Book Review - Daughters of the North

Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This should really get a three and a half star rating, as it's not really bad enough to rate a three.

Daughters of the North is a post-apocolyptic, dystopian tale of a society past the point of peak oil and environmental disaster. It is reminscent, at least in the beginning, of A Handmaid's Tale, one of my all-time favourite books, and one of the books that I feel shaped me as a person. In fact, I had heard that comparison previously, which is what drew me towant to pick this one up.

The writing borders on academic, which is fine for this particular story, but might be off-putting to those more accustomed to casual styles of writing. The main character is easy to empathyze with; a woman who has grown up in a decaying society, who went with the status quo because it was the easy route, until she simply couldn't stand the daily degradations and humiliations any longer. Most of us have a breaking point, and I felt, reading this, that mine would be close to hers (as, I think, most would; having your boss casually inspect your contraceptive device is just a shade too far).

The story seemed to devolve at the very end, and the end of the book left me a little disappointed. It had begun to build toward an interesting crescendo, then after one particularly emotionally poignant moment, it felt like the author wasn't sure where to go next. Left with uncertainty, the reader has to decide how the story ends, which is okay, and is a plot device many authors use, but it just didn't seem right or well-done here.

The beginning is strong, and it's an interesting take on a possible future, but it's not a fun or particularly compelling read, and with the weak ending, it leaves some things to be desired.



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