author. It's also unusual because although it's written in a dialect (a Creole dialect) the language never gets in the way of the story or distracts the reader. On the contrary; the dialect is an advantage rather than a drawback. I recommend _Midnight Robber_ without reservation.
Suzette Haden Elgin ocls@madisoncounty.net
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
This was a great read
14 Mar 2000
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Patois speaking frilled lizard creatures, succulent fruits, deadly plants, a problematic father and a main character with fire in her soul. This book was hard to put down as soon as I cracked it open. The blend of Caribbean folklore and the sci-fi genre was very cool and unique. It also teaches you some patois as you read. If you want to be taken somewhere realistically fantastic, check out this book!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Enjoyable and Different SF novel
18 May 2001
Format:Paperback
_Midnight Robber_, nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards, is a pretty darn good book. It's told in a Caribbean-flavoured English "patwa", which quickly reads entirely naturally, and adds a musical dimension to the prose that enhances the book greatly. The story itself begins slowly, and I think I would have severely cut (or restricted to flashbacks) the opening segments, set on the main character's home planet. But the bulk of the novel is excellent, with a convincing and involving main character, and a neat setting on an alien planet with cool aliens, and a solid plot involving the main character dealing with severe family issues and coming of age.
The story is about a girl from the planet Toussaint, called Tan-Tan. Toussaint is a highly technological planet: most of the work is done by machines, and everybody (except a few resisters) has an implant which connects them to a planet-wide AI. The AI monitors everybody as well as linking them to news and such -- thus crime would seem to be difficult, and when crime does happen, the criminals are treated harshly, exiled to a primitive planet called New Half Way Tree. Tan-Tan is the daughter of the Mayor of her town, Antonio. Antonio is a serial adulterer himself, but when he catches his wife in flagrante, he flies into a rage. Eventually his actions lead to exile to New Half Way Tree -- and more or less by accident, he takes Tan-Tan with him. This whole first section is a bit slow, and not well enough integrated with the rest of the novel. Antonio doesn't seem well-portrayed -- and Tan-Tan's mother Ione is both an unpleasant and unnecessary character. Moreover it introduces a subthread about the anti-tech people on Toussaint (those who choose not to be linked to the AI, and who do their own hand work) which doesn't really go anywhere. Also, there is some mumbo-jumbo about the connection and means of transport between Toussaint and New Half Way Tree that was superfluous. (There are bits about Tan-Tan's childhood and about the tech background to Toussaint that are important -- those could have been introduced in flashbacks, I thought.) But I am making a mountain out of a molehill.
Once Tan-Tan and Antonio get to New Half Way Tree, the book comes alive. They are met by an intriguing ostrich- or lizard-like alien called Chichibud, who guides them through some peril to a human village. The village is ruled harshly but apparently fairly by a couple of hard men. It seems that the aliens are regarded as rather simple by the humans, but they engage in mutually beneficial trade, and though there are mysteries, no human has time to investigate on this harsh planet. Tan-Tan grows up, making friends with the simple-minded daughter of another exile, and with a local boy. But her relationship with her father grows horrible, and she is driven to a terrible act as she turns 16. The rest of the book follows her into the wilderness, where she is saved by Chichibud and brought to his home, where she learns something of the secrets of the aliens (called douens) way of life. When her past comes to threaten the aliens as well, she leaves and wanders the bush with an alien friend. Soon she is the "Midnight Robber", trying to atone for her crimes and her guilt, some of which is misplaced, by acting as a sort of Robin Hood character in the various human villages.
Eventually Tan-Tan must find a way back into human society. I thought possibly some of the resolution was just a bit convenient -- also I thought the time scale to the book a bit compressed towards the end. But it remains exciting and interesting, and the resolution if convenient is still satisfying. There are some open questions about the human/douen relationship, but though a sequel is possible, its not necessary.
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