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Hanna Who Fell From The Sky

Hanna Who Fell From The Sky by Christopher Wreade



*I received a free ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Synopsis (from Goodreads)
Hanna has never been outside her secluded community of Clearhaven. She has never questioned why her father has four wives or why she has fourteen brothers and sisters. And in only one week, on her eighteenth birthday, Hanna will follow tradition and become the fifth wife of a man more than twice her age.
But just days before the wedding, Hanna meets Daniel, an enigmatic stranger who challenges her to question her fate and to follow her own will. Then her mother tells her a secret--one that could grant Hanna the freedom she's known only in her dreams. As her world unravels around her, Hanna must decide whether she was really meant for something greater than the claustrophobic world of Clearhaven. But can she abandon her beloved younger sister and the only home she's ever known? Or is there another option--one too fantastical to believe?


Review
The premise of this book is what intrigued me, as it’s not a topic often tackled in YA. A girl fighting against everything she’s been taught in a polygamous society.

I wasn’t sure how this book would go, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a fast read, and I was quickly pulled into the story. I was kept guessing until the end about what would happen (Will Hanna stay or go?)

What I liked most was Hanna. The story is about her and she really carries it well. I liked how fierce she is, and how she struggles to keep up her courage. She learns things that shake the entire framework of how she sees the world, and we see her work through her dissonance. She goes back and forth between staying and running, and I found it very realistic. The way Meades describes her anxiety and worries was vivid.

I also found the polygamous society fascinating (though a little cliché), as well as the look into life in Hanna’s family, with sister-mothers and all the children.

The insta-love in this book didn’t bug me as much as in other books. Hanna is incredibly sheltered, and her society purposefully sends away young men, so of course she would be drawn to the first one that is nice to her. I thought her relationship with Daniel was sweet

The magical realism in the book kind of came out of nowhere. It felt totally unnecessary for the book and the story would have been fine without it. However, I wouldn’t have minded the magical realism, except there’s a lot of things left unanswered about it all, and the story felt incomplete due to that.


Rating
I give this book 3.5 stars.


Details
Genre: Fiction.
Language: Some, not frequent.
Sex: Sex and rape are talked about, but never described graphically.
Violence: Some domestic violence.
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