The rigid guidelines she rules by extend beyond gender and to the borders and security of the space. There is a thread of commentary in the world building of Mega City and Déesse’s leadership. Are we ever free if others are not? How do we fight for our freedom without destroying the freedom of others? How do we build a resistance that fights for freedom for all? As Nalah travels through Cemi Territory, she meets fluid and queer folks and begins to question how Déesse has allocated space to some identities and taken it from others she has built a society that silences difference and makes no room for true self. Dealing in Dreams forces its readers to engage in complicated and uncomfortable conversations about gender and the rigid guidelines that Mega City upholds. There’s no room for exploration of gender, and those who do not fit the binary have been erased.įemale empowerment has come at the cost of other identities, and Lilliam Rivera presents the question of what it truly means to be free. Men are seen as greedy liars who are to blame for the downfall of Mega City, and women are seen as the soldiers who rebuilt it. Déesse has built a world where gender is only to be seen in binary, and there is no room for ambiguity or fluidity. Mega City is dominated by women, with men are relegated to the bottom rung of society and taught to fear girls. Lilliam Rivera has explored gender in a way I haven’t seen done before in YA.
Believing that this is her ticket into the Towers, Nalah takes her crew on a harrowing journey, where she learns the truth behind the gendered society she lives in and the world that Déesse has built.
Déesse has become an idol and a savior, so when she tasks Nalah with traveling into Cemi Territory to find a legendary gang, she jumps at the change. As a child, Nalah watched her father & sister abandon her for Cemi Territory, the ruthless land outside of Mega City’s borders, and saw her mother die at the hand of drugs and poverty.
Nalah is so close to getting herself, and her crew of four other girls, off of the streets and into The Towers, where the elite live alongside Déesse, the female ruler of Mega City. LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository PUBLISHER: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
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