Girls of Color in a Wild West with Angry Ghosts, Raveners & Murder!
The Buzz
I had no interest in The Good Luck Girls. It wasn't that it was an all POC cast... it was that it was about prostitution. It's a hard life and I just didn't want to read about their horrible circumstances. Then I read an excerpt... and was TOTALLY sucked in.
The title references what they call the girls at the prostitution houses so its pretty spot on. However when I first saw the cover I sure didn't see the connection. She looks like a fancy war pilot to me and not a forced prostitute on the run using horses as a getaway. And I could barely see the flower on her neck!! Which to me should have been the star of the design. But in person its a pretty cover and features a person of color which is pretty neat!
The Premise
Soooo yeah the premise did not wow me... A girl about to have sex with her first "brag" kills him when she "over" reacts to his "aggressive" techniques. Her sister uses the man's death to facilitate their escape along with two younger daytime girls who haven't transitioned to sundown girls yet and the madame's favorite girl who lords over the others. ... I'm not doing much to make you want to read The Good Luck Girls am I?!
Well the opening prologue changed my mind (and I suspect it will yours too if you aren't feeling it yet)!! First I really felt for Clem as this was her "Lucky Night" and at only 16 years old. I felt like I was witnessing this rape and struggling right along with her. I couldn’t see her reacting any other way... Being drawn into the story so powerfully really captured me. I wanted Clem to get away with her murder even though it was seriously unlikely that she would. Then comes Aster, her sister who somehow makes it work!! I couldn't wait to see what other problems she would boldly get them out of with her quick thinking and love of her sister.
I was prepared for some really crazy things happening because the world of The Good Luck Girls was so brutal and hard. They had a tough handicap starting out (the favors that mark them as Good Luck Girls) and a society that has no sympathy for their situation. The western feel to the story with guns, horses, mines and prostitution fit that brutality. And then we have the ghost mythology which added another layer of problems to their escape.
And then we get into the meat of the story and I'm less wowed. It turns into a road trip which makes sense with the whole needing to escape. The girls decide a little robbery is just what the brags deserve. There are some run ins with the law and the raveners (super powered law for the houses). Both of which also make sense considering this is a western. We travel in mine tunnels and it totally fits the world. Only the plot wasn't quite capturing me like the opening scene did.
I did come to appreciate Aster and how nuanced she felt about being a sundown girl, a sister, a friend, someone who forgives, and someone who gets high, not on drugs, but on power. She really embodied her role as protector and it added some powerful moments to the duller plot. The fact that she wasn't in a romantic relationship with man or woman made sense to me, she had way too many emotions about her experiences to think about love. For a Good Luck Girl she did mighty fine for herself and her posse!
My Experience
I was able to read an excerpt of the beginning, of The Good Luck Girls, a couple of months before I read the book. It's this reading that convinced me that I would be foolish to miss this POC fantasy western. At the time I didn't realize that Clem's chapter was a prologue and hinted at the fact that this opening chapter would be the ONLY time I read her POV. And as I waited to get my copy I started to think that this would be multiple POVs.
Why did I assume this? Well we have 5 stellar girls each with an intriguing POV and it would be a waste to not to get a taste of those perspectives... right?! Here they are in the premise of The Good Luck Girls...
Aster, the protector
Violet, the favorite
Tansy, the medic
Mallow, the fighter
Clementine, the catalyst
They sound fabulous!! And it sounds like they will each contribute to the excellency of the story. But unfortunately since we stick with Aster alone we only get her nuances. Tansy and Mallow have their storyline and Clem has her storyline but they are rather stereotypical and didn't give us that much of a taste of who they were. They were basically the girls that Aster protected. Then we have Violet who was the major secondary character and played a bigger part... only I would have loved to see her guilt and morally grey perspective from inside the character.
The Good Luck Girls is a dark story where some heavy topics like prostitution, slavery, victimization and guilt are explored heavily in a world where females have to seize their power back from the hands of men. We have a POC posse who won't give up and draw strength and power from each other. Join them as they go on the ride of their lives!!
I had no interest in The Good Luck Girls. It wasn't that it was an all POC cast... it was that it was about prostitution. It's a hard life and I just didn't want to read about their horrible circumstances. Then I read an excerpt... and was TOTALLY sucked in.
The title references what they call the girls at the prostitution houses so its pretty spot on. However when I first saw the cover I sure didn't see the connection. She looks like a fancy war pilot to me and not a forced prostitute on the run using horses as a getaway. And I could barely see the flower on her neck!! Which to me should have been the star of the design. But in person its a pretty cover and features a person of color which is pretty neat!
The Premise
Soooo yeah the premise did not wow me... A girl about to have sex with her first "brag" kills him when she "over" reacts to his "aggressive" techniques. Her sister uses the man's death to facilitate their escape along with two younger daytime girls who haven't transitioned to sundown girls yet and the madame's favorite girl who lords over the others. ... I'm not doing much to make you want to read The Good Luck Girls am I?!
Well the opening prologue changed my mind (and I suspect it will yours too if you aren't feeling it yet)!! First I really felt for Clem as this was her "Lucky Night" and at only 16 years old. I felt like I was witnessing this rape and struggling right along with her. I couldn’t see her reacting any other way... Being drawn into the story so powerfully really captured me. I wanted Clem to get away with her murder even though it was seriously unlikely that she would. Then comes Aster, her sister who somehow makes it work!! I couldn't wait to see what other problems she would boldly get them out of with her quick thinking and love of her sister.
I was prepared for some really crazy things happening because the world of The Good Luck Girls was so brutal and hard. They had a tough handicap starting out (the favors that mark them as Good Luck Girls) and a society that has no sympathy for their situation. The western feel to the story with guns, horses, mines and prostitution fit that brutality. And then we have the ghost mythology which added another layer of problems to their escape.
And then we get into the meat of the story and I'm less wowed. It turns into a road trip which makes sense with the whole needing to escape. The girls decide a little robbery is just what the brags deserve. There are some run ins with the law and the raveners (super powered law for the houses). Both of which also make sense considering this is a western. We travel in mine tunnels and it totally fits the world. Only the plot wasn't quite capturing me like the opening scene did.
I did come to appreciate Aster and how nuanced she felt about being a sundown girl, a sister, a friend, someone who forgives, and someone who gets high, not on drugs, but on power. She really embodied her role as protector and it added some powerful moments to the duller plot. The fact that she wasn't in a romantic relationship with man or woman made sense to me, she had way too many emotions about her experiences to think about love. For a Good Luck Girl she did mighty fine for herself and her posse!
My Experience
I was able to read an excerpt of the beginning, of The Good Luck Girls, a couple of months before I read the book. It's this reading that convinced me that I would be foolish to miss this POC fantasy western. At the time I didn't realize that Clem's chapter was a prologue and hinted at the fact that this opening chapter would be the ONLY time I read her POV. And as I waited to get my copy I started to think that this would be multiple POVs.
Why did I assume this? Well we have 5 stellar girls each with an intriguing POV and it would be a waste to not to get a taste of those perspectives... right?! Here they are in the premise of The Good Luck Girls...
Aster, the protector
Violet, the favorite
Tansy, the medic
Mallow, the fighter
Clementine, the catalyst
They sound fabulous!! And it sounds like they will each contribute to the excellency of the story. But unfortunately since we stick with Aster alone we only get her nuances. Tansy and Mallow have their storyline and Clem has her storyline but they are rather stereotypical and didn't give us that much of a taste of who they were. They were basically the girls that Aster protected. Then we have Violet who was the major secondary character and played a bigger part... only I would have loved to see her guilt and morally grey perspective from inside the character.
The Good Luck Girls is a dark story where some heavy topics like prostitution, slavery, victimization and guilt are explored heavily in a world where females have to seize their power back from the hands of men. We have a POC posse who won't give up and draw strength and power from each other. Join them as they go on the ride of their lives!!