Jillian G. Keifer

  Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys reads like the best improv story. Early on, Gaiman establishes the rules of Anansi’s powers/archetype through Charlie and his opening interactions with his fiance, Rosie. The idea of songs and names as a way to experience, interact, and manipulate the world form a solid base for the story that the characters build off of each moment. Be it Anansi’s mischief in Charlie’s childhood, Spider’s manipulation, or Charlie’s own quick wit, there are distinct moments of ‘yes, and?’ which makes the storytelling fun and really feel in line with the trickster archetype of Anansi.  I read American Gods before this. It was nice to see the semi-return of Anansi in this book. Terrible, awful things happen, but it’s all portrayed in such a way that the humor of the situation remains. People either are murdered or have their tongues ripped out, but still come back to haunt those that hurt them. Anansi borderline abused young Charlie, but the story of him dressing up as his

 I've done a reading for every week so far, amounting to 39 points. If you double them, then that amounts 78 points. Each of my blog posts relates to how I felt within my experience with each novel and delves into detail about the themes, characters, and form of the prose that interest me as a writer. I made sure each read as a short, personal essay that's clear, concise, and concrete in the points I wanted to address.  If you add onto that for seven classes attended, then that amounts to an 85. I've missed no classes and have attended every discussion. I've never gone to a class without sharing what I've read and my thoughts about them, even responding to other classmates' points of discussion.  According to the syllabus, an 85 falls within a B for a grade. I've done that amount of work, so that should be my grade for the midterm. 

  Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone makes race and class one in the same, examining how power and brutality affect minority communities and their struggle to continue surviving. Zelie, the protagonist, has lived the reality of oppression for most of her life and, after a chance encounter, is given the means to mend the broken diviner/maji community through restoring magic to Orisha. Throughout her journey alongside her brother Tzain and Amari, Zelie witnesses time and time again the not so black and white nature of power and people. Her journey starts as opportunistic, but slowly becomes deadly and confusing as she learns more about magic and the world she lives in. Inan, who is Amari’s brother and prince of Orisha, represents this struggle as he tries to please his father’s wishes but also live true to himself. It is revealed that both he and Amari have magic in them. While he denies this part of himself and fuels his own prejudice against Maji, he only further ends up hurtin

  N. K Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms dissects the traditional epic fantasy tropes of religion and race in a way that I haven’t really seen before.  The continent of Senm is lush with cultures that never once fall into the conventional stereotypes of being inherently evil. In fact, when characters like Scimina or the other Arameri refer to other cultures as ‘barbaric,’ they’re definitely meant to be seen as terrible people instead of crusaders for good. The entire city of Sky and the Arameri rule are crafted to relay real world institutions that enforce the same kind of oppression on marginalized communities as they do to the countries under their rule. While Sky and the rest of the empire are thriving, they’re shown to be doing so off the back of the lower castes’ suffering. Yeine, a perfect outsider to this world of political scandal and intrigue, battles with the realization that the people of Sky do not act in their people’s best interest. She’s even told to neglect her d

Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches plays with mythological figures and magic in a strangely grounded way. This novel has a certain passion towards conventional figures that I think other books like it lose in exchange for an overly grand plot. Whereas other novels within the same genre focus on saving the world or other macro level conflicts, most of the conflict in this book arises from Diana’s struggle to accept herself as a witch and find her place in a community she has ignored for so long. The meat of this novel doesn’t lie in the mystery of Ashmole 782. Instead, Harkness makes room for Diana to grow as a person and mature into her relationship with both Mathew (the resident vampire) and the magical world at large. The mystery of Ashmole 782 is a catalyst for Diana to grow. It doesn’t force her to change. In fact, up to a certain point, she actively avoids it. However, once it exposes her to the magical world, she has to take it within herself to grow into her powers and r