{"id":8548,"date":"2021-04-08T20:58:11","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T00:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=8548"},"modified":"2021-04-08T20:58:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T00:58:11","slug":"book-review-dispossessed-by-piper-mejia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-dispossessed-by-piper-mejia\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Dispossessed by Piper Mejia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

Dispossessed<\/em> by Piper Mejia<\/p>\n

IFWG Publishing Australia (2021)<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-1-925956-83-2<\/p>\n

Available:\u00a0 Paperback, Kindle edition\u00a0(\u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a> |\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a> )<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dispossessed <\/em>is a character-driven debut YA novel from New Zealand author Piper Mejia.<\/p>\n

With unusual traits and a rapidly changing physical presence, sixteen-year–old foster child Slate is a perpetual loner who is used to rejection. When Malice, a woman claiming to be from social services, picks him up to take him to another home he isn\u2019t surprised. But when she reveals she is taking him to his grandfather in New Zealand, he is introduced to a band of strangers living a nomadic lifestyle, and possibilities for a life he never imagined. There Slate finds a diverse group of people with unique traits and surprising abilities: people who are supposedly his kin.<\/p>\n

Like Slate, no one understands Warnner, an institutionalized boy with a history of abandonment. When Warnner finds the community Slate has recently joined, he is intrigued and drawn to the people running it, because of the uncanny traits they appear to share with him. Unlike Slate\u2019s restless distrust, Warnner\u2019s interest in joining is almost immediate, and conflict brews between the two. The community\u2019s world and way of life is soon pitted against a group of fanatics out to hunt, violate, and destroy them, forcing rivalries into the background as tense and tentative cooperation among the dispossessed becomes required for the community\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n

At times poignant, this tale is driven by rich cast of characters and a strong sense of place.\u00a0 Mejia centers otherness and relies on the surreal in this carefully constructed society, using some M\u0101ori terminology, but with a minimal presence of the indigenous population. Instead, Mejia addresses marginalization as experienced by this community of outsiders, the dispossessed, and builds an intricate world where misfits find community and individual variances do not impose limits so much as they open doors to alternatives. A vividly imagined YA fantasy about kinship, community, and the differences that make people who they are, Dispossessed <\/em>may resonate with readers of varied backgrounds who have felt alienated or misunderstood. Recommended for ages 13-18 who enjoyed the work of Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older\u2019s Shadowshaper<\/em> and The Stars Never Rise<\/em> by Rachel Vincent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contains: violence, torture, violence directed at the dispossessed, a marginalized group.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by E.F. Schraeder<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Key words New Zealand. YA. Urban Fantasy. Fantasy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dispossessed by Piper Mejia IFWG Publishing Australia (2021) ISBN: 978-1-925956-83-2 Available:\u00a0 Paperback, Kindle edition\u00a0(\u00a0Bookshop.org |\u00a0Amazon.com )   Dispossessed is a character-driven debut YA novel from New Zealand author Piper Mejia. With unusual traits and a rapidly changing physical presence, sixteen-year–old foster child Slate is a perpetual loner who is used to rejection. When Malice, a<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2474,2064,4858,474,1421,4859,41],"class_list":["post-8548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-review","tag-new-zealand-writers","tag-piper-meija","tag-teen-fiction","tag-urban-fantasy","tag-ya-fantasy","tag-ya-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8548"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8553,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8548\/revisions\/8553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}