An exploration of both time-travel and identity, Allison Evans’ Ida is a beautifully diverse and emotional story that I feel I’ve been waiting to read long before I knew it existed.
Time travel is usually a hit-or-miss for me, but the reader learns about Ida’s powers more or less at the same pace as she does. It isn’t explained in complex scientific detail, but personally, I prefer that. Ida’s journey and exploration of her powers are driven by her emotions, and Evans works tirelessly to make the reader feels those emotions themselves. Ida’s situation brings questions of identity, stability, love, family, and financial struggles, as well as many issues that seem specific but will ring home for many readers.
What drew me into the story and kept me hooked was the diversity; this is one of the first books I’ve read where the main characters are LGBT, and the story doesn’t revolve around their gender or sexuality. That’s not to say the characters’ identities are ignored; they’re absolutely not. Things like pronouns and binders are mentioned as a normal part of life, and Evans does bring up discrimination, but this is fantasy – these characters are allowed to exist without the story being bogged down by hate. Ida’s cast of characters are engaging and so rare to see in fiction, I would have happily read about them without the fantasy element. I’ve been looking for a fantasy novel without a diverse cast, and Ida quenched that thirst.
The story itself is enthralling; while simple in theory, it has the right amount of mystery, horror and thriller elements that will keep you reading. The story is ultimately character-centered, with Ida’s emotional journey at the crux of it all. Ida is an easy character to attach yourself to; her guilt, her concern for her partner and her fears of being a burden to her family things we all deal with at some point, and through Ida’s grief in alternate timelines, we find that we cry with her. There’s a part of me still in Ida’s world, wanting to know what happens to her after her story ends.
The Conference of the Birds offers readers with a fifth dive into Ransom Rigg’s world of the much-adored literary peculiars. In this novel, which carries on directly from ‘A Map of Days’–released as the fourth book in 2019–Jacob and his peculiar friends return to uncover the mystery surrounding their newest companion Noor, most namely piecing …
Courtney Summers’ well-written murder mystery is a modern take on the genre. Following the sister of a missing girl and the journalist trying to find her, Sadie’s format is unique, if a little confusing at times. The chapters written from Sadie’s perspective are in first person, but every second chapter is written as a script …
Eliza Henry Jones’ P is for Pearl is a sweet piece of summer escapism. Set in a quiet beach town in Tasmania, complete with romance and hints of mystery, it’s an easy way to pass the time over the summer holidays, sitting out in the sun with a drink in hand. The reader is dropped [...]
Kate O’Donnell’s debut novel, Untidy Towns, sets up an escapist fantasy, and then fills it with the reality of running away from your troubles. Who hasn’t dreamed of abandoning school and clinging to the safety of home? When Adelaide walks out of her suffocating boarding school, she thinks she’s free to live her life however [...]
DRAGON RIDER follows the tale of Firedrake, a young dragon who sets off on a quest to find the acclaimed Rim of Heaven after learning that his home–and all the dragons that live in it–are in grave danger of a man-induced flood that will destroy their riparian home. Along the way, he will be joined …
Meet Me at the Intersection is a rich short story anthology written by a diverse range of Australian authors and lovingly edited by Rebecca Lim and Ambelin Kwaymullina. The anthology aims to showcase the experiences of marginalised groups through “own voice” stories, whose authors fit into those groups. The first thing about the anthology that …
Book Review – Ida by Allison Evans
An exploration of both time-travel and identity, Allison Evans’ Ida is a beautifully diverse and emotional story that I feel I’ve been waiting to read long before I knew it existed.
Time travel is usually a hit-or-miss for me, but the reader learns about Ida’s powers more or less at the same pace as she does. It isn’t explained in complex scientific detail, but personally, I prefer that. Ida’s journey and exploration of her powers are driven by her emotions, and Evans works tirelessly to make the reader feels those emotions themselves. Ida’s situation brings questions of identity, stability, love, family, and financial struggles, as well as many issues that seem specific but will ring home for many readers.
What drew me into the story and kept me hooked was the diversity; this is one of the first books I’ve read where the main characters are LGBT, and the story doesn’t revolve around their gender or sexuality. That’s not to say the characters’ identities are ignored; they’re absolutely not. Things like pronouns and binders are mentioned as a normal part of life, and Evans does bring up discrimination, but this is fantasy – these characters are allowed to exist without the story being bogged down by hate. Ida’s cast of characters are engaging and so rare to see in fiction, I would have happily read about them without the fantasy element. I’ve been looking for a fantasy novel without a diverse cast, and Ida quenched that thirst.
The story itself is enthralling; while simple in theory, it has the right amount of mystery, horror and thriller elements that will keep you reading. The story is ultimately character-centered, with Ida’s emotional journey at the crux of it all. Ida is an easy character to attach yourself to; her guilt, her concern for her partner and her fears of being a burden to her family things we all deal with at some point, and through Ida’s grief in alternate timelines, we find that we cry with her. There’s a part of me still in Ida’s world, wanting to know what happens to her after her story ends.
Ida by Alison Evans is available for sale here!
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