Name: What Lies Above
ISBN: 9781736504505

Caitlin Lambert

In Eider, traitors of a 40-year-long war are sent to a distant, frozen planet to die.

What Lies Above

Libby Kowitz

** spoiler alert **
           This was a book I hoped I would love. I’d heard it had disability representation, and the premise was intriguing. To some extent, I did enjoy the book. 

The writing was absolutely beautiful. Caitlin really has such a way with words. I read the first page several times just because the writing was lyrical and flowed with such beautiful imagery. I was absolutely hooked. 

And the world-building was very well done. Every aspect was thought-out and interesting. I loved the idea that they were living below the surface. The election made for an interesting aspect as well. It did feel very stereotypical dystopian, although I don’t really consider this a bad thing, because it absolutely has all the nostalgia of the dystopian books that made my childhood. 

The plot was fast-paced and held my attention well. I was never once bored or confused. I think I binge-read from the midpoint on. I remember sitting down to read one chapter, and the next time I put the book down, it was over. There weren’t any pacing issues; it never moved too slow or too fast. It was a relatively quick read from start to finish. The book felt like the perfect length. 

But I had a lot of trouble connecting with Eva and Eli, who were the two POV characters. Eva felt too sensitive in regard to her relationship with the world (she reacted to every event that was supposed be ‘normal’ in her world like she’d never experienced it before; in dystopian, characters are usually much more desensitized to their world because things we might find odd are normal for them). Eli was more desensitized, and I honestly think I would have loved him (he was complex and angsty and broken and torn) if he didn’t keep whipping people. That one thing just held me back from connecting with him. 

My favorite character was probably Amara; I liked her spirit and I liked her fierceness. She was loyal and determined and I loved every minute of her page time. She felt complex and badass and strong and she had emotional range and—I could go on and on about how much I loved her character. Additionally, I really enjoyed Liam and Li. Li was a different kind of strength, and I would love to see more of her in the sequel. Although Liam got on my nerves a bit from time to time, I did really like him and Eva together. They are a totally cute ship (I especially loved that Eva rescued him several times). 

Jess was my biggest hurdle in this book. As someone who is disabled, and someone who has studied disability representation in the media, the disability representation in this book just didn’t sit right with me. There’s an instance in the book where Eli tells Jess that she doesn’t need to be cured, and then a couple paragraphs down uses the word “cripple.” While the word wasn’t describing Jess, the word itself has ableist roots, and given the context of the conversation he’d just had, it felt very tone deaf. Eli also came across as very able-bodied savior in this conversation. 

Additionally, at the climax, Jess, the disabled character, sacrifices herself to help the able-bodied protagonists escape. And while she doesn’t die, she does end up in prison—while the able-bodied characters are free. If she had sacrificed herself for a disabled character, it would be different. If she wasn’t the only disabled character, it would be different. But because of this, and because the epilogue hinted toward her being manipulated into becoming the villain in the next book, her story line just did not sit right with me. She fell into too-often used tropes involving the only minority character.

The character was multi-faceted and had a personality outside of being disabled. She was a well-rounded, well-written character. I see a lot of reviewers remarking about this, however, I would like to point out that a disabled character having a personality isn’t all there is to good rep. Good disability representation is more than just a multi-faceted character; the tropes used play as much a role in the representation as the character. My issue with the rep is not the character nor the character arc (the character arc is fantastic) but the fact that the disabled character really only existed to take the fall for the able-bodied characters at the end. 

When I finished this book, I wasn’t entirely sure whether I wanted to even read the next book or not. I’m scared with where Jess’ story line might go next. But I also don’t want to judge the character based on just one book in a series. 

Ultimately, I decided to give this book 3 stars because it does have redeeming qualities. I just recommend readers be critical of the disability representation in the book, and supplement their reading with #OwnVoices works as well.

***I did receive an ARC from the author, but all views and opinions reflected in the review are mine.

What Lies Above

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