THE SISTERS OF RECKONING

The Good Luck Girls spread a little bad luck.

When we last saw Aster, she and her sister, alongside two more former Luckers (girls forced into sex work at welcome houses, or brothels), had finally escaped the Scab and made it to the border of Ferron, a country ready to receive them as refugees from Arketta. A year later, Aster is helping the Lady Ghosts, an underground network that supports escapees, working right under the noses of the wealthy landowners, capitalists, and government officials who live in the border city of Northrock. There, Aster comes across Violet Fleur, the girl she thought was killed during their escape. Violet now seems to be in league with the McClennon family, whose patriarch led the hunt for the runaways. Charged with opening the first welcome house in Northrock, Violet may actually be on the side of the Lady Ghosts, and Aster may have a shot at taking down Arketta’s elite. While The Good Luck Girls (2019) focused on the subjugation of women in Arkettan society and the dangers associated with resistance, this sequel does that and more, exploring and exposing the workings of a nation created by exiled convicts who exerted force over Indigenous peoples and created a system of de facto slavery through colorism, sharecropping, and unfair debt systems. The worldbuilding—slang, settings, gory dangers, and all—is rich and complex in this novel featuring a racially diverse cast.

A smart, thrilling duology closer.