Read Along: Hopetown

‘Don’t ever let ‘em hear you cry’

Arguably this is the chapter where it all kicks off for Saba and Emmi. Arriving at Hopetown under the watchful eye of the Pinches, Saba is introduced to a life that she likely scarcely knew existed, let alone planned to live. It’s time for Saba to show what she’s made of in the Cage.

‘Commotion all around us’

Upon arrival in Hopetown, and departure of the Desert Swan, Saba sees the infamous Hopetown. It is described as ‘squatting’ under the Black Mountains, which instantly brings to mind a place of dirt and roughness. The only thing able to restore some kind of faith to our leading lady is the ‘fierce hug’ she receives from her sister, and the return of her loyal crow, Nero. But the ‘red hot’ is still flowing through Saba’s veins, and it’s clear that she isn’t about to lie-down and take whatever the Pinches give her.

‘Take us to the Cage Master’

Miz Pinch can tell Saba is exactly the kind of girl she’s been looking for when she watches as Saba fights off a beggar, ‘a little smile on her face’; she recognises in Saba a fighting spirit that’s going to earn her a lot of money. Once again, we see Miz Pinch holds all the power, even over the Cage Master himself, ‘You better hope that my- that...certain people don’t find out’, ‘I got influence’. It leaves the reader questioning just what this woman’s story is, yet again. At the Cage Master’s they are also met by the Tonton, a formidable, ‘merciless’ group of men who are responsible for Lugh’s abduction.

‘Time shrieks to a halt’

Among them is one quite unlike any other: DeMalo. He’s special. Where the other Tonton where ‘leather body armour’ he’s seen in ‘metal’; he’s ‘beautiful’, even for a man; and above all ‘they’re all afeared of him’. Saba’s own connection to him is one that will likely be developed later in the story, ‘his eyes meet mine...I know you, a voice whispers...him an me locked inside a heartbeat’. It would be a good time for Saba to put her heartstone to good use if she was in possession of it. Miz Pinch introduces Saba as ‘very rare. Very fine’, and she proves herself to be just this, although not in the way Miz Pinch quite meant, as she flaunts her devil-may-care attitude by eating the ‘platters’ of the Cage Master’s food. The reader feels a surge of pride for her as she looks evil in the eye and mocks him.

‘Welcome to the Colosseum’

Her defiance isn’t long-standing however as she is made to watch two men, like gladiators, battle it out in a metal cage surrounded by a ‘crowd going crazy...their eyes wild’. The scene is almost unimaginable to any reader; such ferocity and violence is so medieval that we blindly assumed it was never to return. Alas in Young’s chilling vision of the future, the old ways of humans have returned. ‘They’re worse than animals. That’s what too much chaal does to you.’ Indeed the people watching for entertainment appear worse than the actual fight itself. Perhaps one of the most shocking aspects of this part of the book is the concept of the ‘gauntlet’; a run for a fighter who’s lost three fights where they can be torn apart be the wild crowds.

‘The end fer her. The beginning fer me.’

And then it’s Saba’s turn in the Cage. The ‘red hot’ comes blurring to life and the survival instinct within her awakens and peaks. ‘I learn fast...i sure as hell ain’t gonna be me [that faces the gauntlet]’. She has a refusal to lose because she knows what’s coming. Whilst she shows a pity to the girl she’s up against, who has already lost two fights, she also reveals a determination that we’re not unfamiliar with from her. Nevertheless, the fight affects her and we see a role reversal as Emmi tends to Saba instead of the other way around, which we are more used to. We also witness Saba crying, almost broken by the harsh reality of her new life, when all she wanted was to find her brother. An empathy and fear begins to grow inside the reader.

~Ella