''Trouble the Saints'' is a 2020

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthur ...

novel by

Alaya Dawn Johnson Alaya Dawn Johnson (born 1982) () is an American writer of speculative fiction. Career Apart from short fiction, Johnson has published two urban fantasy novels about "vampire suffragette" Zephyr Hollis set in an alternate 1920s New York City, a ...

. It was first published by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

Synopsis

In an alternate New York City in the early 1940s, Phyllis LeBlanc works for Victor the

crime boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

passing for white Racial passing occurs when a person classified as a member of a racial group is accepted or perceived ("passes") as a member of another. Historically, the term has been used primarily in the United States to describe a black or brown person o ...

as she uses her "saints' hands" — a supernatural skill with throwing knives — to kill people who Victor has told her are evil. When her boyfriend Dev Patil — who can magically foresee threats — tells her of upcoming dangers, they flee the city together, and their lives become much more complicated.

Reception

''Trouble the Saints'' won the 2021

World Fantasy Award—Novel The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as ''The Guardian'' as a "presti ...

.World Fantasy Awards 2021
at WorldFantasy.org; retrieved March 19, 2023 ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' praised it as a "nuanced portrait of racism in all of its poisonous flavors" which explores "the incredibly fraught, liminal space of being a light-skinned person of color", extolling Johnson's "musical prose" and "passionate and painful depictions of the love expressed in romance and friendship ".TROUBLE THE SAINTS
reviewed at ''

''; published April 13, 2020; retrieved March 19, 2023 ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' found it to "challenging nddiverse", and a "literary firecracker" with "dynamic characters" and "style to spare", but faulted the plot as "overstuffed".Trouble the Saints
reviewed at ''

''; published January 27, 2020; retrieved March 19, 2023 ''

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

'' commended Johnson for transcending "the classic noir tale of an assassin desperate to be done with the life", but critiqued her portrayal of characters who were neither black nor white, asking "how much that part of their identity ( ictor's second-in-commandWalter is Native American and Dev is Indian) was being treated more as window dressing than being Black or white was, for Black and white characters."Think Fantasy Is Kid Stuff? Try 'Trouble The Saints'
by Danny Lore, at ''

''; published July 23, 2020; retrieved March 19, 2023

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

observed Johnson's choice to forego a "three-act narrative arc" despite having three viewpoint characters (including Tamara, who Phyllis and Dev meet later), noting that "what readers will anticipate is the crux of the story — Phyllis' relationship not only with her mob boss but with Dev" is in fact resolved at the end of the first part, with the rest of the novel being "all consequence and fallout, echoing with the reverberations of trauma".Finding Love and Finding Trouble in ''Trouble the Saints'' by Alaya Dawn Johnson
by Em Nordling; at

; published July 21, 2020; retrieved March 19, 2023 '' FIYAH'' considered it a "wonderfully rich blend of a vividly dangerous world, laced with magic in a vibrant presentation of historical reality", with "lyrical writing" and "characters hofeel real and almost lovable", and recommended it to those who seek "heavily character-driven narrative laced with mysticism", but also described it as "imbalanced", with the viewpoints of Phyllis, Dev, and Tamara "not having the same effect throughout".Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson
reviewed by Kerine Wint; at ''

FIYAH Literary Magazine ''FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction'' is an American-based quarterly electronic magazine of Black speculative fiction. Also referred to as ''FIYAH'', the magazine was announced in September 2016, inspired by the 1920s experimental period ...

''; published July 21, 2020; retrieved March 19, 2023

References

External links

The Trouble With "Non-White": Passing, Power, and Complicity in Alaya Dawn Johnson's ''Trouble the Saints''
at

{{World Fantasy Award Best Novel Fantasy novels World Fantasy Award for Best Novel-winning works