The Sisters of Reckoning (The Good Luck Girls, #2)
by Charlotte Nicole DavisPublished by: Tor Teen on August 10, 2021
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, LGBTQ, Dystopia
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Rating:
The Sisters of Reckoning is the blockbuster sequel to Charlotte Nicole Davis's alternate Old West-set commercial fantasy adventure.
The Good Luck Girls are free. Aster's sister and friends have new lives across the border in Ferron, while Aster remains in Arketta, helping more girls escape. But news of a new welcome house opening fills Aster with a need to do more than just help individual girls. And an unexpected reunion gives her an idea of how to do it. From there, grows a wildly ambitious plan to free all dustbloods, who live as prisoners to Arketta's landmasters and debt slavery.
When Clementine and the others return from Ferron, they become the heart of a vibrant group of fearless fighters, working to unite the various underclasses and convince them to join in the fight. Along the way, friendships will be forged, lives will be lost, and love will take root even in the harshest of circumstances, between the most unexpected of lovers.
But will Arketta's dustbloods finally come into power and freedom, or will the resistance just open them up to a new sort of danger?
Content Tags:
Perfect for readers who want:
- Badass women kicking butt and taking names.
- The underdog rising up in the name of justice.
- A squad of characters that are easy to empathize with and root for.
- All the plot twists and turns.
- A steady pace of action that’ll draw you through the book.
- Danger around every corner.
- An Old West feeling fantasy dystopia with a little bit of everything.
Many thanks to Tor Teen and JeanBookNerd for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
I’d been meaning to read Good Luck Girls since it first came out, and what better time than when the sequel is about to be released, right? I whipped through that in no time and was super excited to pick this book up. I can’t get enough of this little squad!
The Sisters of Reckoning is a fast-paced adventure filled with women kicking butt and taking names, a squad that’s easy to root for, and a good Old West feeling dystopia about fighting for what’s right.
I had absolutely no idea what to expect after the first book ended, but I hadn’t expected this, and I mean that in the best way possible. Oh my gosh, these women! This story! I was immediately swept back into it. It’s fast paced, actiony, with ridiculously high stakes. Never a dull moment, but plenty of room to breathe still. I’m assuming there’s a third book (there better be a third book) and I’m already dying to get my hands on it!
This review may contain mild spoilers for the first book in the series.
This is a dark, intensely unjust world filled with classism, prejudice, and all the injustices. It will boil your blood and make you want to stab a few people.
I mean … probably. Maybe not that last part. That might just be me. It also might be because I’m being forced to watch Rick and Morty yet again so now all I can imagine is unleashing the Pink Sentient Switchblade on all these people.
Anyway, I digress. Point is: this is a tough world to read, and it’s not for the faint of heart. After everything they survived in the previous book, the Good Luck Girls are suffering from some pretty major PTSD. If the law doesn’t get them, the raveners will, and if they don’t, the vengeants will. There’s so much working against them that it almost forces the reader to root for them all the more.
As is normal in a dystopia, this is a world where a small portion of people own everything worth owning in society, and they enslave the Dustbloods because of course they should, since they’re obviously better than them.
If that alone isn’t enough to get your blood pumping, just wait. It gets even worse. Because it’s not just about being a Dustblood, it’s about being a Good Luck Girl: a woman sold to a Welcome House and forced into prostitution, all the while being told how lucky they should feel to have a roof over their head and food in their bellies. Getting the picture? Good. Because Aster and her group of misfits is about to burn it to the ground … occasionally literally.
Aster was beside herself. Her, the monster? When they were the ones who made their living off violence Who took their pleasure from it?
Arketta is a powder keg waiting to explode, and these girls are bringing the fire. Literally.
This isn’t even the good kind of tension that has you on the edge of your seat eagerly waiting for something to happen. This is the “inevitable bloody revolution that ends in death and destruction” sort of tension borne from generations upon generations of people being exploited and told they’re worthless. If that doesn’t make you burn with righteous fury in sympathy, I don’t know what will.
If you thought Aster and the Good Luck Girls had gone as far as they could go in the first book, wait until you see what happens when they decide that they won’t just accept their lot in life and go quietly.
I mean, not that they did in the first book, either, did they? So that’s no surprise. But now that Aster has a cause, she’s sinking in tooth and nail. There’s an overarching atmosphere of something just about to happen. The reader may not necessarily know what, but it feels big, like a change in the air. It creates just enough pressure and anxiety to force you to keep reading to find out if it’s going to be a good something or a bad something.
“It was a dustblood, though, wasn’t it? You’re all the same.”
Oh. Aster loosened her grip on the hilt of her knife, but her scowl deepened as the man continued. “Bad genes. Corrupted souls. Like animals. You all can’t help yourselves.” The man turned back to Russ. “It’s not safe having them here. There’s a reason their ancestors were shipped off to the Scab.”
All my favorites from Good Luck Girls are back, and they’ve found a few new friends to round out their forces.
Because criminals deserve friends, too! I was already 100% rooting for this squad after the first book (because I’m always for women sticking it to the upper class). But these new characters? They were really easy to love. I really enjoyed the new additions and the sometimes-tension that they created. Plus, it’s always nice seeing some old, familiar faces, and there’s plenty of that in this book, too!
Clementine giggled, pushing him away playfully. “You’re so corny.”
Aster was less amused.
“Well,” she said bracingly, turning to Raven. “There you have it—a one-woman batball team, a barroom pianist, a copperless cornball, and a medic who may actually be brilliant enough to get the rest of us through this. Are you sure you still want to join this circus?”
Raven offered half a smile. “Well, it sounds like you still have room for a brooding artist. I’d be happy to offer my services.”
The one thing that hit me hard about this book (you know, aside from the other things I mentioned) is the portrayal of Aster’s PTSD.
Huge trigger warning here for anyone who has PTSD! I do not, but those scenes were still so visceral and powerful that they at times gave me anxiety for Aster. Talk about a writer that can elicit a reaction! Mental health is always a tricky thing, so I love when writers take the time to tackle it. It’d be unreaslitic, to put it lightly, that any of the Good Luck Girls would come away unscathed. In fact, if any dustborn were unscathed in this world, I’d be suspicious. So many of the characters are dealing with their own mental health issues, and of course they are. They’ve all been through horrific experiences that would leave a scar on anyone, and so I appreciate the authenticity of them still grappling with the effects.
Cora’s eyes met hers. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“I just don’t know how I can ever repay you all.”
“Not every good thing need come at a cost, Aster. Put it out of your mind.”
About Charlotte Nicole Davis
Charlotte Nicole Davis is the author of The Good Luck Girls, a young adult fantasy novel releasing in Fall 2019 with Tor Teen. A graduate of The New School’s Writing for Children MFA program, Charlotte loves comic book movies and books with maps in the front. She currently lives in Brooklyn with a cat with a crooked tail.
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ENDS: AUGUST 30, 2021
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