Review: As I Descended by Robin Talley

Title: As I Descended
Author: Robin Talley
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: September 6th 2016
Pages: 370
Genre: Young Adult paranormal
Source: Purchased
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Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—even if no one knows it but them.

Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey.

Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she chose, she could blow up Maria and Lily’s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word.

But what Delilah doesn’t know is that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford―and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily.

Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory—including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school.

But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what is imagined, the girls must decide where they draw the line.  

This was a super cool premise, but I somehow couldn't get fully into it. In theory, I loved everything about it--a creepy queer YA retelling of Macbeth? A Southern boarding school built on what used to be a slave plantation and is now haunted by the ghosts of the slaves that died there? Not one but two gay couples as the protagonists? Latinx mythology? Yes please.  But for some reason, I kept waiting for things to really take off and for all of these elements to fit together, which unfortunately never happened.

The setting of this boarding school on what used to be a plantation and the creepy atmosphere were really well-done; the one thing that I did get out of this book was some really creepy vibes. The interactions these characters have with ghosts are fascinating and engaging, and I honestly liked them better than I liked the interactions the characters had with each other. However, I wish the history of the plantation was worked into the ghost story better; I was hoping to hear the stories of some of the enslaved people who lived on this plantation, but that unfortunately was not the case, and the story of why this school is haunted fell flat for me.

The characters were okay; they're definitely interesting, but I felt like we didn't get to know them well enough outside of the paranormal activities to actually care about all that much. Especially Maria and Lily were confusing because their motivations just didn't seem realistic. What sets off the events in this book is Maria's desire to win a prize that guarantees a scholarship to any university of her choice... even though she's the daughter of a prominent senator and didn't seem to really need a scholarship to be able to go to a fancy school. Lily pushes Maria towards committing less-than-moral acts because she wants Maria to win a scholarship to Stanford, where she has already been accepted, so that they can stay together. Asides from being very confused about the timeline of these college admissions and this prize and scholarship, I just didn't buy that Maria and Lily would be be willing to cause this much harm to other people just to get Maria, who doesn't need a scholarship, a scholarship to Stanford. And since this is a Macbeth retelling, you can assume the point was to show Maria's and Lily's descent into madness because of their selfish desires, but because the evil spirits were the main focus, that element seemed kind of forced, and I was confused by the overall message.

Even though the story and setting were intriguing, I had to push myself to keep going at times because I got a little bored and I was overall underwhelmed by the story. All around, a good atmospheric, creepy read, but an underwhelming story, characters, and message. I loved Robin Talley's debut but hadn't read anything else by her, so I will have to check out her other ones to see if they're more up my alley.

Review: Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Title: Lies We Tell Ourselves
Author: Robin Talley
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: September 30th 2014
Pages: 304
Genre: Young Adult historical
Source: BEA 2014
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In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.
Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.
Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.”
Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was ridiculously excited for Lies We Tell Ourselves. A book that tackles racism, sexism, and homophobia all in one sounds like my kind of book. And while I was a little disappointed by the writing and by some smaller elements, I did really like Lies We Tell Ourselves.

My knowledge of US history is limited, but I think that even if I did know more, I probably wouldn't know all that much about how exactly desegregation worked. It's not something you really learn about; you might get the idealized version, but not what the real issues were. That's what makes Lies We Tell Ourselves such an important novel. The racism and the amount of terrible people in this book are ridiculous, and it's kind of hard to read at parts, but it seems authentic, making this a very powerful story.

But Lies We Tell Ourselves is not only about racial issues; it is nuanced in its portrayal of various issues during this time period. Of course, LBGT rights are a big issue in the novel, and it's treated with respect, authenticity, and nuance. Women's rights aren't quite as obviously addressed, but the main characters do question their gender roles in subtle and meaningful ways over the course of the novel. I love how Robin Talley weaved these important issues together seamlessly in Lies We Tell Ourselves.

The characters are pretty good. They're not quite as fully developed as I'd hoped, but they are definitely intriguing characters. Sarah, of course, is someone the reader sympathizes with; she is courageous and strong, but also very vulnerable. Linda is not the easiest character to like, but I did feel for her; it shines through that these problematic values are what she's been taught all her life, and it was fascinating to see her begin to question what she has always thought to be true. Her progression happens in a very natural way, which I really appreciated.

Despite all these great things, there was still something... missing. You could very much tell that this is a debut novel. While it fits the voices in some cases, the writing is a bit too simplistic for my tastes, and I wish the characters had been a just a little bit more complex. The plot is quite predictable, and while I don't think this story calls for any intense plot twists, I would have liked to see some more surprising character development. I can't really pinpoint what my issue with the writing is; I just wish it had been a bit more emotional, thought-provoking, hard-hitting... just more.

Even if the writing isn't quite as great as I'd hoped, I still really enjoyed Lies We Tell Ourselves. It's educational but it's also a great story. Lies We Tell Ourselves is a powerful, important novel, and I definitely recommend it!