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Summary: Different voices and a powerful story
Review: A thoroughly enjoyable tale, Nalo Hopkinson has crafted this novel with care and not a little spirituality. Although it might be easy to simply write this story off as "just another urban fantasy", you must differientiate it for several reasons: 1.) The boring post-apocalyptic movie set in many science fiction stories has been more reasonably (and realistically) transformed to an inner-city urban collapse, with believable sociological ramifications and a believable timeline. 2.) All of the characters (even the antagonist) are interesting, understandable and believable. 3.) The subject matter handles an afro-diasporic magical tradition with respect, care, and authenticity rather than some cobbled-together melange of myth and pop culture. Ms. Hopkinson surprises and delights in this tale of generations, of debts owed and paid, and of redemption. I anxiously await her subsequent publications.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad for a first novel, a few flaws though.
Review: As a former Torontonian now living in LA, coming across this book was a treat. The T.O. locale was nicely described if a little sketchy as to how it got that bad (I don't think 'the rich' would just abandon Toronto's downtown entirely) but the real strength of the book is the Caribbean magic, some very cool urban fantasy type stuff going down, and the mostly ethnic characters were very exotic and colorful - it brought the rarely-seen Toronto style to the surface rather than the clean-cut reputation the city has... This author has a lot of potential and I will keep an eye open for future works. She might want to make her non-Caribbean characters a little less one- dimensional though.
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Summary: Winner of the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest
Review: BROWN GIRL IN THE RING was selected winner of the WarnerAspect First Novel Contest out of almost 1,000 manuscripts sent infrom all over the world. Set in Toronto after the turn of the millennium, the novel focuses on "the Burn," the inner city left when Toronto's economic base collapses. Young Ti-Jeanne lives with her grandmother, who runs a trade in Caribbean herbal medicine that is vital to the disenfranchised of the Burn. Contest judge C.J. Cherryh, the Hugo Award-winning science fiction author, praised BROWN GIRL IN THE RING by calling the manuscript "Not your average urban fantasy, not your average science fiction story, not your average fantasy, but with something of all three, Caribbean folklore in a city of the conceivable future." Nalo Hopkinson was born in Jamaica and grew up in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana, moving to Canada when she was 16. Of her writing she says, "I use Afro-Caribbean spirituality, oral history, culture and language in my stories, but place my characters within the idioms and settings of contemporary science fiction/fantasy. I see it as subverting the genre, which speaks so much about the experience of being alienated, but contains so little writing by alienated people themselves."
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Summary: Something Different for the Fantasy/SF Palate
Review: For a debut novel, this is truly a stunning achievment. It's not your usual fantasy by any stretch, and may not appeal to everyone, but if your looking for something different then this might be just the book for you. There's certainly room for the author to grow--as already observed, her male characters tend to be over-simplified when compared with their female counterparts. And for those who haven't read it, this has the violence and retribution feel of the old fairy tales--in other words, there's blood and death and fairly little sparkly fairy dust. However, that's the only way I'll compare this book with fairy tales. The story and setting are refreshingly different and the style gives it an ethnic flavor that will appeal to those searching for multicultural fantasy. Women looking for different roles in their fantasy novels will find them here. Not for everyone, certainly. But a welcome addition to a small, but growing genre.
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Summary: Other novels of Caribbean spirituality
Review: For anyone who's read my novel _Brown Girl in the Ring_ and who is interested in other fantastical fiction that comes out of Caribbean spirituality, here is a list of some titles I have read:_Madam Fate_ by Marcia Douglas _It Begins With Tears,_ by Opal Palmer Adisa _Divina Trace_ by Robert Antoni _Chopstix in Mauby,_ by marina ama omowale maxwell _Dear Future,_ by Fred D'Aguiar _Flickering Shadows_ by Kwadwo Agymah Kamau _Fire in the Canes, _ by Glenville Lovell _I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem,_ by Maryse Conde
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Summary: I can't wait for her next novel.
Review: Forget about what you think you know about Sci-Fi. This sister is going to redefine the genre just as Octavia Butler continues to do. There's everything you'd want in a contemporary novel, mystery, love, suspense with some other world characters right out of my worse nightmares. It's set in one of my favorite cities, Toronto, but it's after a serious riot that has sent most of what's good about the city to the "burbs." Give yourself the first five pages and I promise you, you won't stop until you finish it. YOU GO GIRL! Jacqueline Turner Banks
Rating:
Summary: Very intense read from beginning to end.
Review: I found myself both morbidly curious and totally engrossed. The author drew me in and kept me right from the beginning. She has an excellent talent for story telling and making all of her characters seem like people we've all met. I've recommended it to all of my adventurous reading friends!!
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Summary: What's a girl to do? Use magic, of course.
Review: I have no idea why the publishers are calling this science fiction. It's really more of a horror/fantasy blend; the only sci-fi element I can think of is the near-future setting. Which suits me just fine. ;) The world of _Brown Girl_ is frighteningly plausible--it is the logical conclusion of our current suburban sprawl and consequent urban decay. Here, even the city government has fled to the suburbs, and no one is left in the inner city but the poor. There is no electricity, no sewer system. You can't get into the hospital unless you are wealthy. And Rudy, the diabolical crime boss of Toronto, is selling organs to these hospitals--and let's just say the donors are less than willing. And in this city lives Ti-Jeanne (Little Jeanne), a new mother, staying with her wise grandmother, Gros-Jeanne (Big Jeanne). Gros-Jeanne wants to pass on her knowledge to Ti-Jeanne, but Ti-Jeanne only grudgingly learns herbal skills, and wants nothing to do with Gros-Jeanne's other talent--the practice of Afro-Caribbean magic. Then one night they hold a ritual to help Ti-Jeanne's deadbeat ex-boyfriend, and the spirits tell Ti-Jeanne that it is her destiny to stop Rudy's evil. We are sucked in, as Ti-Jeanne's course becomes more irrevocable, as she comes to accept the orishas, and as her ex-boyfriend's fear and drug addiction drive him into worse and worse trouble. Ti-Jeanne's only hope lies in her wits and in half-remembered bits of magical lore. An engrossing read; however, don't buy this if you object to violence. There is a good bit of that.
Rating:
Summary: What's a girl to do? Use magic, of course.
Review: I have no idea why the publishers are calling this science fiction. It's really more of a horror/fantasy blend; the only sci-fi element I can think of is the near-future setting. Which suits me just fine. ;) The world of _Brown Girl_ is frighteningly plausible--it is the logical conclusion of our current suburban sprawl and consequent urban decay. Here, even the city government has fled to the suburbs, and no one is left in the inner city but the poor. There is no electricity, no sewer system. You can't get into the hospital unless you are wealthy. And Rudy, the diabolical crime boss of Toronto, is selling organs to these hospitals--and let's just say the donors are less than willing. And in this city lives Ti-Jeanne (Little Jeanne), a new mother, staying with her wise grandmother, Gros-Jeanne (Big Jeanne). Gros-Jeanne wants to pass on her knowledge to Ti-Jeanne, but Ti-Jeanne only grudgingly learns herbal skills, and wants nothing to do with Gros-Jeanne's other talent--the practice of Afro-Caribbean magic. Then one night they hold a ritual to help Ti-Jeanne's deadbeat ex-boyfriend, and the spirits tell Ti-Jeanne that it is her destiny to stop Rudy's evil. We are sucked in, as Ti-Jeanne's course becomes more irrevocable, as she comes to accept the orishas, and as her ex-boyfriend's fear and drug addiction drive him into worse and worse trouble. Ti-Jeanne's only hope lies in her wits and in half-remembered bits of magical lore. An engrossing read; however, don't buy this if you object to violence. There is a good bit of that.
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Summary: A truely original book!
Review: I have only just recently read BROWN GIRL, although the book has been sitting on my bookshelf for more than two years. I had discovered Nalo, because of on interview she did with LOCUS Magazine a while back. This is a wonderful book whose story seems to be deceptively simple, but which is profound and moving. Hopkinson breathes new life into scienc-fiction. BROWN GIRL IN THE RING is a definitive must-read! By the way, don't forget to buy her other books as well: MIDNIGHT ROBBER and SKIN FOLK.
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