Review: Pet

Title: Pet

Author: Akwaeke Emezi

Genre: The author doesn’t like genre categorizations, and this book doesn’t really fit a particular genre. Utopian/Low Fantasy is my best guess, but Pet kinda defies categorization.

Trigger Warnings: Violence, child abuse, pedophilia (implied), incest (implied), blood, sexual assault (mention), body horror, medical content (mentions), adultism. Highlight to read spoilers.

Back Cover:

There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life.

But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption’s house.

Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question–How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?

Review:

This is a weird little book with a lot of big things to say. The genre absolutely defies categorization. It’s set somewhere in the future, where some sort of rebellion got rid of all the “monsters” – police, billionaires, racists, bigots, anyone who wouldn’t support the social justice utopia that the town of Lucille (or possibly the entire country?) has become.

This story is driven somewhat by plot and mostly by themes. It’s short (5.5 hours in audiobook, about 200 pages per The StoryGraph), and doesn’t devote much of that space to characterization or worldbuilding. When it comes to characters, it focuses more on the dynamics and relationships between them than giving any of the individuals too much depth. I didn’t mind that very much, though. The characters here are more of a vehicle to experience the story than anything, and I liked seeing the different dynamics between Jam’s family (just her, her mom, and her dad) and Redemption’s family (three parents, a little brother, and aunts and uncles all over the place). Jam and Redemption have one of the healthiest friendships I’ve seen in fiction, and I love that Jam is plot-savvy about the kinds of things that tend to hurt friendships in stories.

The plot is short and straightforward. There are no twists, there are no surprises, and I called the identity of the monster Pet was hunting about halfway through. But it’s engaging enough, and the theme is what matters. This book asks “How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?” but it also asks, more subtly, “If we get rid of all the evil in society, how will we put systems in place to make sure it doesn’t appear again?” It’s a story about two friends and an inhuman creature that crawled out of a painting hunting a monster, yes, but it’s also a story about how a one-off rebellion isn’t the final solution, how people who did very good things can also do evil things, and how society needs to have systems in place to stop the evil acts no matter who did them.

The most interesting part of this book to me was how the utopian city of Lucille seemed like something that is theoretically possible in real life, but there are the little details that keep throwing the perfectly realistic world just a bit off-kilter. Sure, there is the terrifying creature of feathers and claws that emerges from a painting, but there is also Jam’s ability to feel what’s happening in her house – who is where, their mood, what they’re doing – with no cue except feeling through the floorboards. Those kinds of fantastical elements don’t fit into the otherwise-plausible world, and I’m not sure what they mean thematically. Maybe that a utopia like Lucille is only possible in fantasy and creating something similar in reality would require more maintenance and vigilance to keep the “monsters” from coming back?

You could probably make an argument that the themes in this book are heavy-handed. They kind of are, but I think it works. I enjoyed it as a story, and I appreciated the wise things it had to say. To me, Pet has the vibe of a book you read in an English class for its important commentary on social issues, but one of those rare English class books that you also happen to enjoy. It’s the kind of book that wins awards and gets lauded for being both a good story and an Important Book. Balancing entertainment appeal and being Important is a difficult act, but I think Pet mostly managed it. It’s definitely worth reading – if you’re not into creatures crawling out of paintings, at least for the philosophical questions it poses.

Review: Cemetery Boys (DNF)

Title: Cemetery Boys

Author: Aiden Thomas

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Transphobia, misgendering, deadnaming, death, blood, ghosts, death of parent, injury to animals (mention)

Note: In DNF books, warnings listed only include the amount of book I read. There may be other triggers further on that I did not encounter.

Read To: 30%

Back Cover:

Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.

When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.

However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

Review:

I like to think I am a forgiving reader. Sometimes I will look past a lackluster world for amazing characters, or mediocre characters for a stellar plot. But very rarely will I finish a book where none of the elements are strong enough to grip me. And unfortunately, that’s what happened with this book.

I really did like the idea. I am not usually into gendered magic systems, but I’ll put up with it for trans-affirming gendered magic. Yadriel’s family has magic in their blood – the women can heal and the men can summon spirits trapped on earth and release them to the afterlife. Yadriel is a trans boy and the gendered magic gave him boy magic but his hyper-traditional family won’t let him do the ritual to become initiated into magic as a boy. He decides to prove himself, summons a spirit to release, the spirit doesn’t want to be released until he finishes some unfinished business, and Yadriel falls for him. Death magic, getting a transphobic family to accept your gender, and falling in love with a dead guy are all a good start.

And the transphobia in this book is really well done (if you can say that about something like transphobia). Yadriel’s family isn’t malicious at all, they’re just stuck in tradition and don’t make an effort to understand. They still love him, but only their idea of him and they don’t want to learn that who he actually is is anything other than what they expect him to be. And Maritza was an interesting addition – someone who accepts and affirms Yadriel as he is, but thinks she completely understands transphobia because she’s vegan and their family doesn’t understand that either.

And then we get to all the things I did not like.

First, the characters. Yadriel wanted to be an official brujo so badly he did the ceremony himself – a good start. But when the spirit he summons has its own opinions, he wouldn’t or couldn’t do anything without looking to other people (mainly Maritza) for instructions, and when he didn’t get instructions he did his best to avoid acting. Maritza’s entire role seemed to be to deny Yadriel the instructions he wanted and then watch with amusement as he’s forced to figure his own stuff out. Julian swung wildly between “stubborn asshole jock” and “ADHD toddler with too much sugar” with no rhyme or reason, and whatever romance is being set up between Yadriel and him seems to be based on “he’s hot” because Yadriel seems to view him as inconvenient at best and active opposition at worst. (Although it could be an enemies to lovers romance, who knows.) Despite three very real ticking clocks, Yadriel avoided acting at all costs, and Maritza has no skin in the game and is just along to laugh at Yadriel.

The magic system actually isn’t bad, but there’s no worldbuilding around it. Yadriel’s family is a big extended Latinx family and his house is in the family graveyard, but there’s nothing beyond it besides “This graveyard is in Los Angeles, you know all about Los Angeles.” It feels like the family graveyard is an island disconnected from the real world it’s supposed to be in, and I have no idea how the magic fits into the world outside of the family graveyard, or if it actually is confined to the graveyard.

The plot does bring in a mystery of who killed Julian and how Yadriel’s cousin died, but it wasn’t enough to keep me interested. It was mainly Yadriel’s refusal to act that frustrated me so much. It isn’t terrible or even unreadable (if I had been in a more magnanimous mood while reading I may have finished it), and it definitely has some good things to say about transphobia, but perhaps I am just not as forgiving a reader as I think I am.

Review: Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel

Title: Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel

Author: Julian K. Jarboe

Genre: Science Fiction/Short Stories

Trigger Warnings: Transphobia, prejudice/bigotry, ableism, menstruation, body horror, self-harm

Back Cover:

In this debut collection of body-horror fairy tales and mid-apocalyptic Catholic cyberpunk, memory and myth, loss and age, these are the tools of storyteller Jarboe, a talent in the field of queer fabulism. Bodily autonomy and transformation, the importance of negative emotions, unhealthy relationships, and bad situations amidst the staggering and urgent question of how build and nurture meaning, love, and safety in a larger world/society that might not be “fixable.”

Review:

I had never heard of Julian K. Jarboe before picking up this book, likely because they are mainly a short fiction writer and the only time I read short stories is when they’re collected into books like this. But I think I’m going to have to keep an eye out for new work from them, because these stories are so wise and insightful.

The main theme across all of these stories is queerness, especially transness, and what it’s like to be trans in a world that’s not friendly to transness. Only-slightly-less-main themes are neurodivergance and poverty and the experience of being neurodiverse and poor in a world that’s not friendly to either. It’s very raw and very powerful and very real, capturing much of the nuance of those situations. All of these stories are 100% written by someone who knows what it’s like to be trans, neurodiverse, and poor.

All of these stories are great (although I did think the title story, “Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel,” was a little longer than it needed to be), but I want to touch on a few of my favorites.

• “Self Care.” Raw and full of anger – at capitalism, religion, transphobia, and being poor. Relatable and validating.
• “The Heavy Things.” The sad truth that sometimes even people who should (and said they did) love you unconditionally care more about what they can get from you than you yourself.
• “Estranged Children of Storybook Houses.” The changeling myth made real. For all the children whose parents feel like they are owed someone different than the child they have.
• “We Did Not Know We Were Giants.” I’m still not completely sure of the philosophical or emotional meaning behind this one but I love it. It may be my favorite in the book.

Saying that these stories are “deep” sounds weird and cheap, but they’re full of layers of emotion, philosophy, and wisdom. I highlighted so many quotes from so many of the stories. The stories don’t always make a lot of sense to my head – full of tangents and strange turns of phrase, feeling no need to include any “traditional” elements like plot or character arcs – but they felt real and they hit hard. These stories are fantastic.

Review: Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live

Title: Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live

Author: Sacha Lamb

Genre: Contemporary with Supernatural elements

Trigger Warnings: Misgendering (mention), deadnaming (mention), bullying, depression, suicidal ideation

Back Cover:

Avi Cantor Has Six Months To Live

Avi comes across these foreboding words scrawled on the bathroom mirror, but what do they mean? Is this a curse, a prediction, or a threat from Avi’s emboldened bullies? And how to they know his real name when he hasn’t even told his mother yet?

Then there is Ian—the cool new guy at school, who is suddenly paying attention to Avi. Ian is just like Avi, but he is also all sunshine, optimism, and magic. All the things that Avi doesn’t know how to deal with…yet.

Review:

I know I just posted about a Sacha Lamb story yesterday, but I think I’ve found a new favorite author. I’m not even into contemporary stories that much but everything Sacha Lamb writes is just so good!

This is a novella, so it’s pretty short, but it still manages to draw a wonderful set of dynamic and real characters. Avi is a closeted Jewish trans guy relentlessly bullied at school, depressed, and very much alone. It doesn’t even bother him that he supposedly has only six months to live because he’s not sure how much he wants to keep living anyway. Ian is also a trans guy, but personality-wise the exact opposite of Avi – he’s happy, optimistic, and pulls Avi into his orbit of light and joy and his happy and accepting and magical family. It’s a story about Avi’s relationship with Ian and its ups and downs and it’s affects on his life, and you know, if it takes literal magic to give Avi a happy ending then I’ll accept it.

Despite there being literal magic in this book, it definitely had a more contemporary feel. This is first and foremost a story about Avi healing, and secondly a story about a very sweet relationship. The magic is just icing on the cake. It’s not a story about a relationship fixing someone, but it’s about how much having a support system and people who love and care about and accept you can help.

This is just such a sweet story. Avi is deep in depression but Ian is just so full of hope that it rubs off everywhere. And did I mention the happy ending? It gets dark at times but I love this story so much.

And the whole novella is available online for free here!

Epistolary, the cutest short story you will ever read

I have just discovered “Epistolary” by Sacha Lamb, which is a rather uninteresting title hiding the cutest story I have ever encountered. Leo, a trans Jewish kid, makes extra money rescuing stuffed animals from thrift shops and reselling them online with stories about them being haunted. Another trans Jewish kid finds their lost stuffed frog listed for sale on Leo’s site and wants it back. And so begins the story that’s told mostly through email and text exchanges tied together with some narration from Leo.

It’s a little bit enemies to lovers (although more accurately rivals to mutual-crush-but-too-shy-to-actually-admit-we’re-dating), both of these kids are so sweet with their own distinct (and adorable) personalities, Leo has an amazing voice, and it’s awkward but in the cutest possible way (no cringe at all). I just can’t get over how sweet and cute and adorable this story is.

Here is the link, go read it now!

Review: No Man of Woman Born

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.