Trouble the Saints

I had read four of the five books nominated for the World Fantasy Award for 2021 and loved them all. When the award was given, it went to the book I hadn't read. So, I thought the winner must be really good. I guess my hopes were too high because when I finally got around to reading it, I didn't get the hype. Through most of the book, I was bored out of my mind, which really disappointed me considering the setting, characters, and themes. It's a noir novel that takes place shortly before the American entry into World War II. The characters are mostly African American and they have gifts called hands associated with their hands that give them something of an edge in an otherwise hostile, white-dominated society. But I struggled with finding a plot and having empathy for the main characters. It finally came together in the last fifty pages or so, but that didn't make up for what I felt was a nearly incomprehensible and tedious first three hundred pages.

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