'That Inevitable Victorian Thing' by E K Johnston

I hate to be sanctimonious about it, but it turns out that good conversation solved a great many problems.

That Inevitable Victorian Thing, by Canadian novelist E. K. Johnston, tells the story of a world where the British Empire never fell and technology dictates whom the royal heirs may marry based on genetic compatibility. It's a world in a which Queen Victoria I recognized the political advantages of marrying her children to political leaders throughout the empire, not just in Europe, regardless of race and in which the more diverse your genetic makeup, the more desirable you are. Several generations later, the story focuses on the young heir to the thrown, Victoria-Magaret, posing as a commoner for her last summer of freedom before she comes on age and must enter in her adult career as the future Empress. She meets two friends who not only change her future, but may possibly change the world.

To be honest, when I finished reading this book, I didn't know where to put it. I didn't know where it wanted to be filed in my mind or my emotions, I couldn't tell if I liked it or not, and in the world of artists and creativity, I kind of feel like that's a good thing.

Here's what I did like:

It was unexpected, imaginative and surprising. The detail of the world Johnston built is so intricate that it couldn't even be restricted to 327 pages of the novel and had to be continued in the author's notes. The uprisings and alliances that are imagined and the way in which one small deviation in tradition could possibly change the whole scope of the world in which we live is quite genius. Knowing what we now know about the effects of colonialism, it is hard to buy into a world where colonialism isn't the atrocity it was, even with Johnston's admirable efforts to create a world in which race isn't a taboo subject and complex genetics is a commodity, but what is the point of fiction if not to allow you to suspend reality?

Johnston may have created a new genre called realism-fantasy. If anyone knows of any other authors that are already doing this, then please send them my way because I loved it. It was like reading Gossip Girl on one hand, and then like reading so sci-fi novel on the other (can you tell I don't read much sci-fi?). It was so realistic, I often forget the world is set in the near future and the technologies used are not available to us.

She got me with that twist. Yes, there is a twist and it's a good one, which I only "kind of" saw coming.

What I didn't like/am not sure:

I felt this way when I read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which has been nominated for and won a bunch of awards, but I feel like this book and that book hang on the poignancy of the chosen subject matter. If you don't know, The Hate U Give, is about an innocent black boy being shot by a cop and the impact this has on the community. I'm not giving away any spoilers, but this book also draws on a very hot topic in culture and media, one that has sparked some controversy. I think the beauty of art is that it often speaks into the political landscape of the day, either challenging or supporting it. This is why I get mad when people tell actors and musicians not to be political; actors and musicians have always been political. I just feel like both books were a bit too obvious in their approach. There was no nuance to their truth telling or the espousal of their views. There was no room for interpretation.

One of my favourite books is Animal Farm by George Orwell. I first read it when I was eight and thought it was just a very interesting story of talking animals and the animals becoming as cruel as the farmers they overthrew. Now, I know it's about socialism and a commentary and the radical socialist parties of the time. The story has room for interpretations, there is subtext and layering, it's not just George Orwell writing on paper that 'socialism is bad' (his views) which is what I feel both Thomas and Johnston have done. TBF, Orwell wrote for adults and Thomas and Johnston write for young adults but, and this is one issue I have with YA literature even though I love it, I think we're underestimating young adults, but spelling it out for them. Literature should challenge perceptions, not tell people what to think. My prime example of this done well, Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman.

So out of 5, I give this a 3.5, mainly for the sheer creativeness of the world and story. Then again, there are parts I think I could have written and parts I know I couldn't have, so maybe raise it to a 3.75? Whatever the rating, it's definitely a worthwhile read.