Title: (S)Kin
Author: Ibi Zoboi
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 400
Publisher: Harper Collins
Review Copy: ARC by publisher
Availability: Available Now
Summary:
“Our new home with its
thick walls and locked doors
wants me to stay trapped in my skin—
but I am fury and flame.”
Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked doors.… While Marisol hoped they would leave their old traditions behind when they emigrated from the islands, she knows this will never happen while she remains ensnared by the one person who keeps her chained to her magical past—her mother.
Seventeen-year-old Genevieve is the daughter of a college professor and a newly minted older half sister of twins. Her worsening skin condition and the babies’ constant wailing keep her up at night, when she stares at the dark sky with a deep longing to inhale it all. She hopes to quench the hunger that gnaws at her, one that seems to reach for some memory of her estranged mother. When a new nanny arrives to help with the twins, a family secret connecting her to Marisol is revealed, and Gen begins to find answers to questions she hasn’t even thought to ask.
But the girls soon discover that the very skin keeping their flames locked beneath the surface may be more explosive to the relationships around them than any ancient magic.
Review: It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Ibi Zoboi and have absolutely loved all of her books. And when given the opportunity to read her newest fantasy novel I jumped at it. The premise intrigued me because I had somewhat heard of the mythological figure called the soucouyant, but didn’t know much about it. I knew Zoboi’s novel would be a great introduction mixed with a compelling story in only the way Zoboi could do it. I have to say that this novel really surprised me as it was so different from what Zoboi is done. The novel is told in verse and that just heightens the magical realism of the story. The dual narratives also add to the tension and Zoboi does something unique with the dual perspectives that I can’t actually hint at because of spoilers, but I’ll say this…as the Marisol and Genevieve become closer the novel becomes more intense and I read that last 100 pages or so in one shot.
Marisol and Genevieve are practically polar opposites as one has had a life full of struggle but love and the other has had a life full of privilege but aches for love, especially from her estranged mother. The two are even described as opposites as Marisol is dark-skinned and feels like she is not attractive, while Genevieve, despite her skin condition, is perceived as beautiful. This creates tension between the two as each are seeking answers to deep questions from their parents in their own way. Throughout the novel Marisol questions why her mother even brought her to Brooklyn and struggles to adjust to her new life. She felt more free to express herself in Caribbean as there was a community full of soucouyants and in Brooklyn Marisol is just with her mother. She has a lot of resentment towards her mother for taking her from all she’s known into an uncomfortable situation. On the other hand, Genevieve is clearly about to become a soucouyant as her body is always on fire and has eczema-like outbreaks. Her parents are unfortunately not much help as Genevieve is bi-racial and lives with her white father. Her stepmother just had twins, so her parents attention is on them. Genevieve’s father has a clear obsession with mythology, specifically from the Caribbean, so Genevieve realizes that she might have been another “trophy” for her father, and therefore yearns to know more about her mother. These two opposites actually have much in common and learn from each other has they get to know each other. They do not really develop a friendship as one would expect from an enemies to friends novel, as I thought would happen, but they do develop an understanding of each other. So much so that the ending is…well, I’ll have to let you read that for yourself.
And that ending…well, it’s a very different type of ending and really threw me for a loop. It left me unsettled and asking the question “what’s next?”. I don’t know if Zoboi has a sequel planned, probably not as she tends to write fully contained stories, but I feel like (S)Kin is unfinished. I had questions that I wanted to be answered that were not within the narrative and the ending was, to me, a bit disturbing, at least all the implications the ending suggests. Despite the issues I had with the ending, the novel was overall a good novel. I was into the stories of the two girls, liking Marisol more than Genevieve if I’m honest, but the novel brought some excellent twists and turns and like I said, had me decide to forgo sleep to get to the exciting ending.