Descend- First Steps

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Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own. As Annis learns in this novel, if you call on spirit they will come. Annis is very much in tune with spirit and that sustains her in this harrowing tale of the grind of enslavement and the toll it takes on the mind body and soul of those who experienced that particular horror. The story is generally handled gently and the brutalities are kept to a minimum.

Annis is strong, though, and draws strength from her mother and stories of her grandmother. They are warriors, whose hands are weapons. And they support and love each other, finding ways to help and show gentleness even in the the worst situations. Annis never gives up, determined to find her freedom.

Because beyond the interest of reading early works of your favourite author, reading what he wrote and seeing his writing slowly evolving, they are not masterpieces and you cannot dedicate more than five lines for their sake. It's like Schwarzenegger movies. You are having a good time and that's it. And I also didn't want to confuse you every second day with a new book by Crichton. Her voice, memories, grief, loneliness, struggle, hope, connection to the spirits and teachings from Mama and Grandmother, the heartbreaking despair, her yearning, fight, personality, strength, so deeply—deeply touches our hearts. it reads like a brisk 007 story, and the main character of macgregor is a highly likeable raymond chandler type hero. he is what makes the book fun to hang out with. But Annis finds a new love in Safi, another slave girl. The answer to the master's wrath upon the discovery is to sell Annis and Safi which is where the real story begins. Annis is marched away by the same Georgia Man who took her mother. The march is long and deadly and at the end is another plantation and more misery.

the beautiful jamaican locale is a real part of the atmosphere here, along with whip smart local characters who leave a charismatic impression on you.And that's how Michael Crichton began his writing career. One of my favourite and most read authors. The creator of Jurassic Park, Westworld and ER, among many others. Ward’s novel is a mythic tale about Annis’ hunger to resist and rise, to put into practice her warrior legacy. To thrive, and emerge from this inferno intact and victorious. Annis’ sense of hope springs from her imagination and belief in her own strength, to be regarded, and to regard. “She taught me that the ancestors come if you call them.” Annis learns that her grandmother was a woman warrior married to a rich king who had many warrior wives. Every month, Annis’ mother took her to the woods and taught her to fight, to defend herself, to rise up. Mama educated Annis on the poignant saga of her family, to give her something that no slaveholder can take away—the story of her origin. The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are vulnerable, scarred, and strong. And the plot is an exceptionally enthralling tale about life, loss, strength, bravery, hope, survival, violence, injustice, racism, slavery, and death, all interwoven with a thread of the supernatural.

Let us Descend is the story of an enslaved girl, Annis, and her mother, and her mother before that. It is the story of generations, of myths, of spirits, and of transcendence. Like Ward says, this is a hard journey. But it is also about claiming your humanity and a sense of hope despite people trying their absolute hardest to strip someone entirely of both. As a young girl, Annis hears the white children being read Dante's Inferno. Annis compares her journey through a different type of hell with what she heard in that book alongside other illusions to bees and to water. All of this blends together to make a story that will truly take your breath away. Every sentence is a gift. James McGregor is a professional diver hired to recover some important items aboard a sunken yacht off the coast of Kingston by the wealthy and secretive Arthur Wayne. The job looks to be an easy pay off until McGregor discovers the yacht he’s to investigate hasn’t sunk yet. Because I don't want to tire you out anymore and give you acute Crichtoniasis, I'll talk briefly about this one. The writing is raw and visceral, with not a word wasted. The sentences are short, but the imagery and language made me feel like I was there. Bees provide guides and respite, and references to Dante's Inferno draws us all deeper down. PLOT - 2: Standard diamond heist, jewels hidden in imported statue and brought to Jamaica via a private yacht. If it weren't for a twist, I'd go with one star: this plot has been done and done.

Annis has hidden strengths and the eye of Aza, the goddess is always upon her. Annis resolves to make her own way in life and not to be beholden to any one.

Join Book Club: Delivered to your inbox every Friday, a selection of publishing news, literary observations, poetry recommendations and more from Book World writer Ron Charles. Sign up for the newsletter. Midway through this book, I thought I would give it four stars. The first act is top-notch. A professional diver named McGregor is hired to investigate a recently sunken ship, the Grave Descend, but the more McGregor learns, the clearer it becomes that he is being manipulated in some kind of convoluted scam. Along the journey, a weather spirit carrying the name of Annis’s grandmother appears to her. At times rejecting the spirit’s guidance and at other times seeking her protection, Annis begins to learn, through a careful piecing together of memory, how to create her own version of freedom. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial.

Despite this dip in the third act and an ending that felt slightly less satisfying than I had hoped, Annis' journey is one worth taking. As Ward herself states on the cover of my advanced copy by way of introduction, "It is difficult to walk south with Annis. Her narrative descends from one hellscape to another, but I promise that if you come with me, you will rise. It will be worth the walk, worth the walking." Pretty soon, though, her mother is sold, Annis is alone, and then she herself is chained to her fellow enslaved people and taken on a long trek to Louisiana. The world is rendered in a careful lyrical style – the march is “this wide, cry-choked hell”; Annis’s light complexion is “the middle mud of my skin” – but this is where the trouble for the reader begins. There is a genuinely exciting escalation of action and struggle toward the end