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74th out of 800 books
—
621 voters
Midnight Robber
It's Carnival time, and the Carribean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. But to young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favourite costume to wear at the festival--until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgivable crime.
Suddenly, b...more
Suddenly, b...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
March 1st 2000
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published 2000)
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An excellent example of science fiction not centered on (or featuring any examples of) a Europe-descended culture, but rather on a planet colonized by people of the Caribbean. The whole thing is written in patwah, too, which does a great job of immersing the reader in Hopkinson's world.
Planets plural, rather, because the central conceit of this novel is some sort of mumbo-jumbo about criminals from the technologically advanced world of Toussaint being banished to its alternate dimension analogue...more
Planets plural, rather, because the central conceit of this novel is some sort of mumbo-jumbo about criminals from the technologically advanced world of Toussaint being banished to its alternate dimension analogue...more
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This review contains spoilers. =)
The only good thing about this book is the fact that I never knew what was coming next. (With one exception ... I definitely saw Antonio's rape of Tan-Tan and his subsequent death. But that was about the only thing foreshadowed in the entire book.) This made the book unpredictable, which isn't something that a lot of stories are nowadays.
But that unpredictability is also one of its major flaws. This book wasn't a shocker; it was random as hell. We go from a possi...more
The only good thing about this book is the fact that I never knew what was coming next. (With one exception ... I definitely saw Antonio's rape of Tan-Tan and his subsequent death. But that was about the only thing foreshadowed in the entire book.) This made the book unpredictable, which isn't something that a lot of stories are nowadays.
But that unpredictability is also one of its major flaws. This book wasn't a shocker; it was random as hell. We go from a possi...more
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Tan-Tan is a young girl living on the plan et Toussaint, where her father, Antonio, is the mayor of their town. Tan-Tan likes to play at being a figure from Toussaint's folklore, the Robber Queen, one of a host of figures known as Midnight Robbers. When Antonio kills his wife's latest lover, he takes Tan-Tan with him through a dimensional shift, into exile on the sister planet New Half-Way Tree, which serves as a prison planet for all the criminals that Toussaint finds too difficult or awkward t...more
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Read for 50books_poc, checked out from school library.
Pros: I adored Tan-Tan. The worldbuildling was fantastic. The entire book was written in Caribbean dialect, and it worked incredibly well. I loved just about everything about the future-space-Caribbean. Overall, it was a joy to read. I can't recommend it enough.
Cons: I loved this book. It'd be 5/5, but I absolutely hate stories about child abuse and incest in which the abusee gets pregnant and, at the end, has a miraculously healing birth. I...more
Pros: I adored Tan-Tan. The worldbuildling was fantastic. The entire book was written in Caribbean dialect, and it worked incredibly well. I loved just about everything about the future-space-Caribbean. Overall, it was a joy to read. I can't recommend it enough.
Cons: I loved this book. It'd be 5/5, but I absolutely hate stories about child abuse and incest in which the abusee gets pregnant and, at the end, has a miraculously healing birth. I...more
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Like everyone else said, Hopkinson's world-building is great. I love that her world-building is used as a political discussion. From the start, when Granny Nanny's nano-level-networked-super-surveillance world is described via Antonio's pedicab ride, I had hoped that Tan-tan would escape Toussaint. And when she does, I certainly didn't like how the society in Half-way Tree - Toussaint's literal alternative - plays out. Hopkinson brings up a whole new set of social problems / questions when Tan-t...more
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Just re-read this and am once again moved by Hopkinson as a writer. Young Tan-Tan is the beloved only child of Antonio and Ione, a couple who both love and cheat with equal passion. The afternoon that Antonio catches Ione in a compromising position begins the tale that will lead Tan-Tan down the proverbial rabbit hole.
If ever there was an Alice in Wonderland in space this is most certainly it. Tan-Tan begins the story as a young child and we see her age as she adapts not only to a whole new worl...more
If ever there was an Alice in Wonderland in space this is most certainly it. Tan-Tan begins the story as a young child and we see her age as she adapts not only to a whole new worl...more
In Midnight Robber, Nalo Hobkinson creates a three vibrant worlds: a human society, an alien world, and a world of story. The first maintains law and order through a web-based panopticon (complete with nanny-bots and in-brain lines to the web). The alien world is a prison colony, where humans mistreat one another just as they mistreat the Douen natives. The third world, that of myths, stories, and gossip, exists between these two, and Hopkinson uses these to intricately weave one plane of existe...more
A really different sci-fi book accomplishing all the things a sci-fi book should. It made me think about the future and gave me a strong protagonist whose point of view was interesting and relatable.
I especially loved the idea of a future filled with people who aren't Caucasian males. The treatment of colour was well-done in this book, and in a genre where clumsy race analogues are generally accomplished through Pocahontas narratives with blue cat-people. The world Hopkinson creates is incredibl...more
I especially loved the idea of a future filled with people who aren't Caucasian males. The treatment of colour was well-done in this book, and in a genre where clumsy race analogues are generally accomplished through Pocahontas narratives with blue cat-people. The world Hopkinson creates is incredibl...more
I like science fiction. I like Caribbean cultures. But I've never looked for the intersection of the two. Actually, now I think about it, I have encountered lots of science fictional themes in reggae lyrics. But certainly I never thought to look for a science fiction novel written from a Caribbean perspective.
So that was the first thing I liked about Midnight Robber. It begins on the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint during Carnival. We read this for my book club here in New Orleans just a...more
So that was the first thing I liked about Midnight Robber. It begins on the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint during Carnival. We read this for my book club here in New Orleans just a...more
I wouldn't have picked this up if it wasn't for its Science Fiction component. I usually hate books that emphasize gender roles and racial quirks. Written by Nalo Hopkinson, an African-American woman, this book ranks high on the list of books that overemphasize race and gender.
But if you can ignore that part, it's a rather sad and endearing story about a girl lost in a distant foreign land, learning to stand up by herself and trying to keep it together.
I wouldn't recommend this book. There are...more
But if you can ignore that part, it's a rather sad and endearing story about a girl lost in a distant foreign land, learning to stand up by herself and trying to keep it together.
I wouldn't recommend this book. There are...more
Is it sci-fi? is it fantasy? The future crafted by the author is a mix of nanotechnology, haitian/creole/carribean/new orleans magic and culture, hero mythology, biomimicry, and liberation stories. Maybe I can give it a new genre name: post-apocalypso? The worlds that Hopkinson creates are wonderfully imaginative and it was really awesome to read a sci fi story that was inspired by the history and culture of a colonized people. The history of black people in the west clearly inspired the mytholo...more
Wow, this book was powerful. It grapples with the abuse, pain, healing and self-esteem issues of a young girl in a Caribbean science-fiction setting. It questions ideas of the traditional patriarchal family, bonds between women, colonialism and domination. There is definitely a narrative pull, by that I mean you will want to keep reading to find out how the heroine fares. The power of history, memory and testimony is definitely important to understanding how the conflicts are resolved. Overall a...more
So I really enjoyed Brown Girl in the Ring. It was the first book by Nalo Hopkinson that I read and the references to Toronto in the book really drew me in. That coupled with the West Indian heritage/speech of the heroine totally sold me. Also the story and characters were great.
That said Midnight Robber was very similar in that they are West Indian folk tales woven into the story.
The characters were not, to me, as rich as her previous works. The all felt kind of 1 or maybe 2 dimensional. The p...more
That said Midnight Robber was very similar in that they are West Indian folk tales woven into the story.
The characters were not, to me, as rich as her previous works. The all felt kind of 1 or maybe 2 dimensional. The p...more
After the first few pages I got past the fact that this novel is written entirely in Creole-flavored English, and after a few more pages I bought into the world of Toussant that Hopkins very skillfully creates (although, I’ve gotta say, I am getting tired of sci-fi authors using “nano” as a prefix to a certain technology in order to lend the powers of that technology scientific credibility – it doesn’t work, at least for me (however, I think it is used here less for that than for the word play o...more
Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber is science fiction that doesn't feel like science fiction. It is steeped in science fiction traditions, as the narrative takes place in a future where humans live on and have colonized a different planet (Toussaint), rely heavily on nanotechnology, and have the use of transdimensional and space travel technologies; even when the highly technologized world of Toussaint is abandoned for New Half Way Tree, a more primitive and less technologically advanced version o...more
My copy of this book split in half the fourth or fifth time I read it. Our hero is a young girl named Tan-Tan who lives on the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint and plays at being the Robber Queen in the annual carnival. When her corrupt politician father murders her mother's lover, little Tan-Tan is accidentally sent into exile with him on the dangerous prison planet of New Half-Way Tree. I won't give away what happens next, but a series of horrible events leads a teenage Tan-Tan to run a...more
A hard SF revelation set in a Caribbean diaspora - nanotech AI has always assisted and tutored a young girl until her father's crime takes them both off-planet to a radically different frontier existence where the living is hard and birdlike aliens will become her new allies. A stirring and provocative poetic tale of a young woman's fighting her way to free adulthood and out of shadows of her father's wrongness.
I read this book upon its initial release and reread it in preparation for teaching a class on science fiction in the summer of 2012. Midnight Robber is, without a doubt, one of the smartest and most politically sophisticated books I have read in and outside the genre of science fiction. Nalo Hopkinson shows a deep understanding of colonial history as well as technological developments and possibilities, and she is a magical storyteller. She doesn't shirk from imagining violence, especially viol...more
Nalo Hopkinson is a champion world builder. The cultures, the native flora and fauna, the implied evolutionary paths... Everything is lush, and detailed, and believable. My main complaint with this novel is that it isn't 200 pages longer. The epic breadth of the plot, Tan-Tan's growth into her role as Robber Queen and legend, happens far too quickly and without the organic flow that characterizes the rest of the narrative. I would definitely have stuck around for further tales of her daring expl...more
I enjoyed Midnight Robber. One of the best things in the novel for me is the world Hopkinson creates - based on the historical experience of Caribs and immigrants forced to leave their homes for the Caribbean islands. The effects of this world upon the plot and characters kept me engaged.
I read this book when it was nominated for a Hugo. I wanted to see what kind of books lost to a Harry Potter book. It was my first intro to Hopkinson.
I wanted to like this book better than I did. I was excited about finding a new author that had to bring a new perspective to the genre. It was a new perspective, but one I couldn't appreciate in this novel. I don't know if the abuse of the character Tan-Tan put me off, but at times I had trouble following the narrative.
There was obviously some cr...more
I wanted to like this book better than I did. I was excited about finding a new author that had to bring a new perspective to the genre. It was a new perspective, but one I couldn't appreciate in this novel. I don't know if the abuse of the character Tan-Tan put me off, but at times I had trouble following the narrative.
There was obviously some cr...more
This is the first Hopkinson book i've read other than a short story and i was extremely excited and had great expectations. For me, the beginning half of the book was way to long and the world of Toussaint didn't intrigue me any where as much as New Half-Way Tree. It is written mostly in English Patois with the nararrator flowing in an out of the language in what it felt like dependence upon how engaged the nararrator was with the story. there were interesting themes and perspectives on race, ow...more
I thought the dialect of the charaters was damn near hypnotizing. A beautiful narrative that is derived from hatian-creole culture, but at the same time, illuminated problems faced in the islands such a rape positivism. A great read, couldn't put it down.
The dialect in this was surprisingly not super annoying. The world was amazing, but not thoroughly explored in favor of telling a more common story within the world, and building the main character Tan-Tan. I didn't particularly like either Tan-Tan or the main storyline, however. The most interesting things in this book are the world Hopkinson builds, with it's mix of cultures and rituals, and her use of mythology to create layers of meaning in the story. Hopkinson lightly touches on different k...more
I liked this book, but it was very disturbing and left me with a lot of "un-politically correct" ideas that I won't share. I liked the flavor of the book, that was excellent and Hopkinson did a fantastic job at building these worlds.
Very innovative concept, setting, and story. Hopkinson sets up a universe in which the West is arguably left behind and Caribbean culture has flourished and persevered, forming its own progress narrative and boldly defining itself.
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Nalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican-born writer and editor who lives in Canada. Her science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories often draw on Caribbean history and language, and its traditions of oral and written storytelling.
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