Rating: 
Summary: Hopkinson avoids gimicks
Review: Perhaps the best aspect of this book, for me at least, was that Hopkinson integrates the loa into her book without making them seem hokey. In other urban fantasy books I have read, it sometimes seems as if the author almost puts the notice "OK, I'm putting in the magic now." before any supernatural elements enter. Hopkinson, on the other hand, describes the supernatural, the spirits that Ti-Jeanne sees and interacts with, as an insider, as if they were as accepted a fact to the readers as microwave ovens or computers. It was very refreshing to see voudoun presented in this light. I'd highly recommend this book to any who are interested in Afro-Carribean culture and mythology. Even if you're not, I'd try to persuade you to read it, it's a bit rough at times, but overall excellent for a first novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: Sometimes I just scratch my head at what kind of books get critical acclaim. I read this because I've heard in SF circles that it was a strong first novel. Instead, it's a pretty boring mish-mash with a lot of voodoo mumbo-jumbo. Not worth the money, nor the time I wasted on this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: Sometimes I just scratch my head at what kind of books get critical acclaim. I read this because I've heard in SF circles that it was a strong first novel. Instead, it's a pretty boring mish-mash with a lot of voodoo mumbo-jumbo. Not worth the money, nor the time I wasted on this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent combination of science fiction and magical realism
Review: This book was excellent. It was a great display of writing skill. I'm recommending this book to anyone who likes near-future science fiction that explores current events in through tales of the future, and to anyone who likes magical realism ala Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie and Ben Okri.
Rating: 
Summary: BGitR is a vibrant first novel; I couldn't put it down.
Review: This is a great little book. I sat down figuring I'd read just a couple of chapters, and next thing I knew it was 2 a.m. and I'd read the whole thing. The worldbuilding was terrific, and the ending was extremely satisfying. Hopkinson is off to an excellent start; I'll definitely be watching for more of her work.
Rating: 
Summary: A Strong First Novel
Review: This is a very good first novel and is refreshingly different. It is a novel that requires you to suspend your beliefs. It doesn't matter that the author's economics are shaky or that her male characters are one dimensional. What matters is the Afro-Carribean perspective in a well written almost lyrical novel.
Rating:
Summary: It good fi true!
Review: This novel was truly refreshing. It is not everyday that you get to read a Sci-Fi book with a Caribbean flair. I loved it! The story line was no where near predictable or boring. I found myself unable to put the book down. You did a nice job Ms. Hopkinson, it good fi true!
Rating:
Summary: The spirit world working in the physical world
Review: This was a very well written sci-fi novel. I enjoyed the use of language to create imagery and a connectedness among people of color and poor peoples. I felt connected, concerned and dislike for all of the charachters. This was a powerful tale about a young woman learning to accept her strengths and her weaknesses in the spirit and physical world. I enjoyed her journey and will follow it in the next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Brown Girl in the Ring
Review: You can call this an SF novel if you're comfortable with that, but I call it a sparkly, fast-moving urban fantasy. The city of Toronto has gotten one big Rejection Slip from anything beyond it, and has been allowed to rot. But inside the perimeter, good people fight against the forces that would terrorize and control them, and one such person is main character Ti-Jeanne. Her Mami/grandmother is a magical healer, her mother is missing, and her newborn son is a secret she keeps from the father, Tony, who has the misfortune to be a peon of the local super-bully, Rudy. Rudy directs evil from the top of the CN Tower, rather an intimidating spot. Other methods of intimidation involve cruel servants, both living and unliving, both incredibly difficult to stop and near-impossible to stop. But Rudy, in his arrogance, is playing with magical forces (we're talking Voudoun, here) that he can barely contain, and if someone could just possibly figure out how to use some of his own tricks against him, then maybe someone, maybe Ti-Jeanne, could finally put him in his place. And there might even be survivors. The battle depicted in this first novel is not really anything new. This story has been done before. But, if that makes a safe first novel, at least Nalo Hopkinson breathes new and wonderful life into this ages-old, but still powerful literary duppy. She certainly has a passion for the characters whose struggles she depicts in this book. She opens a somewhat familiar bottle of wine, but it was more intoxicating than some of the last few bottles, as poured by others.
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