2.5 Stars ( )

This book is the first book in a dystopian trilogy featuring a young, female, African protagonist. The story is set in a sort of post-apocalyptic future where colonialism and religious fervor rules the land and everyone who resides here is affected by it. Interesting premise of dystopian fiction. Just not sure if I like it or not. The story ends just when that which I want to discover more about starts happening. So, I'm willing to check out the second book in the series, but it isn't the strongest YA dystopian writing out there. ( )

First in The Blood of the Lamb series. Solar flares have consumed the Earth and those that are left are several generations removed from that event. Maryam lives on the small Pacific island of Onewere. As a small child she was selected and taken from her birth family due to her 'special blood'. She is now on the verge of womanhood and must leave everything she knows and cross over to a 'Blessed Life' with the 'Apostles' aboard the rotting cruise ship Star of the Sea which is beached on the reef. But what learns and the sacrifices she is expected to give freely are a shock. The elite control the population - they have manipulated the old texts and now believe their own dogma, that they are living 'gods' and the native population survive to serve them and even sacrifice their lives for them. An excellent read from Mandy Hager, I can't wait to read the next in the series. ( )

Originally Reviewed At: Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 5 out of 5 Controllers, Crown Rating
Review Source: ARC from Publisher
Reviewer: AimeeKay

“A story must unfold from the beginning of its journey, in order that its destination satisfy the human heart.” – Mother Deborah

Oh and what a journey did this story take me on. Seriously amazing! I started reading it with grim thoughts of what type of dystopian world it would take me to. I’ve read some great and not so great ones recently. Also even on worlds that were amazing, sometimes the characters or their stories just weren’t up to par. Thankfully that was not the case with The Crossing.

First let’s start with the world Hager has created, or at least what is left of the world. Onewere and the Holy City are interconnected. The people of the island depending on the Apostles to save their souls, the Apostles depending on the people of the island….well depending on them for everything else. I’ll stop there in description because I don’t want to spoil any of the story. But I will say that the world she has created has so much potential, I mean really just tons.

Then there are the characters. I wasn’t sure if I would like Maryam at first. The more I read however the more I got to like her. It also helped immensely that the other characters drew me in as well, even Mother Elizabeth and Ruth. I really didn’t like either of them too much by the middle of the story, but by the end I wanted to see them both triumph. One other stand out character was amazingly well written Lazarus. Even when I hated him for his actions, the author somehow found a way to keep letting me see him in a different light.

This book is an awesomely promising start to what looks to be an awesome series.

I really enjoyed this one. 5 out of 5 controllers easy, the special ones too with the little crowns. I mean this one is great. It obviously ends with a cliffie, but not a horribly stiff drop. It was more than expected considering the events in the rest of the book and in its own way it was satisfying. The one thing I am sad to say is that it’s set to be published in 2013, so that means it will be who knows how long until book two is set to release. *sigh* so don’t want to have to wait, crossing my fingers that it will be released in 2013 as well.
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It’s very rare to see colonialism in YA/Children’s fiction through the eyes of the ‘lesser’ culture. Aside from the ‘slavery is bad and you should feel bad’ books I read as a kid (mostly through American Girl), the global ramifications of colonialism aren’t as widely known in America. Oh, sure, the British were the ones who encouraged the slave culture, but our misguided ancestors just didn’t realize it until we went to WAR! It never happened anywhere else, and there’s no way that it could happen ever again! Oppression bad!

Well, it does happen, and a lot. And there’s a lot of people who justify their actions by saying, “Well, if they could only get their act together and just do what we tell them to.”

I bring all of this up because this is what The Crossing is. I don’t like to think of myself of as a general pessimist, but reading the set-up for the world that Mandy Hagar presents made me think “…that could happen.” There’s very few recent YA dystopias that use race or biology as means of oppression that I can think. (Diana Peterfreund’s For the Darkness Shows the Stars, for example.) And Hagar’s descriptions of the atoll and the people who live there do bring to mind historical accounts of missionaries converting the poor, hapless heathens. And I really liked that even though Maryam and Ruth and their fellow sisters wanted to serve the Apostles, they were also strongly tied to their home. I also really liked that Maryam is on a search for her true identity, after having her real name washed away after her baptism.

The scenes aboard the Star of the Sea are completely horrifying and disturbing. Maryam’s initiation ceremony is humiliating (and quite possibly triggering) as she’s drugged and stripped naked. (It’s certainly not helpful with the historical context in mind.) The implications of what Maryam’s duties where were also quietly horrifying (again, history rears its really ugly head)—even if she’s not meant to be a ‘breeder,’ she still has no right aboard the ship.

But I liked Maryam. Even in the beginning, you can see this quiet strength that she has within herself, and how she relies on that to get her through her ordeal on the ship. It’s very obvious from the book blurb that the people running her society aren’t exactly as godly as they say they are. But even knowing the possibilities of what was going to happen to Maryam as time went on, I liked that she was willing to fight. I also like that she realizes that even though the Apostles aren’t the bearers of God’s word, she still has faith and she’s willing to believe in something greater.

Unfortunately, the book is way too short and very quickly paced, complete with cliffhanger. It feels like a victim of marketing purposes (and yes, this is marketed as a trilogy). The climax and ended were very rushed, and I didn’t feel as much build up. I also didn’t like the fact that aside from one family, we only get two very villainous stereotypes in Lazarus and Father Joshua. Again, my historical context, I get that; but we don’t even get even the casual racism of “Oh, you’ll be okay, your people are supposed to be like that.” (You can be racist without spouting off slurs or beating people.) The scenes at the village of Onewere weren’t heavily explored and I didn’t think that I got the full weight of Maryam being cast aside from her real family whenever she tries to tell them the truth.

I did like The Crossing, though, for what it was. The fact that this was willing to discuss the racism and explore the possibility of a resurgence of white dominance in smaller countries does make the book markedly different from, oh, 95% of YA dystopias wherein the main character is of the white dominant class and realizes “Oh no! Evil conspiracy! Let me go slip into a pretty dress and defeat them.” Look, I know it seems like I’m championing this only because hey, Maryam’s native and the cover acknowledges it—look at that cover, I really like it—but let’s be honest, POC heroines aren’t exactly prevalent in dystopic YA atm. But, (to get back to the book proper) the length and quick pacing are extremely noticeable, and I really did not like the cliffhanger ending. Still, it’s worth checking out, especially if you are looking for something different from the norm.
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