You might recall, I read the newest (3) Paulette Jile’s books first and really loved them, excellent books - The News of the World, Simon the Fiddler, Chennville. These stories were all just after the Civil War, Texas. These books are all from the same era with overlapping characters. The books are not listed as a series, but they are definitely a series.
Then I read her oldest book, available in audio, Enemy Women, which is set during the Civil War, Missouri. Not quite as good as Jiles later books, but I still enjoyed it. Enemy Woman was a stand alone book.
Then I had a pause, reading five John Marrs’ books and a couple other assigned books.
As soon as I had a chance, I dove right back into Paulette Jiles to finish Stormy Weather, The Color of Lightning, Lighthouse Island.
Stormy Weather is definitely a stand alone book. It started just a little slow for me, as it introduced characters and settings. Then it rolled into a really great story of a family in Texas, 1920’s and 1930’s.
The first part of the book centers on the wanderlust father and the middle daughter, the rest of the book is focused on the same middle daughter with her two sisters and their mother, back on the family farm.
Loved it. It felt like Jiles was in her true voice/mature writing. It was well written and a great story.
I understood, in a way I never have before, that the same people who survived the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, then rolled right into WWII. The book ends right at the end of the Dust Bowl, just before the war.
The Color of Lightning is back to the time span of the Civil War, but has very little to do with Civil War, other than the war caused people to move west to Indian Country.
This story focuses on life in the untamed west with settlers in close proximity to the Indian tribes. The story is (very) violent in places, especially in the beginning.
This was a great story. A really terrific book. Again, Jiles was up to her full stride as an author. It is extremely well written.
And such a surprise, as I read, I quickly realized this is actually the first of the series. There are four books, not three. There are overlapping characters, locations, plot, interest between all four books. They are most excellent in my opinion.
The Color of Lightning
The News of the World,
Simon the Fiddler,
Chennville
Lighthouse Island is dystopian novel, set in the future. Totally different than the rest of Jiles’ books. Like where did this book come from?
I am not normally attracted to dystopian books. That is middle’s preferred genre, but absolutely not mine.
Luckily this was the last Jiles’ book on my list, by this point I was committed to finishing this author.
I fully intended to listen to this book. Reality - I listened to 50% of this story on Libby.
At the half way point, I read reviews on GoodReads and I realized, it was not going to get better. I stopped. I am considering 50% to be “done”.
If I had picked up this book first, I would never have read any of Jiles other books. And that would have been a shame. I loved those other books.
The only other dystopian novels I could think of, that I have read in this genre, is The Giver series by Lois Lowry. That is a beloved series at our house.
I looked up a list, I had read many more dystopian novels, but not all 30.
https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/dystopian-novels
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/paulette-jiles/
