Fast paced and fabulous! I enjoyed the alternate history worldbuilding and the ways misogyny is founded on the same principles, but to fit the need (in this case, underpopulation) the details come out different.

I don't think I agree that this book is uninterested in gender except where it concerns cis women and their reproductive abilities. It just doesn't spoon-feed the reader characters who always have super-enlightened thoughts about their own positionality. Yeah, Ada is straight, weird kink but I guess that's allowed. The gang member who suggests sleeping with gay men I read as transmasculine for multiple reasons. The crossdressing festival definitely gets at something about how misogynist and transphobic societies have ways of letting off gendered steam while reinforcing the hierarchy (see also, British panto), but no, it's not an essay deconstructing the practice. ( )

It was one of those books that grabbed me from the first sentence: “In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.” Obviously, from the title and the cover, the book is about an outlaw, or more precisely, a group of outlaws. But Ada was an outlaw before she committed any real crime. She was an outlaw based on superstition and the condemnation of women as witches by ignorant people -- fueled by hucksters who claimed the mixing of the races, witchcraft, sin led to women's ailments when something bad befell someone else. The writing was mostly very good, the story compelling, although there were a few missing pieces in places, but all together, a quick and enjoyable read. ( )

A slow burn of a story but I loved the setting and fell in love with the characters. ( )

The new novel by Anna North, called Outlawed, is worth a read. It stirs up the western with a provocative blend of alt-history and feminist consciousness. The result is a thrilling tale that is once familiar yet fresh.

Ada is a midwife’s daughter learning to be a midwife herself. However, after a year of marriage at the age of 17, she is still not pregnant so her mother-in-law sends her home. Then measles sweeps through the village, causing women to miscarry. People look for someone to blame so the sheriff comes knocking, accusing Ada of witchcraft. She flees for her life, first to a convent then to join a gang of outlaws who resemble legendary male outlaws except they’re not necessarily men. Ada struggles to find her place in this group of outlaws until she realizes that her midwifery can be useful to the team. And while Ada and her group of outlaws set out to conquer a town and turn it into a refuge for the barren and the lost, the sheriff is hot on their tail. In the end, Ada must not only confront the sheriff in a classic Western standoff but must learn to not only channel her feelings of inadequacy and shame but her scientific knowledge (which sadly is frowned upon) into a force that can be used for good.

Since we live in a time when a huge percentage of the population seeks to control women's bodies and tons of folks deny medical science, this book is eerily relevant. “Barren” women are, of course, the equivalent of lepers in this alternate history where the Flu killed 9 out of 10 people. The focus on repopulation is immediate rather than religious but religion weighs in with accusations, murdering women, etc. The majority of these folks in the story are MAGA-types who embrace lunatic fringe preachers and their teachings. While this is alternative fiction, it is not escapist. Far from it. This book deals with some heavy subject matter.

I will say that I enjoyed this book and I thought the ending to be satisfying but I was confused about the LGBTQIA representation in this book. It seemed to me to be fully fleshed out and then kind of reductive in the end. Nevertheless, this is a very unique western!

Trigger warnings: depression & barrenness. ( )

DNF'd 25% of the way through. Really creative and original idea, but the execution is a little ham-fisted. I find it hard to see the story past the ideology, and I find it difficult to suspend my disbelief. ( )