Review: Walk On Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson

22 September, 2015 Reviews 17 comments

Rae Carson has done it again. Walk On Earth A Stranger is so good, it’s so fucking good. Like, I didn’t actually mean to read this I just glanced at the first chapter to get a feel for it and the next thing I knew it was the middle of the night and I was finishing the book and whoops I’d been at a party and completely ignored all of my friends for hours while I read in the corner with earbuds in good.

First off, it’s straight up Oregon Trail. Given my vast knowledge of this historical era, provided exclusively by the MECC game, it is an extremely accurate portrayal of what it was like to load up a wagon and head west. You’ve got a supply list, there’s cholera and rattlesnakes and cows falling out of wagons while fording the river. They hunt buffalo. I love it. (Real talk, I read the acknowledgements and Rae Carson did a lot of research and definitely comes across like she’s got a good grasp on what she’s talking about). Having driven this route twice, I can say with an actual shred authority that the lush, vivid descriptions of the setting absolutely do it justice.

Secondly, Walk On Earth A Stranger is dripping with different varieties of awesome lady characters. Not every woman is badass and no nonsense, some are very quiet and unobtrusive but all of them are badass as fuck in their own way. You have to be to be able to head west, this trip devours people.

I adore Leah. She’s no nonsense and practical who still manages to retain a hint of wonder in a world that is determined to beat her down. I love how she slowly, believably learns to trust people, how she unflinchingly does what needs to be done, how she has a core of solid steel.

I think my absolute favorite character is Becky Joyner. Her arc is incredible. She starts off as a vaguely unpleasant, stuck up, subservient housewife with brief hints of strength and compassion that she continually smothers under layers of assholery and judgement but then when the time comes, straightens her shoulders and takes the world head on so gracefully and stoically, I cried, I squealed, I rolled around hugging the book (which was a big hit for everyone around me and tons of fun to attempt to coherently explain while completely emotionally compromised).

I’m not entirely sold on the ship. I think I could be as the series goes on but I’m not there yet. Jefferson (Leah’s bff from way back and object of her affections) is a nice guy and a great friend to Leah (most of the time) but I’d also be totally cool if they remained friends and a new love interest entered stage left (or, wacky thought, no love interest) (I didn’t mean it, I love when characters I like make out) (maybe it could just be a hook up interest) (idk how historically accurate that would be) (I mean I guess if Leah was a saloon girl?) (this is veering into fanfic territory).

I’m not really the best person to comment on this being of the caucasian persuasion, but I liked how the book navigated racism. It wasn’t a hugely touched upon thing but present both overtly and internalized/institutionalized much like, you know, life. Leah considers herself a pretty damn progressive person (which, obvs, given that she’s a girl who dreams of being a landowner in her own right in an era where that’s not a thing) but she still has a number of unintentionally racist ideas that various POC characters check her on and, best of all things, she internalizes what they tell her and learns from it. I liked that Rae Carson took the time to portray this.

My one major complaint, aside from not feeling the ship all that much, is that Leah doesn’t have any lady friends her age. There is one other girl her age in the wagon train that Leah starts to get to know and warm up to but that doesn’t pan out due to spoilers and it irritated me a lot a lot that the relationship between the two of them ultimately felt like both a hugely wasted opportunity and character. That said, I have enough faith in Rae Carson at this point to believe Leah will make more lady friends as the series goes on (but not this one which gives me a major sad because she’s awesome).

Also worth noting, this book is technically fantasy due to Leah’s gold dousing powers, but it comes across waaaaay more historical fiction/possibly magical realism (what exactly is magical realism?) than any kind of fantasy. The gold dousing plays a part in the book, but the way it’s woven in makes it seem like a totally normal part of the world as opposed to a fantastical magical power (to the reader, other characters are definitely hyper focused on it). I only mention this because I know a lot of people like their genres to be fairly clearly defined and it’s not so much here. Personally, I don’t totally care what genre a book is beyond deciding if I’m in the mood for that kind of thing and can’t totally be fussed about whether or not a book totally fits a certain genre classifications (until you try and tell me the Lunar Chronicles are fantasy because that is 100% incorrect and can everyone not).

Tl;dr, Walk On Earth A Stranger is an amazing book. If my word isn’t enough for you (I’m hurt), you may be interested to know it’s already garnering praise like whoa in the form of a starred review from Publishers Weekly and another one from Booklist as well as making the longlist for the National Book Awards as well as numerous blogger reviews. Basically, this series is going to be epic, possibly more epic than Fire and Thorns (I’m just saying, as far as I’m concerned, Walk On Earth A Stranger is a stronger opener than Girl of Fire and Thorns) (sorry GoFat, don’t get me wrong, I adore you) (but I also really adore this book) (I mean, I’d have to reread all the books to be 100% sure) (it’s a really fucking good book is what I’m trying to say) (check it out).

 

(Edit: For a more informed take on how the book handles Native American history and issues, check out Debbie Reese’s chapter by chapter notes (disclaimer, as it’s chapter by chapter, there are spoilers))

17 Responses to “Review: Walk On Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson”

  1. Christina

    “whoops I’d been at a party and completely ignored all of my friends for hours while I read in the corner with earbuds in good.” <- You get dragged to so many parties. But you know how to survive it at least.

    "Given my vast knowledge of this historical era, provided exclusively by the MECC game," <- trolololol I love you

    Agree about the ship. I wonder if he's endgame? I mean, Elisa didn't go with the first guy sooooooo.

    Magical realism is, I could be wrong here, when there's a realistic novel with this like one bit of magic in it. So it's mostly the normal world but this one person bakes food that does magical things, not because spells but just because. My definition is based on Sarah Addison Allen not research so *shrugs*. Gillian probably knows the actual definition.

    • Meg Morley

      I’ve been so social this summer, it’s weird and I don’t totally like it. Whatever, winter is coming and that means HIBERNATION TIME GOODBYE WORLD.

      IT’S AN EDUCATIONAL GAME. MY EDUCATION IS VALID.

      I am super hoping he’s not the endgame ship, idk I did not get a single shippy feeling from them and it’s not like Rae Carson can’t write epic romance so I’m assuming this is intentional.

      I’ve always used magical realism as a kind of catch all for weird, ephemeral, vaguely magical books that don’t make sense anywhere else but was never sure if that was right? Like would The Raven Boys be magical realism? Or is that fantasy? Idk and if I thought about it too much it would bother me so I just don’t.

  4. Zareena @ The Slanted Bookshelf

    Oh wow, that is certainly high praise! I’ve heard such good things about Rae Carson’s books and I’ve never picked any of them up but hopefully I’ll be able to read Walk on Earth a Stranger soon because I LOVE the sound of the Oregon Trail setting 😀 Awesome review, Meg!

    Zareena @ The Slanted Bookshelf

  5. Carina Olsen

    Gorgeous review Meg 🙂 So glad you loved this book. I loved it so so so much too 😀 Just dyyying for book two. <3 Which is going to be epic. Ack. I cannot wait 😀 I loved Leah so, so much too. She's awesome 😀 Thank you for sharing your thoughts. <3

  7. Sarah

    Love the review! I just found out about this book last week and it jumped up to the top of my TBR. I actually have never read anything from Rae Carson, but I read an interview with her and Leigh Bardugo where she said this is a significant departure from what she normally writes. Well, good because I love me some Oregon Trail! Seriously, I’d play that game for HOURS.
    I didn’t realize this was the first book to a series, I thought it was going to be a stand alone. Can’t wait!

    Sarah @ thecountrybooworm.com

    • Meg Morley

      Yeeeesssssss. That was such a great interview. This is definitely a good read for Oregon Trail fans! (I would also play it for hours, I had the app version on my phone for awhile but had to get rid of it because my productivity dropped to zero)

      • Sarah @ The Country Bookworm

        Ok wait, there’s a phone app?? Good bye social life! Also, I was at Barnes and Noble last night, and there was a book about the real life Oregon Trail. It was sitting out on a new releases table, now I’m wishing I picked it up but was there for Six of Crows and nothing else.