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The Blueprint

Rae Giana Rashad

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5 stars

607 (26%)

4 stars

927 (40%)

3 stars

561 (24%)

2 stars

167 (7%)

1 star

42 (1%)

Displaying 1 - 30 of 444 reviews

Erin

1,621 reviews1,520 followers

August 18, 2024

"If sex ended racism, racism wouldn't exist."

I can't believe this is Rae Giana Rashad's debut novel. This is a masterpiece. Everyone should be reading this book. I can't wait for Rae Giana Rashad's future work.

The Blueprint is an alternate history/ dystopian novel about an America that could still happen. In this book, the Civil Rights movement led to a 2nd Civil War that lasted for 7 years. The government turned its guns on Black Americans and their allies. Martial law was invoked, and the military was given full reign to "restore peace." Things turned out even worse for Black people after this Civil War. The Founders of the Order overthrew the U.S. government. And a new form of slavery was instituted. Women lost almost all their rights and Black woman had no rights at all. Black people were given Louisiana as a free state and any Black people who couldn't move to Louisiana before 1962 became slaves. Louisiana basically becomes Haiti, it's overcrowded with few resources and it's devastated by 2 hurricanes in 15 years.

We follow Solenne a Black woman who lives as the "concubine"of a high ranking government official. As she works through her conflicted feelings towards her owner and she writes the story of her ancestor Henriette who was a slave back in the 1800s.

This book is bleak. It's a tough read but I was consumed by this book. I was scared to pick it up but once I did I really didn't want to put it down. This book is a Horror novel. It's a Psychological Thriller and it's something that could actually happen( Google Project 2025). I was shaking while I read this book. The villains in this book are so scary because they exist in our real lives and we need to do everything possible to keep them for having control.

The Blueprint might be my favorite book I've read this year. I want everyone to read this book. This book should be being talked about. This book should be a best seller.

I highly recommend The Blueprint

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The Bookish Bri

116 reviews65 followers

April 25, 2024

Through three timelines (1801, 2025 (I presume), and 2030), we follow two women, Henriette and Solenne, both connected and unprotected, misguided by white men, with a story that touches my soul. Imagine a world where you are assigned to the person with whom you’ll spend the rest of your life based on an algorithm.

A debut dystopian novel that showcases a broken system in which racism, misogyny, and the silencing of Black women lead to Solenne being in a situation where she confuses love with control (*not her fault). Solenne, your story has my heart. This story will be one I remember; it flowed so well. It’s a novel that you will continuously want to go back to if you put it down so you can understand its entirety.

The way Rashad writes this one makes two things certain. We aren’t far from where we came from, and we are so close to something like this happening that is being held in bondage. It’s eerie to think about, but not unimaginable, and I think that can be a very tough pill to swallow for some with this one.

I loved what I thought the main point of this was, which was that Black girls and women are expected to be everything but what they want to be. Expected to be quiet. Never anger easily. Always keep up an appearance. Choose the right thing, but not what’s right for them, but everyone around them. What can Black girl/woman do for you? It seems to be the approach most take when dealing with one. What do I get out of this interaction with a Black girl/woman? What can I take or control? They are often left at the mercy of scrutiny, predators, and dishonesty. This novel brings light to that topic.

Solenne is alone. Solenne needs love. Black girls/womem need love. They need patience. Solenne's story needed to be told and heard. This book deserves to be read. You may not agree with how it ends, but ask yourself this one question: “Did I listen?”

I would recommend this one to anyone interested in dystopian fiction with ties to power dynamics, mind control, racism, and slavery. I also recommend pairing this story with audio because Joniece Abbott-Pratt’s voice adds a layer of imagery as always.

Elle

9 reviews

October 18, 2023

Wow. This one is both captivating and thought-provoking. It deserves every one of its five stars. I can always tell when a story really grabbed me when I'm still thinking about it days later.

Set in a near-future United States, the story revolves around Solenne, a young Black woman struggling through a life with no personal agency. The strength of the story is in the structure.
The three timelines provide a multilayered narrative that draws haunting parallels between the lives of Solenne and her ancestor Henriette, both entangled with powerful white men. Reading Solenne's perspective as a teen alongside her perspective as an adult helps you feel for and understand this complex character. The author tackles what it's like being a girl navigating a world that wasn't created for you. Where do you go, who do you trust, and who do you love in a bleak world? The author leaned into the mental side of forced bondage by examining the lengths some men will travel to maintain control of another person. It scared me, pissed me off, and shocked me. I kept reading because I wanted for these women what I wanted for anyone: freedom and choice. I was rooting for these women to win, even in a world where that is nearly impossible. My heart!!

I think I went into it expecting it to be more genre/upmarket, but this is definitely literary. There are no easy answers, and nothing is spelled out for you. It is a beautifully written but heavy story. Some parts were difficult to read, but I love it when authors push boundaries to tell a story.
It is a must-read for anyone who appreciates powerful storytelling and a searing commentary on the human condition. I double-checked because I couldn't believe this was a debut. I'm looking forward to what this author does next.

arcs bipoc literary

Stitching Ghost

1,469 reviews383 followers

May 16, 2024

At first I felt like others have done what Rashad set out to do with this book more convincingly but after sitting with it for a while I realized that ultimately I don't think it's a quite fair assesment. Here's the thing, the others I've seen doing similar things focused on adults or teenagers and their coming of age. Here we have an adultified teenager who doesn't let us forget that she is in fact still a child, one that didn't actually get to be a child, she's immature and fumbling around because she is a kid. Rashad invites us to sit with our judgement of Solenne's actions many times by reminding us that she's basically a kid. It's not just a what-if story, it's an invitation to look at your expectations of black girls.

It was also a surprisingly quick read for a 300 pages long book,

lisa the worm

93 reviews41 followers

February 27, 2024

This book was incredibly painful. Obviously, the blatant consequences of racism and patriarchy on the Black woman, the Black child, is a prominent theme and a terrible one. The legacy of slavery looking at Black women by a Black woman is shouted to the rooftops here but the look at abusive relationships, male privilege, and the loss of Black girl innocence at the behest of misogynoir was so incredibly heartbreaking. Reading Solenne grapple with an abusive man who does nothing but take, take, fucking take from her? My soul is pierced; the author left no stone overturned when it came to her mission to showcase the pain and vitriol that Black women are told is their legacy and cross to bear. There were some elements that were just so hard to read when I thought about my mind and soul during my first relationship, and how hard it took me to realize what was love and what was not. Sometimes I was so irritated at Solenne for just not SEEING who Bastien was but she knew no better, just like I did, not when we tell so many Black girls and women to not EXPECT anything better. You learn to be quiet and docile for so long you don’t even notice the chains on your wrists. It’s such an unbearable cross to be given and it’s one I live to reject each day that I am still afforded breath.

Sally Hemmings is a prominent figure in the book, seeing as Solenne plays Sally to Bastien’s Thomas Jefferson, and seeing how Solenne ends her story, it makes me wonder how we regard the different ways we regard women who wield power in a society that tried to stifle every shred of their autonomy. Is the conclusion of this book unfair? Absolutely. But I think this book courageously bears sympathy for women who are groomed into cycles of abuse, and displaying how the sacrifices that Black women have made for their descendants presents itself in so many different ways. This book just stirs up so many conversations about Black trauma and love and the stolen lives of female enslaved people and finding a sliver of agency in a world that turns its back on women (Black women, in particular) and the intricacies, the NUANCES of Black motherhood. It’s a book that’s going to live in my mind for a very long time.

The only critique that really stood out for me was the lack of world building that would have explained the dystopian setup of the book - we know this is an alternate history and the US has fallen into what is now “the Order,” an incredibly racist and patriarchal society (that, don’t get me wrong, is not that hard to imagine considering America’s climate) that was rose after the events of a second Civil War. All understandable but I still wanted a more realized history and understanding of this world. We get details here and there (like how revisionist chauvinists tried to argue away the real reason for the second Civil War, why Louisiana was picked as the unincorporated state) but I needed more. Honestly, Solenne’s story could have been made in a present day setting and would have still made waves, so if we were going to have this speculative alternate history, I would’ve wanted a bit more details and context as to what this new world is. Other than that, this was such an impactful debut. 🖤

brewdy_reader

198 reviews31 followers

May 8, 2025

4.5⭐️ rounded up

·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ Handmaid’s Tale meets Brave New World in a grim dystopian future.

“𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚘𝚗𝚎.”

Mind the trigger warnings. This is really dark. A bleak but powerful US militarized state, with only one free territory in Louisiana.

Imagine an era where a second civil war has happened, establishing a hierarchy with DoS (Descendents of Slavery, black women), at the bottom, suffering total loss of control over body, mind, and being. Future tech advancements and algorithms include constant video surveillance, monitoring, and truth elicitation via subdermal chips.

“𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝; 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚙. 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎.”

Solenne Bonnet looks like Thomas Jefferson’s slave consort Sally Heming. I felt for her, even as I longed for her to break out of the mind warp and escape this destiny. This is a devastating, grim future and I couldn’t look away.

“𝙸𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞.”

I appreciated the tie to this nation’s dark history of prosperity on the backs of slavery, to include our founding fathers and the genesis of the United States. A very powerful read that I highly recommend if you’re in the right headspace (triggers below).

“𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎.”

TW: Gaslighting, Murder, Death, Racism, Sexism, Rape, Grooming, Misogyny

Anna

1,075 reviews830 followers

March 27, 2024

The writing and worldbuilding do not fully support the Big Ideas™ the blurb alludes to. It may be that I’m fresh out of reading Octavia E. Butler’s explorations of ‘what ifs’ to want to see a debut author pushing the envelope in any shape or form. It may also be that I’ve come across YA dystopian novels that are simply better and The Blueprint reads like not a very good one.

2024-booklist debut-novel read-in-2024

Nicole (Bookiesandtea)

425 reviews29 followers

February 14, 2024

The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad is a dystopian story of a woman's journey to reclaim her power, about sacrifice, and choosing one's destiny. It is set in an alternative America where an uprising during the 1950s led to the re-enslavement of Black women and all rights of women were revoked.

It is loosely inspired by Sally Hemings and other enslaved Black women who became concubines to powerful white men.

The book focuses on Solenne's journey during the year 2030, where she becomes concubine to one of the most powerful government officials. As the story progresses, we see Solenne as a naive teen who doesn't really realize how her freedom has been taken away from her. As she has been taught from a very young age that this is just how things are supposed to go.

"𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑴𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒎𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍, 𝒏𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒓. 𝑵𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎."

As she grows older and realizes that her voice, dreams, and aspirations do not belong to her, she starts to question everything and everyone.

This story was powerful, eye-opening and speaks volumes on not only how in the past Black women were considered objects but also an awakening and call to action of what can happen if women's rights and voices are taking away.

Allen Richard

167 reviews20 followers

January 19, 2025

I wanted to like this. It sounds like something I would like (comparisons to Handmaid’s Tale and Parable of the Sower). This lacked the depth and clarity those two have. The premise is promising but never fully explained. Between the two timelines, the main character has virtually no growth. Disappointing and a bit of a slog to get through. 2.5

2025

Leo

4,976 reviews625 followers

January 6, 2025

I find books with thos kind of premise, the handmaid's tale kind of style. To be very chilling and hit my emotions in a way not all dystopian tend to do. This wad an uniqe story for itself and it was intense read.

Anita W

163 reviews29 followers

July 27, 2024

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.

Theodore

175 reviews27 followers

August 6, 2024

Black women see the future.

black-fiction

ThatBookish_deviant

1,776 reviews16 followers

February 13, 2025

4.25/5

lgbtqia2s own-hardcover

Amber

779 reviews164 followers

January 29, 2024

gifted by the publisher

In an alternate US, a Black woman becomes a concubine of a powerful white politician. Reading the author's notes first might clarify the story and help understand Rashad's motivation. I find the writing too "aesthetic" and was confused about the plot due to the lack of distinction in narrative voices between the two timelines—a fascinating premise that didn't pan out.

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Katie

140 reviews

January 3, 2024

I don’t know if I will be able to convey how truly affected I am by this debut novel. From the first word, I was dragged in to a world scarily like our own (perhaps it could have been with a shift in political trajectory half a century ago). The reader is exposed to the hypocrisies and machinations of a government that has no qualms subjugating the “weaker” of society, justifying it as a way to protect and to guide those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to make decisions independently.

Our protagonist Solenne Bonet is at the complete mercy and whims of Bastien Martin, and the reader has the privilege of following her throughout the book; her thoughts, emotions, and sense of self are not her own and it becomes even more apparent as the novel progresses how she struggles with that. As the title suggests Sol uses her ancestor’s life as a guiding beacon for her own experiences in slavery and servitude. The fact that Rashad uses actual historical precedence as the basis for the overall plot is terrifying. It certainly isn’t something taught in US History classes.

The subtlety and pacing with which Rashad writes is what I found most shocking to me; Rashad does not use exposition to set the stage but rather she slowly unveils the horrors of living in a society where Black women and girls are property controlled by algorithms and software. I was still making realizations of the society nearly 80% through, just as horrified as the first time I realized her fictional society is far closer to the reality the US has today.

Rashad does an incredible job exploring the complexities of human thought, sense of self, autonomy (or lack thereof), and relationships – both platonic and romantic. Her understanding of abuses, not just physical, was heartbreaking to experience first-hand simply because of how well she presented it. Rashad has an amazing understanding on the human condition, and does even better conveying it in her novel.

I’m new to dystopian literature, and this was one heck of a book to start out with. It deserves every star it received, and I will certainly be watching out for her next book.

I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway.

giveaways top-10-2024

Caila

190 reviews2 followers

January 8, 2024

Rating: 5⭐️
Genre: fiction, science fiction, think handmaids tale but black

*Insert deep emotion-filled sigh* Thank you Harper Collins for the physical ARC, and Rae Giana Rashad for this story.

Beautiful, sophisticated are the first words that come to mind. I felt everything. Genuinely any emotion known to man could be said for how I felt at a certain part of the story.

It was composed in such an artful way. I had my own preconceived notions as to how it would unfold, but I had to throw those out and really just enjoy the story that was crafted. And I regret not a single minute of it. Literary fiction isn’t what I typically read, and that can sometimes affect how I’m able to sit in a story and enjoy it, but I had none of those issues with The Blueprint.

I will always give big shoutouts to my BIPOC authors, and this is fully one of those times. But it’s not a “this is my favourite black book”, it’s a “this is my favourite book” full stop. I want to say this is my favourite book of 2024 but yes it’s still early in the year. I can say, for sure though that this will make my top 5 and always be an automatic recommendation.

Lulu

1,090 reviews136 followers

May 20, 2025

Wow! One of my top reads of the year!

Charlene

186 reviews21 followers

February 24, 2025

Beautiful writing and story!

Christine

272 reviews43 followers

January 22, 2024

[Copy provided by publisher]

READ IF YOU LIKE...
• The Handmaid's Tale, Vox
• Toxic relationships
• Exploring Black womenhood

I THOUGHT IT WAS...
A chilling and poignant work of speculative fiction about white dominance over Black bodies. After Civil War II, a new government is created wherein Black women who are descendants of slavery are assigned to white men at 15. When Solenne, originally assigned to a well-meaning gay man, crosses paths with one of the most powerful men in the government, her entire life becomes subsumed into him.

Rashad has done just enough world building to make this terrifying government system feel believable and suffocating. And while both Black men and women suffer from it, it's women that the system is carefully built to control, a necessity that we even hear one of the government men say. For men to be able to do anything they want, they need take away anything that could give a women, regardless of their race, agency and make it into law.

At the heart of this struggle for control is Solenne and Bastien. Their relationship is dark and twisted. You want to scream for its wrongness, even as you can understand how Solenne, young and impressionable, willingly folded herself into Bastien's arms.

As Solenne struggles against Bastien, so too did her slave ancestor against her master. There's something like a conversation that occurs between these two women throughout the book that I loved. It's the inclusion of her ancestor's story that reminds us that men's presumed ownership still persists, just manifested differently. But it also reminds us how we can draw strength and wisdom from our past, from the torturous paths our ancestors had to carve for us.

Christopher Berry

287 reviews36 followers

March 7, 2024

Damn! This was not for me at all! The premise sounded good enough, but the cryptic, strange writing style of this did not connect me in any way to the story or the characters. I just did not care what was happening, and I ended up DNF’ing this book. I felt like the characters were not fully put on the page and the reader was thrown into the story blindly without any lead up whatsoever.

It was like if you did not get it, then YOU suck because you just do. This is what I can hear the author saying to those that do not fawn over her writing.

I feel like if this was handled by a different author, the result may have been a better executed novel.

DNF’d after 84 pages, with 12 chapters read…can’t say I did not try! 📚

On to the next!

Vanessa Chapa

189 reviews3 followers

June 18, 2024

Definitely dystopian. It is the Handmaid’s Tale for Black women. My problem was that I was sooooo confused for the first 1/2 of the book. I had no idea what was going on. There were three timelines…a Then, Now, and the 1800’s. But isn’t the 1800’s “Then” too?!?!

Ugh! It was super frustrating, I eventually went back and re read the first 50 or so pages! Ultimately I just plowed through.

The end of the book had closure to it, somewhat.

And what does the book cover have to do with the story?!?!?

I would have given it 2.5 stars but rounded it up to three ⭐️’s only because it was set in Texas and Louisiana, and I’m a Texas Girl at heart ♥️!

books-and-pints

Rebecca Josefine

185 reviews5 followers

February 22, 2024

Wow. If this book doesn't become a classic... this book shoul become part of literature history for the blunt, raw, poetic and tender exploration of a forgotten (ignored, written out) history, a hidden present... There's going to be many people who will be able to explain why this book is as good as it is, but this book will leave you feeling full of tender sorrow and anger because while this is a fictional world... there's so many girls like Solenne in history, now, and in the future.

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Stormaloo

270 reviews9 followers

July 9, 2024

What really let me down was the shallow world-building. We get bits about a society post-Civil War II and this enforced slavery system, but it's vague. We don't know who they're fighting or much about the world outside. Unlike "The Handmaid's Tale," which dives deep into societal issues, this book leaves too many questions unanswered. Even though Solenne's story is engaging, I wanted more exploration of the world they live in—it just didn't go as deep as I hoped.

Elizabeth

Author 6 books505 followers

August 10, 2024

Terrifying and prescient - Rashad is a tremendous new talent.

Kelsey (keliterate)

164 reviews183 followers

January 12, 2024

I’m a little bit lost for words because this book was so incredibly beautiful. It’s so unique in the sense that it gives off a distinctly dystopian vibe—while also painting a truthful representation of history.

Rae’s prose waxes poetic—there were lines so beautiful that I actually had to reread them in awe. I will say, though—I started this book quite slowly (mood reader problems), but it really did pick up towards the middle. Rae does a wonderful job of writing an incredibly empathetic story, that while dystopian in nature, speaks to the truth of the plight of a black woman.

It’s truly such an insightful read that leaves plenty for you to ruminate over. I understand this came out fairly recently, and I’d encourage anyone looking for women’s/dystopian/historical fiction to pick it up.

physical-tbr scanned

Chantel Katharina

38 reviews1 follower

April 10, 2024

Interesting alternative reality, and the author’s inspirations (many of whom I love) so clearly map onto her concept. However, the narrative was slow, repetitive, didn’t delve deep enough for me, and ultimately didn’t do the subject matter justice.

I’d hoped the story would better explore / share the thought processes and emotions of the protagonists (Solenne & Henriette).

Henriette was a veiled figure - we never truly enter her story, only Solenne’s relationship to it. And with Solenne, I found myself needing to constantly fill unexplored gaps in her reasoning and sentiments with imaginings of how *I* would feel / think in her shoes. In that way, the book felt a little DIY and more like a thought experiment than a fully fledged novel.

Erricka Hager

691 reviews18 followers

August 1, 2024

I assumed this would be a dual POV but clearly i was wrong. This was a beautifully written book & my only issue is that at times I was a little bored.