Freewater -Gold

2023 Award winner is Freewater

I will post honor books in my honor section

Not A Review:

I quite enjoyed this book. The final chapters are predictable, but not in a bad way. The only quality that prevented me from giving it 4 stars was those final chapters. They felt more hurried and too far from realism. I was well "transported" to "Freewater". The final chapters, however, were less plausible. There was a shallowness to the characters, but not in a deficient way. The book simply didn't go into depth on any of them which was workable for this story. The final chapters seem a type of revenge fantasy/ wish fulfillment for historic wrongs that didn't capture the potential for believability. Characters are caught and uncaught impossibly; Suilemann breaks character to indulge Sanzi's fantasy. The rain of fire episode was too unlikely. In what way would that event coupled with the escape of even more slaves go- unnoticed and without further reprisal? The maypop sedative had wonderful potential; once the element of surprise was removed, though, it was too chaotic. The plantation owners already know that the escaped slaves dwell within reach. How could remaining be viable? That entire swamp would have been burned and turned into farmland.

I read the whole thing as a sort of fantasy. While some Maroon communities really existed, there is no evidence there ever was a free society high in the sky over the swamps, so I couldn't really believe any of it. I found it delightful to see the roles reversed: the black children tricked the ridiculous white slave catchers. For so long the other way has been a stereotype. I was a bit annoyed by the shifting narrators but otherwise found it a pleasant fantastical story written at the right level for middle grade readers. I could see even a 9yo reading it and enjoying it.

https://reviews.rebeccareid.com/freewater-by-amina-luqman-dawson/