This reads like a fanfiction of a sports anime, which I guess it kind of is since it’s a novelization of the comic series originally by C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad. (I haven’t read the original material either but from what I know of Pacat, I’m sure it’s quite faithful to the original.) The fencing is present but somewhat disappointingly muted; instead, the focus is on the characters and their stumbling, often-hilarious journey towards romance. Predictable sweetness, with occasional biting social commentary.
Tag: genre-lgbt
To Each This World, by Julie E. Czerneda
Earth is uninhabitable, and the surviving humans now live on New Earth with the technological assistance of the alien Kmet. One day, a message from a faraway human “sleeper” ship throws both human and Kmet into a frenzy; the humans are delighted to reunite with their long-lost family, but the Kmet seem to have problems. Henry, the arbiter between humans and Kmet, must turn all his faculties to understanding the Kmet while preserving humanity; his pilot, Killian, turns her natural suspicion into a mission to understand what makes the Kmet tick. The book unfolds very slowly but speeds up as you go, as the humans gather more clues against the clock of their species’ destruction. Extremely inventive alien biologies and life cycles; great exploration of scenarios where one must make morally problematic decisions. The characters were really well fleshed-out and kept the book from being too much of a thought experiment in places; the secondary characters and relationships were fantastic as well. Fans of Adrian Tchaikovsky would like this, I think.
White Trash Warlock, by David R. Slayton
First of the Adam Binder books. I love a gritty urban fantasy, though this one is definitely less than urban, considering that Adam spends quite a bit of time in his aunt’s trailer in the back woods… at least not when he’s not being guilt-tripped into battling dark forces in Denver as a favor to his estranged well-to-do brother. At least he meets a cute guy in the city, though he’s still got unresolved issues with his ex. Poverty, class tensions, and problematic family dynamics for our LGBT warlock lend depth to what otherwise seems like a standard little-guy-against-a-big-magical-evil plotline. This book is mostly setup to what feels like it’ll be a long extended battle, but I’m definitely interested to read more.
The Midnight Lie, by Marie Rutkoski
Born into the lowest caste of her society, Nirrim keeps her head down, follows the rules (mostly), and doesn’t attract attention from the cruel, capricious High Kith… until she meets a sassy, rulebreaking foreigner who slowly makes her question everything about her society and even her own family. Love the slow-burn sapphic romance, which develops as the characters develop more trust in one another; the background of Nirrim’s society provides intrigue and danger by turns. Really interesting reveal at the end; it will be interesting to see whether the author has written herself into a corner.
The Seep, by Chana Porter
On the surface, this book is about alien invasion; the Seep is an alien entity that introduces itself into the very bodies and minds of humanity, attempting in its alien way to fix humanity’s problems. In order to stop humans from misusing resources and destroying the world, it gives people the ability to sense the entire life cycle of plants and animals by mere touch, globally increasing empathy and collective responsibility. Humans also become able to enact extreme physical changes on their bodies, and it’s the decision of Trina’s wife Deeba to do so that sends Trina into a spiral of doubt interrogating herself, the Seep, and the utopia it claims to provide. I liked the fact that Trina was trans, which meant that she’d already made her own decisions about her body and her fate long before the Seep showed up, and gave her a good foundation to be cynical about its promises.
The Sunken Mall, by K.D. Edwards
I was in withdrawal after finishing book 2 in Edwards’ Tarot Sequence, so I was delighted to find this little novella that slots in between books 1 and 2 in the main storyline. Basically Brand, Rune, and Addam take the teenagers shopping in an abandoned mall that was magically preserved and also, of course, slightly haunted. The 1980s nostalgia is on point, the magic and danger levels are just right, and the characters’ snarky fondness for one another carries through. Very satisfying read.
Arca, by G.R. Macallister
I totally teed this up to provide an emotional balance against Invisible Women. Sequel to Scorpica, which introduced us to the matriarchal society of the Five Queendoms, this book deals with the fallout of the climactic events at the end of the first book, and the various societies’ efforts to find their footing in the new era. Although this book does spend some time with the new young queen of Arca and her fight to secure power, it also spends some time in the queendom of Paxim where efforts were made to raise males to equal the status of females (scoffed at by those who were accustomed to seeing men raised to be servile and submissive), as well as back in Scorpica where the next generation of warriors is rising. Most of the book spends time on various individual storylines, so it is a bit jarring (but quite satisfying) when the various threads abruptly weave together near the end. Lots of interesting plot developments lining for the sequel.
No Man of Woman Born, by Ana Mardoll
This is a selection of short stories in which fables and fairytales are written to center transgender characters, sliding them into tales with gendered prophecies – think Eowyn’s triumphant “I am no man!” moment, but let go of the gender binary. As a theme for a short story collection, it gets old pretty quickly, since the “ha, I’m neither man nor woman, watch me subvert your prophecy!” reveal is at the center of literally every story; however, given that there is almost nothing else out there that features trans characters in fairy tales, I appreciate the collection. The characters are variously trans, nonbinary, and genderfluid; the stories are uniformly sweet but not saccharine. Perfectly good reading but I did have to space the stories out a little for maximum enjoyment.
Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, by Jeremy Atherton Lin
I was expecting a somewhat more academic treatment of the role of gay bars in society and in history; instead, this is author Atherton Lin exploring his own personal journey through the succession of gay bars that he visited along the way. His perspective, that of an Asian-American navigating London and San Francisco, means that racism occasionally adds an additional layer of alienation onto his experience. He mixes everything together until none of it can be teased apart, from musings about identity and expression in social spheres, to analysis of society’s changing relationship with homosexuality, to detailed descriptions of smells and sensations of bodies in close contact, sometimes all within the same paragraph. He also illustrates ambience by rapidly listing off a succession of musicians, or brands, which I’m sure would have served as anchors for people who recognized them, but for me merely placed his already-foreign (to me) experiences into a landscape which I… didn’t recognize either. Still, it was definitely both educational and entertaining to journey along with Atherton Lin through his past, from adventurous naïf to jaded elder, interrogating society along the way. He doesn’t hesitate to turn the analysis on himself either: “I went out to bars to be literary. I drank to create content. If I earned a reputation for making trouble, it was so that I could write about it the following morning… There was an agency in the retelling, in the self-deprecation and of course self-mythologizing. Memoir is how you groom yourself. Memoir is drag.”
The Hourglass Throne, by K.D. Edwards
This is #3 of Edwards’ Tarot Sequence. Everything I said about #2 applies and then some. Despite Rune’s newly elevated rank and new responsibilities, he’s still the same kid deep down who thinks he has to take care of everything and everyone, and it’s refreshing to watch the people around him try to gently convince him to accept help. The antagonist in this book does a lot to flesh out the culture of Old Atlantis vs the new kids in Rune’s generation, and even though it’s a fantasy culture, the parallels to our society are super obvious. Left pining for the next book as usual (except it’s not written yet, sadly, so it’ll be a while).