Rating: 3 out of 5
Genre: Diverse, YA, Scifi / Fantasy
People who should read this: People who like western adventures with a bit of fantasy, a strong female cast, and the weak taking on the strong.
The thing that I appreciated about The Good Luck Girls is that Davis went there. Even though it’s YA, if you’re going to write a book that begins in a brothel, then you need to make it clear what life is like in the brothel. I mean, starting the book right off the bat with Clementine killing the guy that was supposed to take her virginity… I applaud you Davis. And it wasn’t like she went into great detail either. We don’t need long drawn out affairs here, but the picture was painted and left to dry.
There are a handful of positive things that I can say about The Good Luck Girls, but I think the biggest take away I can give you all, is that even though I did enjoy my time reading it, I’m not going to recommend it to a friend or even read the second one. The talons were not latched on. I’m left drifting without a care. And with that ending, you’d think I’d want to know what happened next.
Here are the issues….
The magic and world wasn’t explained enough. There were mentions of a great war that brought people to this desert country, their shadows stripped from them, but that was it. Nothing else to help you understand how dust bloods got to be viewed like they were. The same affliction is passed down to their children. This seems like a big deal.
And though a lot of people are not agreeing with me, I think the story is really focusing on indentured servitude and prejudices, which racism quickly follows. Don’t get lost here, not all dust bloods are black. I think that is key. But how are we really supposed to know when it feels like key elements have been left out.
Being a writer myself, it was easy to see the ropes Davis used to make the story. So they have tattoos to mark them, but how can I let them still roam out in the open? They can cover them, but then that makes it too easy because every girl would just cover her face. Oh wait… let’s just have the tattoos burn after a certain amount of time.
Aesthetically the book was fantastic. I loved the wild west vibes mixed with Pitch Black (ugh… I’m really dating myself here). It was not hard to picture this little world Davis created. I see these dirt road towns surrounded by iron fences, lawman with a bit of chew in their mouth hanging on the front porch of their offices, and girls in fine dressed with wide skirts. I think the wild west theme is the new trend in the book industry.
Plus, you’ve got a little bit of romance to sweeten the honey pot.
Like I said, it was a nice read, I just don’t care to see where else it’s going. I feel like that says a lot. And sitting down with my book club really pointed out the technical flaws. One being that you forget the world has magic in it, yet the very tattoos that mark the girls as working in Welcome Houses is made of magic. I think a lot of younger readers will still find the book amazing, but the older crowd will be searching for more.
Happy Reading
Love Kait
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