Anita W's Reviews > The Blueprint

1 ⭐️ I hate to do it. I don’t know that I’ve ever rated a book one star that wasn’t a DNF. Did I hate read this to completion? Yes. And maybe that’s influencing the harshness of my rating but I truly did not like anything about it. And I’m disappointed because it was such a highly anticipated read for me 😩

I normally love a dystopian story. This one also included science fiction, some historical fiction, currently relevant racial and feminist dense topics….I was so bought into the premise of this book. However….the writing style just about dragged the life out of me. It was excessively complex but offered little towards getting me to connect with the main character or her story. Solenne….oh Solenne what can I say of her 🤔 she’s ignorant, loud and wrong, foolish, immature, and I hesitate to say gullible because one could argue that it’s due to brainwashing and oppression (read slavery v 2) but even given that fact, I did not and could not empathize with her.

Also to speak to the writing, there were so many holes in the complexity of the story and the structure of this new government, Source, how/why Louisiana is the only free state, what the actual fuck happened in Civil War II that turned Black women into concubines?? I didn’t have understanding of the “why” or the “how”, making the story, again, harder to connect with.

I know this was this author’s debut and that she’s an educator and I will be the first to admit that maybe this is just too complex writing for me but all things considered, I did not enjoy this book. ESPECIALLY the ending. You write this whole book about a Black woman forced into being a concubine and seeking her freedom and this is the ending you chose??? What the heck was I supposed to receive from this story? Please if anyone has read this and wants to share a differing opinion or perspective, please share.