Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Totally the best dystopic queer orphan superpowered Latina boxing novel I've ever read.

Some of you guys are going to seriously dig this. (Or, you know, already did. In 2008.) It's about the daughter of a super soldier trapped in a militarized border town, and social injustice, and vengeance. And it's throwing down some interesting stuff. Our heroine tries on and discards assorted narratives – vigilante folk hero, redemptive underdog boxing hero. It's sorta about how when you change the gender of the protagonist, the shape of the story changes too, and it's sorta about what would have to be "wrong" with a woman for her to bend these stories around her (Loup is physiologically incapable of fear, even when it would be really useful).

But only sorta, because a lot of stuff gets thrown down, and most of it never gets picked back up again. I kept waiting for this book to be more than it was. And it was entertaining, don't get me wrong, but there was a promise of greatness here, and I don't think it was fulfilled.




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