Review Detail

This is the best YA fantasy I've ever read about the Rwandan genocide.

It's a story about Queen Bitterblue, who came abruptly to her throne at age 10. She is now 18 and still trying to deal with the toxic fallout of her father's reign. Her father Leck was a twisted, evil, sociopath who could literally convince anyone of anything. That pain was pleasure. That love was pity. Anything, and he used this power to try to rebuild his fantasy world, without, of course, counting the cost to anyone. Hundreds died.

Her advisors have convinced Bitterblue that the only way for the kingdom to get past this horror is to issue a blanket amnesty for everything that happened in Leck's time, and try to forget it, as a country.

The problem is that the country can't forget, and the people who committed atrocities are terrified that the information will come out, and the people who were victims can't just get over it without acknowledgement. Bitterblue is helped by more experienced characters from the previous books, but mostly, she is successful because of her dogged determination to do the right thing, and her skills at making friends. She has a whopping case of imposter syndrome, which is understandable. "They understood the world and how to mold it. If she could keep them near, one day she'd wake up and discover that she'd become strong that way too." A budding monarch could do worse.

She is forced to understand that the damage done to the country and the people can't be ignored out of existence, and the most important person in the kingdom may be the librarian. Eventually, through heartbreak and peril, she emerges with a new understanding of her own privilege and the perils of being isolated from many viewpoints.

In the end, she decides that education and knowledge preservation are important, and then she founds the first royal institute of peace and reconciliation. That's not quite what it's called, but the concept is the same. It's hard to work together as a country if no one has ever acknowledged that they were the perpetrators and/or the victims. I think about Rwanda, and Serbia, and South Africa, and I think about how Leck could make good people do terrible things. I think about the way so few genocidal outbursts involve people making a deliberate decision to massacre their neighbors, but something flips in their mind and a voice comes on the radio and it's all machetes and fear and death.

My favorite quote from this book: "Bacon improved things dramatically." Because no matter how terrible your night has been, the addition of calories and protein will probably help you deal with it. My favorite Grace is the ability to direct someone else's dreams.

Read if: You are interested in the aftermath of bad government, you love ciphers and hidden languages and spunky queens.

Skip if: You are looking for something totally escapist. You have issues with people not taking responsibility for your actions. You can't read about past torture.