I was lucky enough, thanks to Walker Books, to have the
chance to read ‘The Jewel’ by Amy Ewing. As I said a few weeks back, I am not a
true buff with regards to dystopian fiction, but when I was told this had a
real ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ feel to it, I was intrigued. Atwood struck gold with
that novel, and I was very interested to see a YA take on the idea.
This story of Violet, Lot 197, sold to the highest bidder in order to be used as a surrogate, was really moving in sections but also managed to maintain a constant tenseness. The sense of “oh God, what’s that horrible shadow and is it going to come back for her” was written into the very fabric of Ewing’s style. What was most impressive about this however was that I still didn’t lose the actual moments of joy that Violet did have in the novel. It’s easy in a world of seemingly never ending doom to simply extinguish any of the hope for improvement, hitting rock bottom and then simply knocking the floor in again and again. Whilst this can still be really lovely writing, it gets a little desensitising (I use Game Of Thrones deaths for my marker for this one). Even right up to climax of the novel, I still believed and prayed and, though small, the little white saint of hope stood ever-vigilant in a corner somewhere. I’m not a huge sucker for happy endings, in fact quite the opposite, but it always gives a stronger reading experience when you get a three-dimensional view of tragedy. There are quite a few seriously shocking scenes in this book (sorry to spoil, but there were servitude leashes involved) which helped to amplify this contrast even further, assisted even more by the setting. When horrid things happen in grubby towns, it isn’t really a surprising read, but in a palace of sheer decadence and whilst everyone is wearing a chiffon gown? Now that is a place that gives an already horrifying event a whole new skin of repulsiveness.
This novel was not without its flaws. The romance subplot did feel a little shoe-horned at points, but only because there were quite a few threads they were attempting to tie up. To be fair to novel, it did manage to do this, but there were points where I felt Violet and Ash’s relationship struggled to be a story in its own right, and yet at points it seemed the entire novel’s plot was their love. However, having said this, the romance was not an unlovable twee one, and the “oh I’ve never met someone I might fancy before” vibe at least made sense as Violet had basically never seen any men that weren’t family or her make-up artist for the Auction, Lucian (who was hands down my favourite character, although it did seem a little like copying ‘The Hunger Games’ from the film clips I’ve seen.) Ash felt at least slightly developed, which is more that can be said for most characters of his kind, and, despite being a little too tragic for my liking, I was rooting for him and Violet at the end.
Overall, I really thought this book did justice to a pretty terrifying theme, and its cliff-hanger ending left me dying for more (seriously, I have already begun fan theories in my mind). The book is released in September, and I highly recommend giving it a go. Ewing has found Atwood’s mine and found a whole new precious metal with ‘The Jewel’.
This story of Violet, Lot 197, sold to the highest bidder in order to be used as a surrogate, was really moving in sections but also managed to maintain a constant tenseness. The sense of “oh God, what’s that horrible shadow and is it going to come back for her” was written into the very fabric of Ewing’s style. What was most impressive about this however was that I still didn’t lose the actual moments of joy that Violet did have in the novel. It’s easy in a world of seemingly never ending doom to simply extinguish any of the hope for improvement, hitting rock bottom and then simply knocking the floor in again and again. Whilst this can still be really lovely writing, it gets a little desensitising (I use Game Of Thrones deaths for my marker for this one). Even right up to climax of the novel, I still believed and prayed and, though small, the little white saint of hope stood ever-vigilant in a corner somewhere. I’m not a huge sucker for happy endings, in fact quite the opposite, but it always gives a stronger reading experience when you get a three-dimensional view of tragedy. There are quite a few seriously shocking scenes in this book (sorry to spoil, but there were servitude leashes involved) which helped to amplify this contrast even further, assisted even more by the setting. When horrid things happen in grubby towns, it isn’t really a surprising read, but in a palace of sheer decadence and whilst everyone is wearing a chiffon gown? Now that is a place that gives an already horrifying event a whole new skin of repulsiveness.
This novel was not without its flaws. The romance subplot did feel a little shoe-horned at points, but only because there were quite a few threads they were attempting to tie up. To be fair to novel, it did manage to do this, but there were points where I felt Violet and Ash’s relationship struggled to be a story in its own right, and yet at points it seemed the entire novel’s plot was their love. However, having said this, the romance was not an unlovable twee one, and the “oh I’ve never met someone I might fancy before” vibe at least made sense as Violet had basically never seen any men that weren’t family or her make-up artist for the Auction, Lucian (who was hands down my favourite character, although it did seem a little like copying ‘The Hunger Games’ from the film clips I’ve seen.) Ash felt at least slightly developed, which is more that can be said for most characters of his kind, and, despite being a little too tragic for my liking, I was rooting for him and Violet at the end.
Overall, I really thought this book did justice to a pretty terrifying theme, and its cliff-hanger ending left me dying for more (seriously, I have already begun fan theories in my mind). The book is released in September, and I highly recommend giving it a go. Ewing has found Atwood’s mine and found a whole new precious metal with ‘The Jewel’.
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