After absolutely loving Sawkill Girls, you know I had to read Legrand’s latest. Extasia is everything I was expecting and yet infinitely more. If you love the idea of questioning the narrative, fighting for love, and a little fire, then you have to read this one! Keep reading this book review to find out my full thoughts.
Summary
Her name is unimportant.
All you must know is that today she will become one of the four saints of Haven. The elders will mark her and place the red hood on her head. With her sisters, she will stand against the evil power that lives beneath the black mountain–an evil which has already killed nine of her village’s men.
She will tell no one of the white-eyed beasts that follow her. Or the faceless gray women tall as houses. Or the girls she saw kissing in the elm grove.
Today she will be a saint of Haven. She will rid her family of her mother’s shame at last and save her people from destruction. She is not afraid. Are you?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Extasia immediately excited me, while also simultaneously terrified me. There’s something eerie from the very beginning. In this world deeply immersed in patriarchy and sexism, our heroine is trapped in a world where everything is either a test or deliverance. Extasia explores when we are firmly rooted in a belief, in a community, and one where questions and exploration is punished. A world in our future which has sprung into place, insidious and alluring.
The world building inspires fear, obedience, and rage all at once. Like so much of the echoes of our current world, it uses censure and stories to inspire fear and to silence women. Haven a word that is supposed to invoke shelter, becomes a story about unraveling the logs that form our fences. As our heroine must unravel the stories and lies around her, the action of Extasia sweeps you away in a frenzy. But what I loved most were the characters.
It’s not only my love for the heroine that kept me reading, but Legrand has a mastery with characters. The ones we love and the ones that get under our skin. How guilt is not merely in the ones who wield the gavel, but also in the silences. The looks that are cast in our direction in complacency. All the shades of guilt, the excuses to retain the status quo. Extasia is a book that would not let go of me.
(Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. For more information you can look at the Policy page. If you’re uncomfortable with that, know you can look up the book on any of the sites below to avoid the link)
It’s a book which explores silence reflected in mirrors, dripping in forest clearings that smother pleas through gags, and the moment after the truth of what we may have always known descends. I could not stop reading. Because while Extasia is very much a book about rage, injustice, and (re)definition it’s also about love and sisterhood. Extasia is a must read if you loved Sawkill Girls. If you love fiery feminist stories about solidarity, questioning, and community.
Find Extasia on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.