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Trouble the Saints

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Member Reviews

Trouble the Saints is truly unique and original in writing style, atmosphere and plot. It's an ambitious book and even though it may not always hit the mark I really admire the skill and effort going into creating something that is different and tackles important issues like race and morality.

We follow Pea, Dev and Tamara as they live, kill and love in a underground criminal network that is thriving in New York's dark corners during world WWII. Pea got hands that never misses a target, Dev can feel threats with a touch and Tamara uses a deck of cards to read the world and people around her. They have all made different choices to survive a deeply segregated society and will have to face the consequences.

As I stated from the beginning the writing style in Trouble the Saints is really unique. At it's best is hard hitting and beautiful, at it's worst... it's really hard to wrap your head around and a bit frustrating. You may have to give it some effort and patience and it will probably not be for everyone. But it's also refreshing and interesting. The magic elements are unique as well and interwoven with America's history with racial oppression in a way that make it about more than just supernatural abilities. The story is divided into thirds, one part from the point of view from each character even though we continue to follow the same narrative. It's a really cool way to build up the story.

I think this book shines in the way it portrays strong and conflicting emotions in morally grey areas as well as the interracial tension. Here the story really benefit from the writing style that is sometimes very symbolic. In the heart of it all is a story about love that is unwavering but never ever easy.

The reason I don't give this book a higher rating is mostly personal, I had a hard time getting into it and it was quite a slow read even though it's not that long. Objectively I really admired the concept, but just couldn't enjoy it so much at the time. Now that I have finished it I really think it will stay with me for a long time though.

Also cried so hard during the end. It was harsh people.

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This sounded so promising: A book described as The Night Circus meets the Underground Railroad, set in New York on the eve of WW2. A girl from Harlem who works as an assassin, haunted by her past. If I have a single character weakness, it’s fierce girls with knives. I expected bloody murder, maybe a moral dilemma or two. It sounded fantastic.

I did really like the characters and how Johnson explored race through Phyllis, the main character who can pass for white in order to work for a white mobster and get around in the criminal underworld. There have been many stories of girls who pass for boys to infiltrate certain communities, but I’ve never read about someone passing as a different ethnicity—at least not in such a memorable way as Johnson does here.

However, I found it really hard to get into the story. The writing didn’t really click with me. It wasn’t bland or poorly written; I think the overall structure threw me off, and I really struggled to visualize and stay grounded in the story. It’s a pass for me, largely because of the writing style, but this is certainly a unique novel I wish I could have enjoyed more.

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English is not my first language, and this book was a constant reminder of that. The writing didn't flow: it was lots of dumped phrases, that made absolutely no sense to me and got me very out of the story. I think that even if I kept rereading the sentences, it wouldn't make a difference.
I had very high hopes for this one, cause the description sounded so interesting and the cover is beautiful, but where the fantasy world could be interesting (where some people are given hands on their futures), the writing didn't work at all for me.
I'm sure some people are going to really enjoy this, and I can tell that the author put a lot of work into it.

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Amidst the whir of city life, a girl from Harlem is drawn into the glittering underworld of Manhattan, where she’s hired to use her knives to strike fear amongst its most dangerous denizens.

But the ghosts from her past are always by her side—and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she loves most.

Can one woman ever sacrifice enough to save an entire community?

Trouble the Saints is a dazzling, daring novel—a magical love story, a compelling chronicle of interracial tension, and an altogether brilliant and deeply American saga. - Goodreads

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. But I am going to be straight to the point. This book was boring. I lost interest by the 7th chapter in the first part of the book. This was a shame because I cannot say that this book, at least the world building, was not creative. It really was but despite the world around the characters having some life, the characters themselves did nothing to move the book along.

I didn't like the book.

1 Pickle

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This alternate history meets fantasy is set at the beginning of WW2 set in NYC. Full of magic and questions, Trouble the Saints is a multiple POV novel that features an underworld of crime and revenge. I loved the premise so much. Even as it changes POVs it roughly advances the central storyline, while being interspersed with different memories. My favorite POV has to be Phyllis, the first one, because while she may not be my favorite character, there seemed to be the most cohesion in her story - even if it felt a little anticlimactic towards the end.

As we move forwards in the story and change POV, I began to get a little lost. Not because I didn't understand what was happening, but because I couldn't get a good handle on the momentum of th story. With a lot of stories, there's this clear goal at the end, whether that be "save the princess" or "overthrow the king" there's somewhere we can feel the story moving. In Trouble the Saints, I had trouble figuring out where the story was going. This made me feel like I never had that, "I cannot stop reading I need to find out what's next" feeling, because I wasn't sure how to feel.

Maybe that's a more me problem than the book, but for me, it made it hard to really get immersed in the story. Even as we move onto some of my more favorite characters in the story like Dev and Tamara. The racism that Phyllis - a biracial white passing woman - and Dev - a biracial Indian man- face made me so angry. The microaggressions all the way to aggression. It's sad I never felt truly drawn in by Trouble the Saints because I liked the way that justice and revenge, the costs to the people we love, was handled. A cycle of players and violence and memories

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What would happen if in the beginning of WWII in New York City, Black families possessed magical abilities best used for murdering?
Enter Phyllis, a black woman wo works as an enforcer and assassin to a mobster. She has the ability to throw knives and always get her target and her wish is to start a new life and get away from her currently life. At least that's the first third of the book because the other two parts focuses on other characters with their own abilities and desires.

Early on we get to discover how immersive the story is and how easy is to think you're watching film noir instead of reading a book. The author's style and words chosen fit so well with the ambiance, time period and setting of the novel.
I know this book is recommended for fans of The Night Circus; while I hadn't read it I did read A Starless Sea, by the same author, and I can easily make the comparison here because it has a beautiful story and lyrical scenes but the execution is so troublesome and confusing... But it's thanks to its atmosphere and way of putting words together that you're sucked into the book no matter what.

Trouble the Saints also get into other topics like misogyny, race and other important social troubles that are vital for the story as well as for the situation we're living in our own society nowadays.
Although I said before the style was beautiful I had so much trouble trying to focus on the plot because I didn't manage to care for any of the characters; while I think their characterization fits the dark atmosphere, their way of proceeding felt somewhat disjointed and the multi-POV just makes it harder to feel some sort of attachment for any of them.

I give this a 3.5 stars out of five 'cause I really like the direction and style the author took this book in. It also is a really original novel in the fantasy genre and we need more diverse books like this. The noir elements, the alternate history chosen and the magic system are all so interesting and I guess some other readers might enjoy this story more than I did. But keep an eye on Alaya Dawn Johnson cause she's going places.

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DNF 30% of the book because it reached its natural conclusion right there and wasn't interested in reading anymore.

Phyllis has the power of throwing knives with perfect aim. With this power she kills bad people for a bad man. This book had very written prose but many things were unclear to me. The hands power was never clearly explained. The book is split in three parts. At the end of the first part, the big conflict is resolved. This second part dealt with vague dread with her vague powers. I'm curious to read what else this author will write but this one lost me.

This review is based on an ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

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3.5 stars

Welcome to assassins and morally grey characters galore!

Trouble the Saints is a story set in New York just as WWII begins to dawn on America. Phyllis, a notorious assassin, wants nothing more than to escape her killing life, but her past isn’t that set on letting her go just yet. Coupled with magic and a bit of supernatural, Trouble the Saints bases itself off a very interesting premise.

The story is split into three parts, each focusing on a different character. At first, I was pretty averse to this format as it usually means that I won’t be able to develop any connection to each character, but Johnson’s characters are just impossible not to adore. They have lovable features, flaws, dual-sided characteristics and are just overall very complex characters. Many of them are very morally grey characters, teetering on the edge of evil, but just because they aren’t good people doesn’t mean they aren’t good characters.

Our first part focuses on Phyllis and her internal struggle that her ‘hands’ makes for her. While she has able to live a somewhat peaceful life under the protection of Manhattan’s biggest mob boss, she now wants out. The second part focuses on Dev, a friend and lover who deals with leading a two-faced life and not knowing whether his love is justified. And finally, the third part, and also my personal favourite, focuses on Tamara, a cheerful, bubbly, friend of the prior two, who’s oracle calling leads her into a mortal dilemma.

The characters are not your typical fantasy cast, but this isn’t your typical fantasy book either. Set more in realism, if you’re looking for a refreshing new take on the fantasy and historical fiction genres, Trouble the Saints is the book for you.

Now while I love the spin Johnson puts on the genres, the fantasy aspect took a while for me to figure out. The book opens up with a card reading and dream sequence sort of scene which only left me confused during the following chapters. It was only until about halfway through when I finally saw what was going on. I wish that this aspect of the book was clarified at the start, as that would’ve made the first part much easier to read.

To give y’all a bit of a head start, the fantasy aspect in this book revolves around a sort of power referred to as the ‘hands,’ in which different people are blessed (or perhaps cursed) with different powers through their hands. The power is most prominent in Black families, and not so much in white. It brings very important racial themes to the book as well, and considering the time we’re living in currently, very fitting.

Not only racial themes are brought up through the fantasy of the book, but Johnson also deals with issues such as morality and choice. Again, Trouble the Saints sets itself apart from others in its genres through the themes and issues it tackles in its narrative. A fact that I think makes this an excellent and thought-provoking read. I’m a big sucker for books that make you think deeper and books with hidden messages, and this ticks all of those boxes.

Anyways, continuing on the subject of confusing writing, the first part was filled with it. Complex sentence after complex sentence, purple prose, one too many adjectives, you name it. The writing in the first part was not only hard to read but also extremely difficult to absorb. I found myself rereading almost every sentence just to get a clear picture of what she was trying to say. The author seems to almost leave all that behind as soon as the second part starts, which was a relief.

While I struggled with Johnson’s writing in the first part, I can’t deny that she is a good writer. This alternate world she has built is sparkling in all its grizzly and bloody glory. She deftly captures the vibe and aura of the 1940s and traps it in this book. Every single aspect, from the way the characters talk to the way they act, just completely immersed me into her world.

The reason I’m giving this book a 3.5 star rating is because of how I rated each part. Part one for me is 3 stars; for all that it is good, I still can’t get over how hard it was for me to get through it. Part two is 3.5 stars; an improvement from part one, but the time jumps just made the writing and pacing too inconsistent for me to enjoy. And part three is 4 stars; I loved Tamara and the complex conundrum she faces. I could honestly read a whole book about her. In fact, I don’t think I would’ve minded if this whole book was set from her point of view!

(For me, a 3.5 is a pretty good rating, so don’t let it convince you otherwise).

Between the fantasy, the complex themes, and the realism, Trouble the Saints is a fascinating read that exceeds the confines of its identifying genres. Highly recommend you give this one a shot!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Assassins and Mobsters and magic. You had me at hello. This book has a really great noir feel to it, and a unique setting and magic system that was fresh and different from anything I've read in recent years. Johnson expertly balances the time period and fantasy elements with characters that feel real, three-dimensional, and relevant. The writing here is violent and raw and captivating.

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This book felt timeless to me; it was set during WWII but aside from a few details about the draft/soldiers, it could have been taking place today (including, unfortunately, the racism that the characters face). Alaya Dawn Johnson created a magical, heightened reality in which most people are average but a few are given the blessing and curse of 'saints hands', which give the person extraordinary powers (of deadly aim, of intuition, etc.) but at a cost.

I spent quite a bit of time vaguely confused, as I don't know anything about reading cards or what the numbers mean, but it was in a very enjoyable way. Everything that was important for the reader to fully understand was explained, and I just accepted what I didn't understand and went with it. I loved how the novel flowed from one narrator to the next, in a way that made perfect sense for the unfolding story. Even the open ending, which I normally dislike, felt exactly right.

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Trouble the Saints is the latest novel from Nebula Award winner Alaya Dawn Johnson, and her first in a few years (as well as her first non YA novel in a lot of years). I loved her last two books, the Norton (Nebula Award for YA) nominated "The Summer Prince" and the Norton-winning "Love is the Drug." Both featured stories of love and family, but also dealt tremendously with themes of privilege, class and race - The Summer Prince through its post apocalyptic supposedly-utopian setting while Love is the Drug through its near future story of a well off Black teen in DC - and featured characters who you couldn't help grow in love with as they dealt with those problems. So yeah, when I noticed (late) that Johnson had a new novel coming out this year, I was so happy to get it early via Netgalley and read it less than a week later despite having a whole bunch of other books on my backlist.

And Trouble the Saints is a tremendous novel, diving even more openly into themes of race and oppression than the prior two Johnson works I've read, through an alternate history novel set around 1941 in mob-riddled New York. The book's a bit of a mess honestly, especially in the beginning, but its three main characters are tremendous, as they try and deal with being people of color in a racist New York, and the obligations that come upon them from having "the hands", a juju-esque magic found only in non-whites which seems to demand them act in some way. Make no mistake: this is not a fun book, it's a bloody one with a lot of pain and agony, as our protagonists - not good people themselves - struggle with a system that both then and now spits out people of color and chews them out in favor of those less deserving. But it's a damn powerful one, and if not a tour-de-force, it's close.

---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------

In 1940/1941 New York, Phyllis "Pea" Green passes as white woman named Phyllis LeBlanc, and uses her gifted "Hands" to serve as the "Knife" or "Angel" of powerful White Russian mobster Victor, with her kills being reserved for those who truly deserve it. But after months without killing, she receives a second dream, her Hands begin to pull her towards a truth she should have known long before, and a bloody path that she has tried to deny.

Devajyoti "Dev" Patil has "Hands" gifted with the ability to sense threats - to him or to/from anyone they touch. Acting as a bartender for Victor, he finds himself drawn towards the bloody path of Pea, despite her warping his strong sense of right and wrong.

Tamara Anderson does not have the Hands - what she has is an Oracle's power to see futures in the cards, a power that calls to her and won't let her go. So while she may wish she could simply run Victor's nightclub with all the entertainment he will let a Black girl like her provide, the Cards won't let her be that easily.

And in a world where injustice and oppression drive those of color beneath the boot heel of their inferiors, just because of the color of their skin, where the White police will look the other way as it all happens, none of Pea, Dev, or Tamara will be able to find peace or to avoid the call of a saint - gifted or cursed with dreams and hands that will not let go......

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Trouble the Saints is essentially split into three acts, with each act separated switching the perspective to a different main character. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I've essentially just summarized character dynamics above, because the plot of each act shifts with the character shifts, so to describe any act in detail may spoil the rest. The above is not to say however that each act is told the same way or even consistently within the same act - the three acts on occasion - especially the first one - are interrupted by interludes in which card readings are revealed and then described obliquely by an omniscient narrator, for example. Other narrative shifts includes a random chapter in the first act told in second person - with the narrator literally being the protagonist's hands - and the second act featuring intermittent flashback chapters. It's honestly a bit of a mess, which sometimes left me confused - especially in the first act - of what is going on, but for the most part it works really well to carry the themes and the characters in this novel.

These themes are underlined in the setting and characters. The book is set in an alternate version of New York 1940/1941, right before the American entry into World War 2. In this world, people of color sometimes grow up to find they have "The Hands", which come together with a prophetic dream of something for them to do, along with the numbers - which aren't just about playing a Numbers Racket but about playing one's life. The Hands are essentially gifts, but these gifts, coming only to people of color, are ones that raise dangerous attention from white people, especially given they can be things as dangerous as "revealing secrets" or "being able to see threats." And as the story goes on, it's revealed that these dreams and Hands came originally en mass when people of color had moments of freedom, before white people tried to snatch those away....and that they might have minds of their own.

This leads into our three main characters. Phyllis aka Pea, has the "hands" - and her gift essentially makes her perfect at throwing objects - whether that be knives, rocks, or whatever, she has perfect aim. She has become the famed killer for a White mob boss, believing that he is using her only for "just" kills of wrongdoers - such as a serial killer who is trying to cut off POC's hands for their own use. But her own hands and dreams suggest she should be doing something other than enabling a white man's grab for power at the expense of anyone else, particularly at the expense of people of color's lives, a suggestion with teeth that conflicts with Pea's growing unwillingness to kill. Then we have Dev, whose ability to see threats obviously makes him an asset to people on all sides of the law, and who has nightmares over the blood he's seen his love (Pea) cause and of his own attraction to that blood, and what that says about his own morals of right and wrong. And then there's Tamara, who responded to an act of racism down south by attaching herself to the most powerful White man she could find, and tried to use that as cover to stay out of any dangerous business with questionable moral choices.....despite her oracular powers trying to repeatedly push her in directions with stronger stances. And a fourth major character, Walter Finch - a half Native man who all the white men call the "Red Man" instead of trying to learn his name, serves as a second in command to the White mob boss, only unable to take control because of his own skin despite being fully capable.

These characters and the setting are used to showcase the extent of oppression even in the part of the US that was supposedly better (the North) as we take turns in and out of the City. Sure you have oppressors like Victor, who are blatantly racist and murderous in their attitudes towards people of color having anything they don't have. But then you also have people like the Bobbies - a father and son in control of a small town who don't care about what anyone else feels as they look only to enrich themselves - and if a black boy is threatening to out horrible secrets, the problem is the boy, not the secrets. And you have people like Craver, who makes use of POC children with the hands to scare off Whites from affecting the causes important to him, without giving a damn for the actual people behind those hands - and the causes are literally as dead as bones in the ground. And then you have those nameless few who would deny care to a POC in need solely on the basis of their race - or even on the basis of whether they recognize whether or not a light skinned person is "White" or not, who are simply elements of the same thing.

All three of the major characters - and Walter as well - come against all of these oppressors and oppressive systems over the course of their stories. And they face choices on how to face off against them, because their Hands and Dreams won't let them simply stay silent - even if they want to pretend they could. Pea's hands literally want to force her to right a wrong, to avenge. Dev's prevent him from looking ignoring threats that make him literally tingle awake. And Tamara's draw her attention to wrongs coming in the future....even if her actions are limited in how they can prevent them from coming to pass, with a system so ingrained against them all, poised to steal everything on a moment's notice. And even as they all try to fight against this system, they also try to make the best of their own lives for themselves and their futures, and in their loves as well. As with Johnson's other book, love and its importance and irrationality is a key part of it all, as the characters try to find it and deal with it in spite of everything else (there are some pretty passionate scenes is all I'll say).

Johnson makes this all mostly work, even if again it's a bit confusing early on, and by the end I just had to keep reading to see how it would turn out, with me left breathless by the end. Again, this is not a fun ending, or even one hopeful on its face, as after all, the system is still largely in place today 80 years later. But Johnson shows that powerfully in the end, and damn is it something.

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I have mixed feelings with Trouble Saints. Nonetheless, the tone and vibe of the story is well written and felt throughout the book. The author stayed true for what she was going.

We have Phyllis LeBlanc as Victor's angel of justice she's an assassin for him that has the "Saint's hands" a mystical power that has dangerous precautions that comes along with it. We have Dev a double agent and also Phyllis lover, Tamara and Walter both of their friends within the mob they're in.

It's has beautiful writing that was tender and raw but there are times that it feel off for me and I would go over with it in my book review that I will posting in my blog!

Here's the link for my full review: penthesilea01.wordpress.com/2020/06/23/trouble-the-saints-book-review-earc/

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Honestly, I came into this book expecting a magical mystery story and it's not at all what I got. Instead, I was immersed in a world of mobsters, everyday magic, complex morality, and even more complex relationships. Johnson weaves a spell of darkness and love, set against the backdrop of WWII and the blatant pervasive racism of the time. The story starts out with Phyllis, a white-passing preternaturally gifted assassin (she has "saint's hands") working as an avenging angel for the mob. From her vantage point we're introduced to the seedy underbelly of Manhattan where shifting loyalties are built on lies and debts. As the book continues, we get drawn into something that resembles less of a mystery and more of a family saga, where the definition of family stretches far beyond blood ties. The perspectives shift and other characters come to the forefront, all as complicated and messy as Phyllis. Throughout the book, questions about the nature of the hands permeate, with Johnson eventually giving some answers. This is an evocative historical fantasy like nothing I'd read before.

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Not what I was expecting, but definitely worth it. Gives the feel of a era driven night circus in a dark new York setting. So definitely right up my alley.

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trigger warning
<spoiler>torture, rape, assault, racism, slavery, child death, lynching, trauma</spoiler>

Phyllis' name depends on who you ask - it may be LeBlanc or Green or something entirely different. It started as a way to protect her family as she became a mobster's angel of justice, and now things got out of hand with the simple question if this is really who she wants to be.

This book is parted three ways, and each chunk is told by another character, the first being narrated by Phyllos or Pea, as her friends call her, the second by her lover and the third by her best friend.
And it grew on me. It takes a while till everything falls in place, especially as chapters from the past are not labeled as such and some parts left me very confused. In some parts it is due to my concentration or lack thereof in this weird times, in some parts it's due to the writing.
Half-way through part three I realised that I started to like this novel.

We have characters connected through business ties and maybe friendship, all being able to trace back to the Pelican, a mobster's headquarter - and we have magic.
People of colour, oppressed people, might get visited by a dream that is different than the normal ones, and might find themselves left with saint's hands, appendages that bear a certain knack. Pea is able to hit anything she wants with nearly any throwable object she wants, which is how she ended up as a knife-bearing assassin. But to her, it's not merely a gift, more of a loan that comes with certain expectations that have to be figured out.

White people in this world are somewhere between disbelief, fear and greed regarding the hands. Of course, no sane person would believe in this nonsense, but don't dare to touch me, young man!

The characters are three dimensional and actions come with consequences. Always.
You can do whatever you like, but you also have to deal with what follows, if you want to or not.

I think I'll keep an eye out for future works by this author.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

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I need to give this book 4.5 stars since I just enjoyed it so much! Also the cover is gorgeous <3

The beginning felt confusing to me at first and I couldn't make out who are all these people we're being introduced to. It didn't take me long to get really into the book though, and I really loved everything about it. The book is in three parts all of which follow a different main character, Phyllis, Devajyoti and Tamara, more closely int the late 1930s/early 1940s. In the book some people of color have powers, the hands, which can sometimes be a curse as well as a blessing.
We start the book with Phyllis who basically works as an assassin. She has the hands, which make her good at her job since her hands are good with knives. She only kills people who have done bad things and thus deserve death, but it turns out her boss might've lied to her about a few things. Devajyoti also has the hands and his hands can sense threats. He, like all of our main characters, also works for the same man but not as an assassin like Phyllis. He disapproves of Phyllis's profession but why does he work for the horrible man who orders her jobs? He also was Phyllis's lover once and will be once more. The book ends with Tamara's struggle to decide whether to save her friends (Phyllis and Devajyoti) or herself. She has the ability of an oracle by reading from cards. She can see the future but can the future be changed?
During the book I fell in love with Phyllis and Devajyoti and their relationship and I just wanted them to be able to live happily ever after but I guess life isn't fair for them nor the reader. I loved the setting, the difficult choices our characters had had to make to survive as poc with the hands in the world and how the character dynamics worked. I think I need to buy this book for myself and re-read this at some point so I'll also get more out of the beginning as well.

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Jazz age magic! This rapturous tale is full of romance, Magic, and adventure. I can’t wait to recommend it to everyone at my library

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"Trouble the Saints" caught me by surprise -- I'm still conditioned to imagine any book that mentions WW2 as a book that will be driven by plot and intrigues. And it's not that this doesn't have intrigues -- betrayal and revenge and a desire to escape and be free are all key parts of it: if you like film noir, this will be a great summer read for you. But Trouble the Saints is more than that, too -- it's intensely character-driven, so the story develops because of the way that Phyllis and Dev see each other: see each other as they are, caught by structures that they can't escape, and see each other as they might be. Johnson's prose is lush and poignant -- she captures the sensuality of a man making breakfast for his lover, and the sweet summer morning pleasure of it -- shadowed at the edges by the knowledge of how fragile that pleasure is.

The concept of the book's world is in some ways similar to that of Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, in that many people of color have magical gifts, unique to each individual, and that perplex and provoke white folks, and non-magical others, into wanting to control them. Johnson locates those gifts in characters' hands, literally, and I found her choice to be a fruitful way to portray the complexities of agency (or lack thereof) involved for individuals who are bound or controlled, partially or wholly, by others. It felt like a resonant and rightly uncomfortable way of gesturing towards the fear of black bodies that exists in the world of this novel -- but of course also exists in our world, where the novel is being published. We need this book, and more like it -- all the more because there are so many tendencies to stereotype Black bodies, and Black people in reductive ways -- and rich emotional narratives like Trouble the Saints are phenomenal rebukes to those stereotypes.

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I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it's a unique premise and setting that I liked - early WWII-era NYC, complete with mob bosses and sketchy nightclubs, where certain nonwhite people have been blessed with magical "saint's hands" that give them each different abilities. And, our protagonists and POV narrators Phyllis, Dev, and Tamara, are all complex, interesting, and fully realized characters.

However. The magic of the saint's hands and what Phyllis has done with hers is so purposefully obscured in the beginning as to be frustrating and confusing rather than intriguing, and the narrative often shifts back and forth from present to past without warning, which took a lot of getting used to. I didn't feel "hooked" until well past 25% of the book, a point to which I'd never have persevered if this weren't an arc that I felt obligated to finish to review.

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Putting this one down at 25% -- not because I didn't like it, per se, but because I wasn't really compelled to keep going. Johnson delivers a ton of great ~tone~ here, this feels like a slow-burn noir job of the highest order, but it's almost too slow to really pull me in. The magic system is obscured enough that it makes for some confusion and while that confusion is slowly clarifying at this point, it isn't fast enough to give me what I want right now.
I think at a different time, I might've adored this book, but right now I need a bit more pace and a bit more froth (even as I absolutely adored the diverse cast in 1941 New York and wish for more books like this in that way).

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