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destdest 's review for:

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
2.5
dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

 "They’ll feel us in every corner of this country."

Not what I was expecting. I thought it would solely be from Ella’s perspective. Instead, we get some spotlight on police brutality, white terrorism, inhumane conditions for the incarcerated, class issues, how Black women often get mistreated in healthcare and childbirth, etc. And man is this New York dudes. Talk about excessive use of the N-word. It’s a lot of their first word for sure.  

Anywho, I wish I could have liked this better, but I wanted to know more about Ella and less about Kev. I would’ve loved to see Ella go Killmonger, but alas it wasn’t meant to be. I did like seeing justified anger. 

when Ella spirited away Kev through their mom’s memories and ancestors was pretty cool.</spoilers>