Hello and welcome! My name is Starlah, and
today's video is going to be another
Authors Anew video.
Excuse my hair. It's still wet. I just got
out of the shower. It's gonna take hours
to dry, and I didn't feel like waiting
that long to start the video. If you
would like to know more about the series
or if you haven't seen the first one
that I did. It was on Tahereh Mafi. It...
didn't go well. But essentially, each
video I pick an author that I haven't
had a good experience with in the past,
and I'm giving them a second chance. I'm
gonna try something else by them to see
if it was a one-off thing or if the
author, as a whole, just doesn't really
vibe with me. Their writing, not them as
a person. In each of these videos, I try
to get kind of, like, a deep analysis into
what exactly it is that isn't working
for me as a reader. Whether or not it's
just like the author's writing style as
a whole or was it a one-off situation
with that book. We're just trying to
learn more. I like to analyze things. I'm
a nerd. We know this. So, Kacen Callender,
LOVE. THEM.
Same with Tahereh Mafi, love them as
people. I have read one book by Kacen
Callender. It was Queen of the Conquered. I
read it last year in 2019, and it ended
up being on my Worst Books of the Year
list.
I'll have that video as well as the
monthly wrap-up that I talk about that
book linked. Because in them, I go in
depth in my review in them. Giving
examples from the book, etc. And for this
video, the new book that I have to read
from them I'm very excited to get to, I
have a good feeling about. I said that
about Tahereh Mafi, too, and that didn't go
well. The book is Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender.
This was gifted to me
off my wishlist by Kathleen. Thank
you SO very much, Kathleen! This book is
honestly perfect to read right now in
June. Not only is it a queer middle grade
story. But it also takes place in St.
Thomas,
and June is also Caribbean Heritage
Month. I don't know much about this book.
I do think it is Kacen Callender's first
book. And I think it follows our main
character, who is born during a storm or
during a hurricane, and because of that,
the child is viewed as unlucky. Now, what
am I looking for? To be very honest,
one of the biggest things that I really
didn't like in Queen of the Conquered
was the writing style. There were a few
other things that I did really like
about it. Mostly its commentary on social
topics. When it came to the actual
writing style, when it came to
how the story was told, I didn't, I didn't
like it. Now, Queen of the Conquered is an
adult fantasy, and Hurricane Child
is a middle grade so I know the writing
style's gonna be different in that aspect.
The reason I didn't like Kacen
Callender's writing style in Queen of the
Conquered, the biggest reason, is that the
story was mostly telling and very little
showing. It was very difficult to connect
with the characters because we were
almost always told what they were doing,
told what they were thinking, told what
they were feeling. We were never, like,
shown them just living, doing the story.
And a lot of that telling was often told
in retrospect, so we were often told what
had happened
in the past .There was no suspension or
tension in the story because things
were always happening in retrospect. I
hardly cared for the characters because
I never really got to see them be
themselves. I was just told what they
were like; and on top of all of that, the
story would go on and on in these long,
random tangents that had nothing to do
with the main story. It would spend pages,
PAGES going into serious detail and
in-depth backstories of characters that
didn't need that much detail. One-off
characters that were just there for that
one scene, and we were never seen again.
Would get these, like, five page long
backstories, and none of it just ever
added anything to the overall story. So,
the biggest thing that I am going to be
looking for in Hurricane Child is the
writing style.
I want showing and not as much telling. I
want to feel for the characters. I just
want, I just want a story. I want a good
story. So...let's get started!
Okay, so I'm on chapter 3. So
we're following this young 12 year old girl
named Caroline, who is living by herself
with her father because a couple years
ago one day, her mother just kind of up
and left and disappeared. This is
definitely, obviously affected Caroline,
quite a lot, and she's pretty determined
to find her mother. Caroline is also
having some issues at school. She's often
picked on because of her skin being so
dark, by not only the other kids but the
teachers as well. Because she doesn't
always allow for that, she then ends up
getting into even more trouble because
she'll talk back or she'll fight back or
whatever. And that's kind of really it,
there's not like much that has actually
happened yet. Mainly in the first couple
chapters, we're just kind of seeing kind
of, like, how not great Caroline's life is.
I will say that I do like so far how the
story is being narrated. It does sound
like a 12 year old child talking; but
aside from that, it's kind of just okay.
I'm interested. Remember when I said that
the story SOUNDS like a 12 year old
child? "I will say that I do like so far
how the story is being narrated. It does
sound like a 12 year old child talking."
That was a lie. That changed SO quickly.
I'm currently on chapter 7, about
130 pages into the book. So a little over halfway through,
and, um, how am I feeling? I'm feeling like the
story had a really good start, and it's
not, like, necessarily going downhill,
but, like, I...I just, like, don't really know
what I'm feeling? I'm feeling, like to be
very honest, I kind of feel like I'm
feeling...indifferent? Ugh, which I hate to
say. But I, yeah, I kind of don't care. Let
me check the synopsis, make sure I don't
say anything spoiler-y.
So she starts seeing this spirit of
people that just, like, are looking at her.
They're not really doing anything, but
they're just kind of there. And nobody
else sees them, and she starts to see
them. Then this new student arrives
school named Kalinda, and she finds out
that Kalinda can also see these spirits.
The two girls become VERY fast friends,
and a kind of one-sided romance ensues.
And I think once that kind of got
introduced into the story is when I
decided that the narration and the voice
of the story completely changed from
being of a 12 year old child to
someone older. The way that Caroline
talks, like, in her mind. The way she talks
about Kalinda and her feelings for her
and their relationship, and the way that
she kind of notices things just doesn't
seem genuine to a 12 year old. She
literally, like, wrote a whole letter
declaring her love for this girl.
"I love you, Kalinda. And I wish that we
could one day be married and live
together for the rest of our lives. I
would love to wake up and see you in the
morning and lie down for bed at night
and have you be the last thing I see
before I close my eyes. You have brought
me joy, and I thank you for that. And I
wish that I could continue to feel this
joy every day for the rest of my life.
I know that we could not be husband
and wife; but that doesn't matter because
I would be with you, and you would be
with me. It's painful that I cannot have
this. I wish I could have both this and
my mother, blah, blah, blah. She goes in to talk
more about her mom, which is also the
mystery that's going on right now. But
anyways, it's kind of throwing me out of
the story, kind of, you know, how quickly
the romance kind of came on. It just, like,
changed the tone and the voice of the
story kind of drastically from being
just a girl who gets bullied and is
missing her mom to a girl who has an
undying love for another person. Ugh, ohhhh...I
don't know how I'm feeling about this
video. Like, I feel like I don't have a
lot to say. And I don't know if it's just
cause, like, I'm depressed right now or,
like, do I just honestly not have a lot
to say about this book? But that's not
what this week is supposed to be. I'm
supposed to have a lot to say about this
book. It's the next day. I finished
Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender
yesterday, and, like, honestly, I'm just
feeling meh. Like, I just feel like, ehh,
it's okay. It's whatever. I don't have,
like, any really strong feelings one way
or another with this. So I am struggling
trying to find things to say. To recap,
the story is following a 12 year old,
Caroline, who is a very complex island
girl who has a lot on her plate. Years
ago, her mother randomly abandoned her
and her father without any explanation.
And with her father working all the time,
whenever he IS around,
he is very avoidant of any questions
that Caroline has. And, like, the weight of
all of Caroline's frustrations and
loneliness just really starts to get to
her, and she starts to have some really
negative thoughts and feelings and
emotions. She gets very angry, and she's
just, she's just very lonely. That is
until she meets Kalinda. Kalinda is a new
student from Barbados who is attending
Caroline's very tiny St. Thomas Catholic
school. The school at which Caroline is
constantly being bullied by her peers
and even some by the teachers. So
Caroline is kind of very immediately
drawn to Kalinda, who is very confident
and very poised, and the two girls become
very fast friends. There are a handful of
things that I liked about this book; and
then, there are handful of things that I
didn't really like or didn't care for.
I loved that this was a very easy,
fast-paced read. I read it in one day and
only, like, a couple of hours. I loved the
setting and the very, like, rich Caribbean
culture and feel to the story. I liked
how it did kind of lightly touch on, like,
as beautiful and nice as this place is,
it isn't perfect. I did think that
Caroline's character was interesting and
seeing her emotional journey,
specifically, like, her relationship with
her parents, developed throughout the
story, was interesting. On the flip side, I
did think that the narration of this
story was a bit older than its character,
who was narrating the story, especially
when the love interest got involved. For
me, personally, again, maybe that's just a
personal thing, but I thought it was a
little odd hearing a 12 year old
girl making all of these declarations of
everlasting love and talking about
destiny choosing her soulmate.
It would say things like,  "An infinite
number of universes and an infinite
amount of time, and we were able to meet
each other. We could have been born
millions of years apart, but we were able
to meet each other and fall in love.
That's a true miracle, isn't it?" and more
like that throughout the story. I did
also find that the story was a little
bit all over the place and a little
difficult to follow at times. I mean,
we've got Caroline's internal conflict,
we have the mystery of what happened to
her mother, we have a queer romantic
plotline, all of the conflict with her
peers and her teachers, AND she started,
like, seeing spirits that were following
her around. All in just 200 pages. And it
wasn't bad by any means, but it just kind
of didn't do the best job at flowing
smoothly and naturally. It felt a little
clunky and kind of like we were jumping
around to all of the conflicts. Also, I
personally did NOT like how the mystery
with Caroline's mother ended. How, like,
what we learned at the end as a story,
it's fine; but just, like, me, personally, I
just, I didn't like it. Overall, the story
was really nice. It was very fast paced.
It's a queer middle grade. It's a quick,
easy read, and it showcases Caribbean
life beautifully. All in all, I thought it
was fine, like, I thought it was just okay.
I'm thinking I'm just gonna give it
3 stars, like, I don't have any strong
feelings one way or the other
about it, to be very honest. In regard to
me comparing it to Queen of the
Conquered, I honestly think I have, like,
the opposite feelings with Hurricane
Child. In Queen of the Conquered, I liked the
story. I like the story idea and where
the story was going, but I just didn't
really like how it was executed. And in
Hurricane Child, I didn't really care
much for the story; but I actually did
like the writing, and I think it set the
scene beautifully and, like, the
characters and the dialogue was very
nicely written. So...where do I go
from here? I want to try at the end of
these videos to kind of make a decision
on whether or not this author is for me,
but I honestly think I need to read
more Kacen Callender to really find out. I
can get good descriptive writing that I
just didn't really get out of Queen of
the Conquered, but this was Kacen
Callender's debut novel. So maybe the
storytelling aspect wasn't as fine-tuned
as, like, their later books, which I did
like better in Queen of the Conquered. I
don't know, I think I just have to try
again. So, like, what was even the point of
this video? Maybe I'll just do another
Authors Anew: Kacen Callender, Part 2.
Thank you very much for watching this
video! I have a couple other authors
planned over the next couple of months.
Next month's, July, I think is gonna be a
really good one. So please make sure
you are subscribed so you will see that
video when it comes out, as well as all
the other awesome, fun videos that I come
up with! Thank you again, so very much, for
watching this video! If you enjoyed it,
please give it a thumbs up, subscribe if
you have not. I will see you, very soon,
in the next one,
goodbye!
