Ring Shout

*spoiler alert and i also go on a lengthy rant that is incredibly necessary for my sanity

If you're a non black person who refuses to google what a ring shout is (or just refuses to intently read as these character perform it IN DETAIL), this is not the book for you. It's extremely valid to not enjoy this or to struggle with its plot. Its not at all valid to read an entire novel ingrained in gullah culture, black history, and ring shout rituals, only to come on goodreads and ask us what ‘all the ring business is about'? If you refuse to learn something new, to engage with a history that is uncomfortable, this is also not the book for you. If you can't engage with books with dialect and slang, this is definitely not for you. t is not “southern women speaking redneck”, or someone who “doesn't talk correctly”, it's black vernacular and short inclusions of the Gullah language. It was incredibly disheartening to read that so many people could read this and take absolutely nothing from it. Again, i have no problem with low ratings and genuine criticism. But I cannot sugarcoat that some peoples comments leave an incredibly bad taste in my mouth. I had to stare at a fucking wall to try and understand how someone could read this and pay so little attention that, by the end, they did not know what a ring shout was and how integral it was to the story. and then complain that they were confused. I personally had difficulties with the magic system so that is not what i'm talking about. But if you can read a 500+ page high fantasy novel, this really should be child's play!

No hate on audiobooks (I think they are awesome resources especially for busy bees and those with disabilities in particular!), but the recurring theme here is that people who were confused were LISTENING to the book. I personally slip in and out of audiobooks and this is not the type of book that is accessible in that way. If at all possible, this works best in print or e-book. If not, this is one I'd read sitting in my bed doing nothing honestly. But ultimately, you need to be paying attention. You need to care. If you do not care, don't read the book. I'm being incredibly serious. If you do not care about the themes presented in the blurb, please do not go through the process of reading and then making comments about dialect and tradition that you would never say to a black person's face. And if you don't read the blurb and complain that you ‘seriously wished you'd known what it was about before reading because you would've never picked it up if you did', KINDLY get a FUCKING grip.

ALL THAT BEING SAID,

Ring Shout surrounds Ku Kluxes, klan members turned monsters, that are evolving into something more powerful and hope to ~take over~. What they wish to take over is left intentionally vague, but it's important that they have hate to become more powerful. The badass main characters, who introduce us to the Gullah language and rituals, are saving the day with the help of ancestors and their ‘magical system'. I put quotes around magical system because, despite that being an accurate word for its function in fantasy, it is pretty deep rooted in real tradition, ring shouts, and Gullah culture in general. There's bloodshed, dialogue heavy scenes, death, and dream-like sequences that were incredibly engaging throughout.

I wouldn't necessarily categorize this as horror to be honest. Its gore was not extremely gory or hard to swallow to me. And the fight scenes were incredibly short, in my opinion. But I actually really enjoyed that because I was more invested in the relationships of this group/community. The biggest emotional investment here for me was the main speakers unwillingness to tell us her trauma. And that trauma was not spectacularly surprising and unexpected, but hey! It's the KKK. They are not the most creative and inventive bunch! I do agree with some others that I felt the rules of the magic system should be less haphazard. For example, the Night Doctor element confused me a bit because, with the books explanation of them, they kidnapped and used black people for their own gain. But in the end, they help defeat the cyclops? Was a bit confused if we were supposed to be rooting for them.

I think my ultimate criticism is that I was a bit disappointed that the HUMAN klan members weren't really antagonists here. They got to survive every time. And all the criticism received of them was always to their monster counterparts. So they didn't really take on any responsibility for anything because there was always some scarier, bigger monster to worry about. The human monsters got to stumble away in confusion and awe. Despite the fact that there wasn't quite enough connection between the KKK and Ku Kluxes for me, I think a fascinating aspect of the human members is their obvious lack of intelligence, how they are so easily recruited into the scheme, only to be taken over and used for evils they believed they were immune to. Not only this, but there was some seriously amazing commentary on their hate: “the hate they give is senseless...Their fears aren't real—just insecurities and inadequacies. Deep down they know that. Makes their hate like...watered down whiskey”. There were just some amazing moments that solidified the klan members were merely pawns in a much larger game. They didn't necessarily LOSE (as they still exist, were not defeated) but definitely did not win. That was incredibly refreshing. And I think it's important to say that, as mentioned in someone else's review, the human KKK members are not absolved of their hate because they were taken over by the Ku Kluxes. The Ku Kluxes merely took advantage of the hate that already existed inside them. I think it's quite rich that a white person could read the whole book, think about it enough to write a lengthly review on it, and still come to the conclusion that the author is trying to absolve the KKK of their crimes. Take away the gigantic cyclops/a hundred mouths and the monsters and KKK members are the same. In the end, I thought the concept was so so cool. I thought the execution was just as awesome. If anything, I wanted more history, more personal connections and exploration of self/identity.

P.S. I'm usually not so heated in reviews. Usually I am much more thorough on craft and what I enjoyed. And there was so much to enjoy here. but I thought some comments/reviews were genuinely insensitive. I would list them all in quotes here if I thought I could stomach it.