Kings of Broken Things

Kings of Broken Things is an expansive story which constructs 1910's Omaha with great care. It explodes with moments of action and probes readers with questions of justice. There's so much going on in this story, and that is probably its greatest flaw. There are a few too many characters and plotlines with no apparent purpose.

I enjoyed how Wheeler took the events of Will Brown's lynching in 1919 and crafted a story about the city. I appreciate stories where a place becomes a character. Wheeler definitely pulls that off with this story. This is a story about Jake and Karel and Evie... it's a story about a lynching and injustice and corruption... but more than anything else, it's a story about the environment that brewed such a terrible storm.