Scan barcode
A review by bea_reads_books
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I absolutely loved this trilogy as a kid, but never actually got around to reading the third book. I wanted to start over and actually finish, partly for closure and partly to see if I still think it’s as good as I used to.
Overall, I still loved this book. Many actual tears were shed at various points, and the sibling dynamic is very realistic. My only real gripe with this book is a phenomenon I’ve been noticing more and more with the books I read as a kid - they’re all incredibly (or at least very overtly) fatphobic, usually in the form of comedy.
In this book, a lesser antagonist is portrayed as disgusting, lazy, a “worthless drunk”, and a LOT of emphasis is put on his weight being the butt of the joke and part of what makes him so repulsive. JKR does this, Lemony Snicket (one of my all-time-favorite authors) does it, and Obert Skye does it.
I notice it even more in books that were “weird” or creepy - which is unfortunate because those were my favorite kinds of books to read as a child/teen (and frankly still are). I am begging writers to find other ways to be funny or to make a “bad” character, without making them fat (or, for that matter, disabled - I see that one a lot too).
Also, it made me somewhat uncomfortable that the dwarves (something I already don’t love, because people with dwarfism are just regular people, not a mythical fantasy race) have their own entire culture and history and customs, but a pivotal moment of the story is when a human boy “calls out” the above mentioned fatphobic caricature as being “not a real dwarf”, and then proceeds to educate the dwarf population about what makes them who they are, after which he wins a medal and is appointed the official guardian of dwarf customs (or something similar, I forget the exact title). It felt extremely white-savior-ish to have someone from outside the “species” tell the dwarves how they should and shouldn’t behave in order to be considered a “real dwarf”. Which he has the authority to say because he... reads about dwarves? From one book? Rather than actually BEING one? Or even just living with them and studying their culture first hand?
Overall, I still loved this book. Many actual tears were shed at various points, and the sibling dynamic is very realistic. My only real gripe with this book is a phenomenon I’ve been noticing more and more with the books I read as a kid - they’re all incredibly (or at least very overtly) fatphobic, usually in the form of comedy.
In this book, a lesser antagonist is portrayed as disgusting, lazy, a “worthless drunk”, and a LOT of emphasis is put on his weight being the butt of the joke and part of what makes him so repulsive. JKR does this, Lemony Snicket (one of my all-time-favorite authors) does it, and Obert Skye does it.
I notice it even more in books that were “weird” or creepy - which is unfortunate because those were my favorite kinds of books to read as a child/teen (and frankly still are). I am begging writers to find other ways to be funny or to make a “bad” character, without making them fat (or, for that matter, disabled - I see that one a lot too).
Also, it made me somewhat uncomfortable that the dwarves (something I already don’t love, because people with dwarfism are just regular people, not a mythical fantasy race) have their own entire culture and history and customs, but a pivotal moment of the story is when a human boy “calls out” the above mentioned fatphobic caricature as being “not a real dwarf”, and then proceeds to educate the dwarf population about what makes them who they are, after which he wins a medal and is appointed the official guardian of dwarf customs (or something similar, I forget the exact title). It felt extremely white-savior-ish to have someone from outside the “species” tell the dwarves how they should and shouldn’t behave in order to be considered a “real dwarf”. Which he has the authority to say because he... reads about dwarves? From one book? Rather than actually BEING one? Or even just living with them and studying their culture first hand?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail