Title: No Man of Woman Born
Author: Ana Mardoll
Genre: Fantasy
Trigger Warnings: See review
Back Cover:
Destiny sees what others don’t.
A quiet fisher mourning the loss of xer sister to a cruel dragon. A clever hedge-witch gathering knowledge in a hostile land. A son seeking vengeance for his father’s death. A daughter claiming the legacy denied her. A princess laboring under an unbreakable curse. A young resistance fighter questioning everything he’s ever known. A little girl willing to battle a dragon for the sake of a wish. These heroes and heroines emerge from adversity into triumph, recognizing they can be more than they ever imagined: chosen ones of destiny.
From the author of the Earthside series and the Rewoven Tales novels, No Man of Woman Born is a collection of seven fantasy stories in which transgender and nonbinary characters subvert and fulfill gendered prophecies. These prophecies recognize and acknowledge each character’s gender, even when others do not. Note: No trans or nonbinary characters were killed in the making of this book. Trigger warnings and neopronoun pronunciation guides are provided for each story.
Review:
This book is a collection of seven short stories that asks the question, where do trans and nonbinary people fit into gendered prophecies? As you might guess, the propecies in this story always affirm the trans/enby identity, but it’s how they do that makes these stories interesting.
Tangled Nets
Trigger warnings: Violence, bloodshed, community ableism, sacrifical victims, self-sacrifice
The dragon that demands a sacrifice from the village each year cannot be killed by man nor woman, and I bet you can guess where this is going. Wren’s sister was the sacrifice last year, in exchange for food and medicine to keep their sick mother alive, and xie is (understandably) still upset. I never really got much of a feel for Wren xerself, but the world was well-drawn for a short story and the descriptions were wonderfully vivid.
King’s Favor
Trigger warnings: Border walls, population purges, violence, mention of self-harm
What’s better than magic and spies? Magical spies. Caran is on a spying mission to a country that’s killing all magic-users – nee’s just a barely-magical herbalist, but the witch queen still considers that a threat. Nee gets captured, but it’s ner knowledge of plants that saves ner (and the kingdom). One of the longer stories, and definitely worth it. Caran was great and I loved reading about ner. Plus there was a twist at the very end that I didn’t expect.
His Father’s Son
Trigger warnings: Violence and sexualized violence, bloodshead, death of family, parents, and minor children
Nocien’s family was killed by a warlord because of a prophecy that only one of his father’s sons could kill the warlord. But the warlord didn’t know that Nocien is actually a trans man, and Nocien is out for revenge. This story covers Nocien’s present and past, with an extended flashback to the night the warlord attacked. It has a very happy ending, and if you like stories where a weaker protagonist has to be clever to best a stronger enemy, this story will be your jam. A great read.
Daughter of Kings
Trigger warnings: Misgendering, parental bigotry, mention of parental death
The propecy says that only the warrior queen’s granddaughter can pull her sword from the rock and unite the kingdom. But the king only has sons – or so he thinks. Finndis is a (closeted) trans girl, and a large part of this story is her wondering if the propecy will apply to her since she wasn’t “born a girl.” You can probably guess what happens. I found this story overall unremarkable, but it was still nice in how trans-affirming it was.
Early to Rise
Trigger warnings: Magical curses, non-consentual kissing, mention of self-harm
What happens to Sleeping Beauty when they’re genderfluid and the curse is specifically for a princess? This story explores that, and I loved it. Prince/ss Claude has been pressured all their life to find their “true love” to break the curse, but they don’t like that idea much at all. (They might be ace/aro? Not confirmed in the text but I definintely got vibes.) This is easily the most creative of these stories (can we talk about that ending? perfection) and by far my favorite. Read this one.
No Man of Woman Born
Trigger warnings: Governmental oppression, mention of emergency ceserean births, mention of rape
The propecy says that no man of woman born can kill the evil king. So women, nonbinary people, and boys (too young to be considered “a man”) train in secret to try and be the one who can kill him. Innes is a man (he thinks), but he trains anyway, only to find out he may not be a man of woman born after all. And no, the twist isn’t that he’s not a man – at the end of the story, he’s still unsure. This story was good – not stellar, but good. It had a lot of philosophical questions about the importance of prophecies, which I thought was cool. (It’s also possible it felt a lot less interesting coming directly after “Early to Rise.”)
The Wish-Giver
Trigger warnings: None
The dragon on top of the hill will grant you any wish if you best her in combat – but if she bests you, you’re dead. A little “boy” who desperately wants everyone to recognize her as a little girl decides to take her chances. If I were the editor for this book, I would have recommended cutting this one. It’s super short, with no characterization (not even character names), the barest sketch of a world, and not much of interest except “dragon says trans rights.” I thought it was a disappointingly weak note to end an otherwise solid anthology on.
Bluejay Reads 