Subject: Review: BROWN GIRL IN THE RING by Nalo Hopkinson

From: Mysterious Galaxy <[email-masked]>
Date: 02 Jul 1998 11:06:01 -0400

BROWN GIRL IN THE RING by Nalo Hopkinson
	Review Copyright 1998 Maryelizabeth Hart

Hopkinson's debut novel is the premier winner of the Warner Aspect First
Novel Contest. Future winners have a high standard to match.  BROWN GIRL
IN THE RING tells the story of Ti-Jeanne, a young woman of Caribbean
heritage in a bleak near-future Toronto. Like the players in the game for
which the novel is named, Ti-Jeanne must learn by observation of her
grandmother's magic ritual in order to do battle for those she loves. Part
of what makes this novel exceptional is the recognition of the often
bitter and difficult nature of family relationships.  Also, unlike many SF
novels, it features both people of color (rather than peoples of exotic
colors) and a main character actively immersed in her family. I very much
enjoy genre-blending novels, as well as those which give me insights into
other cultures, and BROWN GIRL IN THE RING does that and more. Part horror
novel, part SF and part dark fantasy, it blends genres with a deftness
which can escape more experienced hands.

--Maryelizabeth Hart

%A Nalo Hopkinson
%T Brown Girl in the Ring
%I Warner Aspect trade paperback
%O $12.99.