Review by Joe Hadithi -- The Engine Woman's Light

[Joe Hadithi]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Engine Woman's Light" by Laurel Anne Hill.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

For years the people of Promise have been rescuing strangers who manage to escape from the train to the condemned asylums but now it is time for a change. Juanita, only sixteen and a mystic, is given a mission by her ancestors. She has to save her people and give them a new purpose. The girl, who was saved from the trains as a child, has to stop the trains once and for all.


We journey with Juanita as she goes through challenge after challenge, growing ever stronger and wiser. Her friends are humans, spirits and a Clockman, and they all come together to help her fight the dirty Mendoza family. She will discover things about herself and about those around her that make her question her destiny. She will go through traumas that will threaten to stop her once and for all. Is she strong enough to do it? Will she walk from the fire untouched?


From the first sentence, I have to say that I really enjoyed The Engine Woman's Light. I liked how well the story is written. Beautiful sentences, an imaginative plot and a flowing storyline all combine to make The Engine Woman's Light a really good book.


The descriptions of the scenery and the characters are done so well that they almost pop up from the page. When we meet Juanita as a sixteen-year-old girl, her strength and naivety are plain to see in the sentences. As she grows older and sheds off her naivety, the writer again captures it all accurately. You come off feeling that you know the characters and their challenges and that you can identify with it all.


However, in creating that beautiful story, inevitably there are some drawbacks. Some parts of The Engine Woman's Light seem too long and the story drags on extremely slowly. Also, the spaces between the sentences tell parts of the story and the reader has to do a lot of inferring. While this last one is not necessarily a bad thing, I feel that some readers might get lost.


I give The Engine Woman's Light a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it is a shame I can’t say it is perfect. It could easily have got the four stars. It is well written, enjoyable and relatable and for those reasons, I couldn’t give it any lower rating.


The Engine Woman's Light is perfect for the mature reader who seeks a bit of adventure. You’ll release your spirit to journey with a mystic girl through the rough Californian landscape and you will enjoy every minute of it.

******
The Engine Woman's Light
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like Joe Hadithi's review? Post a comment saying so!