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Apr 23, 2019
I was very disappointed in this book. Mixing fantasy (a literal, steel-rails-and-all railroad underground) with serious history (and what is more serious than slavery?) is very challenging and, for me, it did not work in this book. It felt like a dark, poorly thought out version of the Polar Express. This aspect of the story (and the Underground Railroad was described too concretely too many times and in too much detail to be mere metaphor) was unbelievable and so got in my way, jarringly, every time it came up- which was quite often. The author spares little detail of the heinous legacy and conditions of slavery but gives unconvincing relations (ie respect and care and conversation) between the notoriously sadistic slave catcher and the female protagonist. The development of the characters was unsatisfyingly and unprofessionally thin outside of that which was purely plot driven. I give this book two stars.