Dear Justyce

 Tell me a story... about two boys and the paths they took

Dear Justyce (Dear Martin #2) by Nic Stone

Publication date: September 29, 2020

Date read: November 24, 2021

Incarcerated teen Quan sits in a holding cell, awaiting trial for the murder of a police officer. Through a series of flashbacks and letters to old friend Justyce, Quan’s story beings to come to light. This book is a sequel to Dear Martin, which is Justyce’s story. 

I listened to the audiobook, read by Dion Graham. 

I first want to state that it’s not completely necessary to have read Dear Martin  to understand the story being told here, but there are a large number of overlapping characters and plot points of the first book will be spoiled by reading this first. 

When I read Dear Martin, I thought it was a good story, but I didn’t love it. It felt, to me, a little forced and not as authentic as some of the similar books I had read around the same time. But I was curious about Quan, and when I saw that he had his own book, I decided to read it anyway. I’m glad I did. I actually liked Quan’s voice a lot more than I did Justyce (maybe I just thought the narrator - who was the same on both audiobooks - played Quan’s character better; I’m not sure.) 

I also thought that Quan’s story was more dynamic and I really wanted to know what happened. There is a BIG difference between Justyce’s story in Dear Martin and Quan’s story in Dear Justyce: Justyce is the smart boy who avoids the gang life in order to go to college and make good on his potential, while Quan makes his mistakes and ends up in prison. These are both important characters to see, because they both exist. I also want to emphasize that I am a 30-something white female, and while that doesn’t invalidate my opinions, I recognize that I am not the audience that this book was written for, and I would recommend seeking out reviews by teens of color if you’re on the fence about either of these books.

I overall liked Quan’s story and wanted to see how it turned out. I wasn’t as big a fan of the later parts of the book, but only because I didn’t love the reintroduction of Justyce and his friends (especially SJ), not because of the direction the plot took. (I can’t put my finger on why I don’t like Justyce as a character all that much, but I’m sure others will be fine with his reintroduction.) In the end, I liked this well enough, but didn’t love it, although if you’ve read and enjoyed Dear Martin, I would certainly check this one out as well.

Rating: 3 stars

Trigger warning: Murder, racism, police brutality, use of “n word”, PTSD, gun violence, incarceration, cancer