Johnson, Alaya Dawn: Racing the Dark
Racing the Dark (2007)
Written by: Alaya Dawn Johnson
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Pages: 368 (Trade Paperback)
I'm trying to remember how I came across this book originally. I think the author was a guest-blogger on Justine Larbalestier's site, and she talked about authors of color who wrote YA. So naturally, I had to look her up, and the cover of her debut compelled me. It, along with the premise boasting of comparisons to Le Guin's Earthsea books, made me decide to stick it on the November poll, and then of course, it ended up winning. :)
The premise: this one's a doozy, so we're going to BN.com: Racing the Dark is set in a land of volcanoes and earthquakes, plagues and typhoons, of island nations bound by fear of the spirits they imprisoned to control their volatile environment. Lana, a teenaged girl on a nameless backwater island, finds an ominous blood-red jewel that marks her as someone with power, setting in motion events that drive her away from her family and into an apprenticeship with a mysterious one-armed witch. Lana begins to learn the spells and incantations, each of which requires some form of sacrifice from the person who employs it. As Lana becomes more powerful, she is deceived into a sacrifice she is unwilling to make - the life of her own mother. When Lana dares to use a dark, ancient spell to save her mother's life, she is set onto a path toward becoming a creature beyond her wildest imaginings. This is an unforgettable coming-of-age story set in a world where wielding the power of magic requires understanding the true meaning of sacrifice.
Review Style: it's a pretty complex book, so I'm taking my time with this review. Expect spoilers, but in some cases, spoilers will ruin a book, and in others, they really don't. I think this is a case where spoilers don't ruin a book, but only YOU know how spoilers affect your reading experience, so if spoilers bother you beyond belief, skip to the "My Rating" section of the review.
Some books are about the ending and the satisfaction of getting there. Other books, however, are about the journey. These latter books are the kind that, for better or worse, don't give you a sense necessarily of WHERE the book is going, so you're never really sure what to expect. Journey books, in my opinion, have to work a lot harder to keep your attention, because there ISN'T a specific end you're looking for, you know? Voice, setting, characters, world-building all of these things--or maybe even one of them--have to engage you in such a way that immerses you in the book, that keeps you turning the pages.
Racing the Dark manages to do this with all of these things: voice, setting, characters, and world-building. World-building more than most, but each item is treated with such obvious and equal weight that I'm impressed to learn that this is Johnson's debut. Impressed, and jealous: the woman was born two years after me, and already she's an accomplished pro (you go girl!).
For starters, the setting pulled me in right away, and in this case, setting and culture/world-building is so interwoven that frankly, they're hard to separate. That's a good thing. Also, the fact that this isn't a medieval fantasy is also a good thing. Don't get me wrong, I love my medieval fantasy as much as the next person, but it's refreshing to get a different setting, because then your expectations are pretty much thrown out the window.
And it's not often I get island/oceanic settings (bonus points if you know why I giggled when I wrote island/oceanic). I can think of two off hand: Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea (which I read in 2003, but never read forward because I'm still waiting on editions that please my aesthetic eye), and Gregory Frost's Shadowbridge duology, made up of Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet. Frost's books delighted me, particularly those sections that took place on islands, and I was reminded of those scenes (in a good way) while reading portions of Racing the Dark.
Magic is real in this world, and because of that reality, Lana and her people aren't seen as clueless natives. Which is good, because Kohaku, who lives in the . . . what? Inner islands? Mainland? Coast? I'm never quite sure what type of landmass the city of Essel is, other than it is on water. At any rate, Kohaku is educated and thinks himself above Lana's people and their superstitions, but in a world where people have bound the major spirits (water, death, fire, wind--though I'm confused whether or not wind is still bound, since it escaped once. Was it recaptured?), one would think you wouldn't take magical superstitions for granted. At any rate, I loved the passages of Lana on the island. I loved the culture of the divers, the mandagah fish and their jewels, Lana's rite of passage. It was so wonderfully described that I was sorry to see all of it destroyed and Lana and her family move inland. But as we moved inland, we learned more about the culture and its magic. Now I'll be honest: I'm still kind of confused about how all of it works, which spirits are bound and which aren't and just how many spirits there are to be bound to begin with. That said, I recognize a coming apocalypse when I see one, so I wonder if, by the end of the trilogy (series?), all of the spirits won't be free somehow. That's be interesting, and epic.
Lana's a tough nut to crack. I like her, don't get me wrong. She has this quiet, intense, earnest aspect to her character that makes it hard not to like her. The loss of her best friend is especially moving, as are her interactions with the spirits. But she frustrated me in terms of motivations. First, she hides the jewel that marks her as special so she doesn't have to give up the life of a diver, let alone the possibility of marriage and family. But when the island starts going to hell and she moves inland with her family, she gives into the idea of being special soon enough when she becomes the witch's apprentice. Now, I get that the arrangement wasn't her choice, but her passivity in going along with whatever the witch wanted to teach her was frustrating. Wasn't this the kind of leash she was trying to avoid on the island (did she know what the red jewel really stood for, or did she just know the color marked her?)? And wasn't she afraid of power itself? What changed to make her embrace it to the point where she didn't want to ask the important questions? Perhaps it had to do with Akua, the witch, and that first night Lana spent in her presence, but I'm still torn. Don't get me wrong, Lana ends up paying dearly for her passivity, and for that I'm glad. Not because I'm evil and cruel (oh wait, yes I am!), but I like seeing consequences for stupid behavior, especially when said consequences are so well entrenched into the world as these were.
For example: the wings. Oh, now that was a fantastic scene, a fantastic development. Lesser writers would've had Lana sprouting wings without stopping to consider the physicality and mechanics of it all, so for Johnson to take the time to make them hurt and to make them effect Lana on so many levels was just fantastic. I'm still confused as to what, exactly, a black angel is supposed to signify, save for impending DOOM!!!, but I do like how they're used and incorporated into the novel.
I also liked how Johnson did not shy away from adult issues: Leilani, Lana's mother, has to prostitute herself in order to pay for Lana's very expensive medication. It's done in such a way that doesn't feel dirty or annoying in terms of development, but rather human. Then there was Emea's abortion and the consequences of that. Not the idea of having an abortion itself, no, I don't think the author was trying to worm in an anti-abortion message. Rather, because the medication was given to her by a man who really wanted her gone, we see beyond the abortion issue. At least, I think we do: Emea trusted too much in a love that didn't exist, and in order to hold on to it, she agreed to abort the baby and relied on said man to provide the means. Said man didn't know jack about the means, and sent her too much, which killed her and set Kohaku on his path of vengeance. Oh, that's a touchy subject, isn't it? When female characters exist only to provide their male counterparts with the necessary means to act. I don't think Johnson is guilty of it here, and I'll tell you why: for starters, there are SEVERAL well-developed, strong heroines in this book who have their own story that doesn't evolve around a man. Also, Kohaku doesn't leap upon revenge right away. He grieves and wastes away and it's the combo of his love for his sister and his desire for vengeance that intakes the fire spirit to choose him as the next Mo'i. Also, I rather thought Emea was well-developed. Sure, she's a tragic figure, but I liked her, and didn't feel she was there solely to get killed and force Kohaku into action.
The various romances are also intriguing. Johnson doesn't take the obvious routes by any means. At first, you think Lana and Kohaku might hook up, but by the book's end, it's pretty clear that's not going to happen. In fact, I think by the trilogy's end that they're going to be adversaries, fighting to make the world one way or the other. Then, Lana seems to have a prospect with Yechtak (whose name does rather sound like something you'd cough up), but that goes no where in a hurry, though Yechtak carries a flame for her. No, it's Kai that wins her heart, and while this develops in a rather "hurt/comfort" manner, I still like the two together. For starters, I see what draws them together: both human, but both inhuman and different. Also, the relationship developed in such a way that I can't help but enjoy them together, particularly Kai's final words to Lana as she flies away. I wonder if she's actually pregnant by the end of the book, because she says if death doesn't catch her, she'll have his son, but we'll see. At any rate, I loved his last line to her, because in spite of what happened between them, that's what love is about, you know?
Oh, Lana being hounded by death. Quite a nice development, and I loved seeing those scenes and the various ways Lana came up to bind it. I hope this isn't something that grows old in terms of Lana always trying to avoid it, but we'll see how it all goes. Also, we'll see what happens between Lana and Akua. I'm still not sure what Akua's endgame is and what she hopes to accomplish by kidnapping Lana's mother, other than to draw Lana back to her. But I'm looking forward to it.
No doubt, this book is the start of a trilogy. There is a certain resolution with the eruption of Nui'ahi and what that does to the city of Essel, and Lana finding her father and the two playing music together. It ends with a resolution while still leaving ties to the next book, which comes out February of next year. I suspect the next book will pick up where this book left off, given the writing style, which means this probably won't be a trilogy/series that you can read in any order, which I always think is a good thing. ;)
My Rating
Worth the Cash: even though Racing the Dark features a teenaged protagonist, it doesn't read like a YA novel. For starters, Johnson deals with some adult issues rather nicely. Also, the protagonist(s) grow, both physically and emotionally. Given the amount of time that passes in the course of this book alone, I suspect Lana and the other protagonists will be well into adulthood by time the trilogy draws to a close. Then there's the language issue: YA is sometimes said to have transparent writing styles that don't get in the way of the story and the characters, but while Johnson's writing isn't verbose or elaborate or dense, it's certainly NOT transparent. Readers who pick this book up not knowing it's YA will probably not figure it out by the time they finish reading. And that is an interesting thing. Not good or bad, but interesting. Personally, I was sucked in, especially at the beginning. This book is about the journey, and while the ending of the book is more like a pause in that journey rather than a completed one (this trilogy I suspect will tell ONE BIG STORY, so reading order is important), I felt pretty satisfied by time I put the book down. There's so much richness in the world Johnson's created, and there's so much to enjoy and relish. It's not often you get a fantasy that's not set in a medieval or modern world, and the island/Hawaiian/Japanese elements just really worked for the book, as well as keeping the fantasy world fresh. Johnson's debut doesn't read like a debut at all: it's deliberate and controlled and I'm really looking forward to seeing where this story goes, because it is complex and it is so much about the journey that I practically have no expectations. At least, not yet. Maybe by time I get my hands on the second book, The Burning City, I will. :)
Cover Commentary: the trade paperback cover, featured outside of the cut, is rather eye-catching. First off, topless women will always catch the eye of anyone, and while it IS tasteful and shows nothing (the thick hair hiding the back helps), it is a little jarring to see such a cover on a YA novel. However, given Lana's culture, it makes perfect sense to show her topless, because the women on her island had no such shame of their bodies, and shirts got in the way of diving, you know? Upon closer inspection, I like how the black angel wings sneak into the right side, and I think the choice of the cover model is perfect. I had no trouble picturing her as Lana through-out the book, and that's always a lovely thing. An aside about the original cover, featured behind the cut: I feel it captures the book a little better, but frankly, I prefer the photo cover.
Further Reading: there's two ways to look at this: one, in terms of the theme, YA Authors of Color, and the second, in terms of fantasy setting, which is islandy!
So, if you're looking for YA Authors of Color (speculative element not required):
Sherman Alexie: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Zetta Elliot: A Wish After Midnight***
M. Sindy Felin: Touching Snow
Varian Johnson: My Life as a Rhombus
Malinda Lo: Ash
Neesha Meminger: Shine, Coconut Moon
Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu: Zarah the Windseeker and The Shadow Speaker***
Sherri L. Smith: Flygirl
Jacqueline Woodson: If You Come Softly (this author is especially prolific: she has TONS of titles)
*** = speculative fiction elements
If you're looking for non-traditional fantasy settings (like those that incorporate islands or water):
Gregory Frost: Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet (to be read in that order)
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, Tehanu, The Farthest Shore, Tales from Earthsea, The Other Wind
Book Club Poll: this is the only way I can really track participation, so if you follow this journal, answer, okay? :)
Poll November Participation
If you started but couldn't finish it, please comment and talk about the reasons why. What turned you off from the book? How far did you go before throwing in the towel?
And as you already know, the December Book Club selection is Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn. Some of you may have started it already, but if you want details on where to find it, just click here.