Deathless Divide Book Review

DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVE NOT READ DREAD NATION! THERE MAY BE SPOILERS FOR DREAD NATION.

What is it about?

After escaping Summerland, Jane, Kathrine, Jackson, Lilly, Thomas and the soiled doves set off towards Nicodemous. Jackson, however, has reservations about going there but does not tell them why. Along the way, loss and stress takes its toll on the group, Jane especially. Kathrine does what she can to help Jane deal with her emotions. When they get to Nicodemous, they quickly realize that maybe Jackson was right to be wary about this settlement…and a certain someone that they met in Summerland.

My Thoughts

• This book is as addicting as Dread Nation. I couldn’t sleep until 5 or 6am until I’ve finished the book, which I did.
• Justina Ireland -author- suggested more educational books about African Americans in the west, since the media has whitewashed the wild west in many books, movies and T.V. shows. She is the first author that has listed books educational books to help us better understand our country’s history. This makes me want to read more books by her.
• Jane and Kathrine’s friendship has developed even more in this book and I love they way it turned out. I loved the way that Justina Ireland shows the different ways that people deal with stress, anxiety and grief through Jane and Kathrine. Kathrine – although very anxious at times- talks about her feelings while Jane bottles up her feelings. As they’ve spent a lot of time together, Kathrine knows when Jane is bottling her feelings up and has found ways to have Jane release whatever she has bottled up. We also find out why Kathrine wears corsets all the time.
• I really felt for Jane, especially her relationship with Jackson. Jackson may have been a good brother and may have cared for Jane, but I don’t think he was a very good friend. I don’t think he realizes how much Jane – and Kathrine – has done and risked for him and his sister Lilly.
• There is good representation on how fluid sexuality can be. It also shows different types of love i.e. familial love, love for friends and romantic love. I think that a lot of books don’t pull this off very well, but I think Justine Ireland does especially in Deathless Divide.
• There is no clear villain until the second half of the book. This did not hinder the flow of the story though. It also shows us that there isn’t always going to be a clear villain in real life. Sometimes things that may seem harmless now can hurt us in the future.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in zombies and the eighteen hundreds. What are you doing? Go read it right now!

My Dread Nation Book Review: https://writersblockmrc.com/2020/08/24/dread-nation-book-review/