Gunslinger Girl

October 15, 2017
Debut author Ely brings to life a gritty future American West, shattered by a Second Civil War, in which a sharpshooting teen must reconcile the conflicting pulls of security, justice, and conscience. Seventeen-year-old Serendipity "Pity" Jones runs away from an untenable situation in her Commune and finds herself in Cessation, where there is no law except that which exists in Casimir, part brothel, part gambling hall, part stronghold, and all the domain of the ruthless and golden-skinned Miss Selene. Pity's skills secure her a place in the Theatre Vespertine and a home with a new sort of family, but she still must contend with a guilt born out of a personal failure earlier in the story--and with the hard justice of the world she now finds herself in. There is violence here (on the page) and sex (off the page), but both serve a purpose. The first half of the book makes some familiar moves and makes them slowly, but the story gains steam and arrives at a satisfying ending. The lackluster love story also gets interesting in the second half, happily avoiding the usual tropes and even inverting a couple. A little Into the Badlands, a little Firefly, a whole lot to say about how right and wrong so often borrow from each other. (Dystopian Western. 14-18)

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November 1, 2017

Gr 8 Up-Serendipity "Pity" Jones has never been happy living on her agricultural commune in the dystopian Confederacy of North America, but the final straw is when her father sells her off as a "bridal bribe." She and her friend Finn flee the commune, heading for the city of Columbia. They don't make it far before Finn is killed by scroungers and Pity is picked up by a group of travelers from Cessation, the futuristic equivalent of a Wild West town. Known for having "no government, no morals, and no law," it is nonetheless under the strict control of a woman known only as Selene. At Selene's decree, Pity joins Halcyon Singh's Theatre Vespertine as a sharpshooter. Pity dreads this role and jumps at the opportunity to serve Selene in another way: She is asked to feign a romance with presidential candidate Patrick Sheridan in order to conceal the political schemes, which are the real reasons for his visits to Cessation. Meanwhile, Pity has formed an actual romance with Max, the set and costumes designer for the theatre. Ely's novel features an enormous cast of characters and numerous twists involving assassination plots and hidden identities. The world-building is thorough and the backstory is skillfully interwoven into the plot; however, the story is too complex to leave much room for much characterization, with the exception of the sharp-tongued protagonist. VERDICT An additional purchase with appeal for fans of speculative settings, such as those in Neal Shusterman's Unwind or Rachel Caine's "Great Library" trilogy.-Magdalena Teske, West Chicago Public Library District

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 18, 2017
After a second Civil War, 17-year-old Serendipity “Pity” Jones is little more than a punching bag and indentured servant to her father in the new west. A botched attempt to run away leads her to the city of Cessation, where she performs like a dystopian Annie Oakley, using the sharpshooter skills she inherited from her mother to earn herself a place in the show. Pity’s naiveté makes her an easy target in the glitzy community of Casimir, but her transformation from farm girl to willing killer, interspersed with her guilt over her best friend’s death and her romance with new acquaintance Max, is a bit rapid. Debut author Ely keeps Pity’s hands implausibly clean amid the sex, drugs, and debauchery of her environment, and although the lawless world Ely has created is rife with possibilities, the supporting characters, though colorful, are largely flat. For a gunslinger, Pity spends little time acting for her own sake, and her mere survival, let alone victory, under such circumstances comes across as similarly unlikely. Ages 15–up. Agent: Laura Zats, Red Sofa Literary.

November 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 After a second civil war ravaged the country, the U.S. fractured and the Confederacy of North America seized control, while the remaining Patriot insurgents splintered. With birth rates plummeting in the aftermath of chemical warfare, fertile women are traded like livestock. It is into this world that Serendipity ( Pity ) is born, living under her father's tyrannical thumb after her sharpshooter mother drank herself into an early death. When her father barters her freedom away, Pity, an expert shot herself, grabs her mother's six-shooters and runs for her life, ultimately finding herself at Cessation, a lawless, dangerous city. There she and her pistols impress the woman who runs the city, and she's given a decadent, deadly theater act. But there's more going on in this city than meets the eye, and Pity may find herself in over her head. Ely's debut is a futuristic western packed with nonstop action. The setting is undeniably interesting, and brassy-but-indecisive Pity is easy to root for. Hand to fans of commercial thrillers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Serendipity "Pity" Jones's hardscrabble life on a farm is rough, but being sold off into marriage is worse, so Pity runs away and finds employment as a gun-slinging entertainer in a debauched metropolis. But the line between valued employee and disposable orphan proves to be thin. The postSecond Civil War dystopia is vividly imagined and the characters well developed in this girl-powered Western, Ely's debut novel.

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