Beyond Selidor

Other than Goodreads reviews, I haven't seen much discussion of the issues with this book (other than Reid hinting on her Instagram that's she's being tagged in negative reviews, which I don't think is great behaviour on those reviewers' part).

I really don't understand why she'd take such an incredible character and turn her into a teenage French(?) girl who is never to blame for anything.


I know, right? I think there are two problems at work here. First, Reid basically has one story that she tells over and over again: teenage girl/young woman survives abuse and trauma, and behaves in a way that looks monstrous from the outside (but is justifiable due to what she's experienced). Second, I think a lot of authors are far too wary of paranoid readings of their work which mistake depiction for endorsement, leading to a refusal to include any nuance, and an insistence on being as blunt as possible in distinguishing which are the good, blameless characters, and which are the characters who are irredeemable. This does not lead to writing with any room for complexity.