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.
Dragonkeeper is the first in an enchanting book series created by Carole Wilkinson. The first novel follows Ping, a slave to a ruthless master who begins a strong friendship with a captive dragon. Together, the two of them are able to escape the master and journey to Ocean, a distant land far from the ancient …
The absolutely electrifying Australian crime novel ‘The Tell’ by Martin Chatterton weaves a wickedly satisfying tale of Raze Tanic, an upper-class Sydney student whose family-run an illustrious crime ring in the heart of the Australian city. Raze has everything he could ever want, except the relationship with his father, who has been jailed in a …
The Graveyard Book, published in 2008, is a work of Neil Gaiman’s that instantly appeals to readers of the macabre and strange. The novel follows Nobody ‘Bod’ Owens through his experiences of living with a cohort of ghouls and ghosts within a cemetery. The Graveyard Book chronicles his life throughout the graveyard and the places …
For anyone who loves fairy tales with a twist, the Rondo series is the perfect way to escape to a world of magic and mystery. Rodda creates a new layer to the classic formula, drawing from familiar characters such as evil queens, talking animals and mythical creatures, but the addition of two protagonists from the …
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 [...]
Stalking Jack the Ripper is a gripping, fast-paced novel written by first-time author Kerri Maniscalco. The novel follows Audrey Rose Wadsworth, a young woman apprenticing with her Uncle in a mortuary deep within the alleyways and public houses in 1800s London. Wadsworth is soon caught up in a dangerous set of mass murderers as a …
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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