Review of Guardian by A.J. Hartley

As is tradition, let us begin by admiring the incredible angled-title cover art on this book! Then, as is tradition, let me remark upon how I’ve somehow let an egregious span of time elapse (six years?? Really, Kara??) before finally finishing this trilogy. Guardian is a more-than-sufficient conclusion to the series A.J. Hartley started in Steeplejack. This is a beautiful young-adult fantasy series that offers a primer on resisting fascism and bigotry along with a fun and intense mystery.

Anglet Sutong, or Ang to her friends, is now in the employ of Josiah Willinghouse. But when Josiah is arrested for the murder of the Prime Minister of Bar-Selehm, Ang is on a race against time to clear his name. If not, Josiah will be executed. Even more devastating, the new prime minister will have no opposition to his sweeping reforms that enshrine apartheid, white supremacy, and other racist and sexist discrimination in law.

Reading this book literally as the United States reelects a fascist president is, uh, a trip. The themes of Guardian have never felt more necessary or urgent. This book has so much to offer the reader in terms of a holistic understanding of how fascism rises in a so-called democratic nation and what to do about it.

Let’s start with how Hartley uses Dahlia’s character to interrogate white privilege and class privilege. Now, it’s true that the Willinghouses are technically mixed race, and this comes up later in the book. Nevertheless, Dahlia is essentially white passing, especially next to Ang. Her insular upbringing and her family’s wealth mean that, for all her good intentions, she doesn’t quite understand the struggles Ang and fellow Lani or Black citizens have gone through. Heck, Ang has similar issues sometimes with her fellow Lani since her new situation developed, or understanding the tribespeople around Bar-Selehm or Black activists and journalists like Sureyna. Hartley does a great job portraying the diversity of voices present in resistance movements, reminding us that resistance is not monolithic, and disagreement and conflict will happen.

As the mystery around the prime minister’s murder deepens, Ang must confront her assumptions about people she thought she knew. She also has to reconcile herself with losing people along the way: not everyone in a resistance movement survives.

But perhaps the most prescient and difficult aspect of this novel is the way a newly empowered fascist leader solidifies their grasp so quickly. Suspension of free elections. Redistricting. Restricting employment and free movement. The willing compliance of people in positions of power, like in law enforcement. Bar-Selehm has always had echoes of South Africa in it, but Hartley is clearly channelling a lot of twentieth-century countries that slid from democracy to dictatorship or despotism. The foreign interference angle is just another part that makes this book feel oddly appropriate for our times.

I also really enjoyed the ending, and in particular where Hartley leaves things for Ang and Dahlia. My little heart just went “aww.” My only complaint is I wish this had been developed more in the second book, so that we could see more payoff here! Maybe we’ll get to come back to Bar-Selehm one day, check in on the next generation, and see an older Ang and Dahlia and the life they’ve built….