I love Tintera. She writes some of my favorite strong female leads. I LOVE her Reboot duology and her Ruined trilogy is fabulous. So, when I found out that she was writing a new duology, I’ve excitedly anticipated the release of this book. The cover is also freaking gorgeous!
Clara will be joining the lineup of wonderful strong female leads I’ve read from Tintera. She resilient, brave, loyal, and she’s flawed. She throws herself into battles to save friends and she wants to help people, even if the reasons she joins the monster fighting group is not necessarily to help others.
Clara’s mother immigrated from Mexico and her father has never left the state of Texas. Her world is primarily made up of her home, where her family lives in fear of her abusive father. Clara joins the Scrab fighting squad to flee her house and father.
I knew the book would feature abuse, but I was a little apprehensive about how it would be portrayed. However, I should have known Tintera would do a great job–and she did.
Having been in an emotionally and verbally abusive relationship, I definitely saw the red flags and experienced many of the emotions Clara felt. It made me feel seen how Tintera portrayed the experience of people who live through abusive relationships no matter if it’s with a family member or romantic partner.
I appreciated how Tintera not only created an exciting science fiction story but a story about surviving abuse. Abuse played a huge part in the lives of characters and it was a main thread in the book, but it was still a speculative fiction book.
I primarily read speculative fiction and to see an issue dealt with primarily in contemporary fiction, it meant a lot to me. I am always so happy to see speculative fiction books face issues and topics that could easily be bypassed because there are monsters to face or adventures to be had.
It’s meaningful to face those topics and show characters going through things readers have gone through, or are going through. So, I’m so happy that Tintera not only wrote about abuse, but that she did such a good job realistically portraying the physical, emotional, and mental it takes on survivors.
I hope to continue seeing speculative fiction books incorporating important issues and topics. I think more YA books are doing this, and I think it’s so important and wonderful.
Have you read this book? Are you interested in reading it? Let me know in the comments!
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