katje's review against another edition
5.0
This is a really good short story and it's such a shame that the author was harassed to the point of having it withdrawn from Clarkesworld. The story examines themes of gender, war, identity, and how in a dystopia anything that can be exploited, will be (in this case, gender by the military for tactical uses). Well-written and thought-provoking, and no, not transphobic. I hope Isabel Fall keeps writing, and does not let the vitriol flung her way by the purity police discourage her.
yak_attak's review
5.0
Incredibly important - One of the smartest, most incisive short stories I've read in ages. Ignore the "controversy" and just read the damn thing - Isabell Fall deserves a hell of an apology
duartecompanhia_'s review against another edition
Essential transgressive sci-fi, something you can't say very often nowadays. Unfortunately, its many merits got buried beneath a mountain of outrage and misinformed hysteria, leading to the author's hospitalization for all of the psychological abuse she suffered through (you can read all about it here. Look beyond the title and read it.
klettie's review against another edition
4.0
I read this story without prior knowledge of the controversy as part of the Hugo packet. I found it fascinating, as others have, and I enjoyed a lot of the points it makes about how "natural" gender feels to us. The subversion -- that it does not feel natural that "helicopter" be a gender -- is well executed.
One quote in particular stood out to me:
“Maybe what Axis feels is a necessary new queerness. One which pries the tool of gender back from the hands of the state and the economy and the war. I like that idea. I cannot think of myself as a failure, as something wrong, a perversion of a liberty that past generations fought to gain.
But Axis can. And maybe you can too. That skepticism is not what I need . . . but it is necessary anyway.
I have tried to show you what I am. I have tried to do it without judgment. That I leave to you."
I like to mirror this back onto our concepts of gender today, to say think of them as a failure, something wrong, manufactured by our culture similar to the way Barb's gender is. That doesn't have to be the way they are, it just has to be a way we can think about them. The skepticism is necessary.
One quote in particular stood out to me:
“Maybe what Axis feels is a necessary new queerness. One which pries the tool of gender back from the hands of the state and the economy and the war. I like that idea. I cannot think of myself as a failure, as something wrong, a perversion of a liberty that past generations fought to gain.
But Axis can. And maybe you can too. That skepticism is not what I need . . . but it is necessary anyway.
I have tried to show you what I am. I have tried to do it without judgment. That I leave to you."
I like to mirror this back onto our concepts of gender today, to say think of them as a failure, something wrong, manufactured by our culture similar to the way Barb's gender is. That doesn't have to be the way they are, it just has to be a way we can think about them. The skepticism is necessary.
wanderlustlover's review against another edition
5.0
Spring 2021 (April);
Another incredibly well-written, creepy, and sudden twist ending. I was so involved with this one. It was cat-and-mouse, guilt-leads-to-diaster, leads to even harder choices, thriller the whole way. I've loved Kritzter since I was a young wee thing, but this just exploded my love for her a million times wider. Both of her stories in the Hugo's this year were entirely different, but both were amazingly good.
Merged review:
Summer 2021 (June);
2021 Hugo Nominee
This is one of those stories with such an epic and histories background to how it hit the masses and caused a cannonball reaction through everything. While I feel it got a little overhyped due to that, I actually really liked all these different risky moves she took with it. I love all the commentary on gender, and what it is-isn't-might be throughout this story being the whole point of it.
Another incredibly well-written, creepy, and sudden twist ending. I was so involved with this one. It was cat-and-mouse, guilt-leads-to-diaster, leads to even harder choices, thriller the whole way. I've loved Kritzter since I was a young wee thing, but this just exploded my love for her a million times wider. Both of her stories in the Hugo's this year were entirely different, but both were amazingly good.
Merged review:
Summer 2021 (June);
2021 Hugo Nominee
This is one of those stories with such an epic and histories background to how it hit the masses and caused a cannonball reaction through everything. While I feel it got a little overhyped due to that, I actually really liked all these different risky moves she took with it. I love all the commentary on gender, and what it is-isn't-might be throughout this story being the whole point of it.
ameliapancake's review against another edition
4.0
It had a slow start, but by the middle I was totally into it. Great story overall and very insightful.
gynocyber's review against another edition
4.0
a necessary piece of sf polemic in a country which is set to legalize transmisogynist CSA in the name of protecting the purity of sex-segregated sports (?) and black sex-working trans women are killed day after day. but at least we can join the military!!
to the cabal of adult children who harassed the author of this story into hiding when they weren’t calling her a man - fuck all of you :)
to the cabal of adult children who harassed the author of this story into hiding when they weren’t calling her a man - fuck all of you :)
bookaneer's review against another edition
3.0
Rating for three stories:
Naomi Kritzer's Monster (novelette rec from nerds of a feather): ****
A strong story, immersive since the first sentence. I kinda wish it's a liiitle bit longer.
Chen Qiufan's The Ancestral Temple in a Box: ***
Thought provoking though a more subtlety of its message would do the magic. It made google Teochew woodcarving, though.
And of course Isabel Fall's infamous I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter, which I read last year. **
The title sure is very catchy though I later found out there was a (derogatory) meme of it, used to disparage transgender people (the author - not a real name, was said to be a trans woman). Anyway, story/plot wise, maybe because I am not the target audience, I did not fully get it. It felt too simple as we were mostly in the head of the POV character where she (?) was philosophizing over gender. Some thoughts were well, thought-provoking but the whole action part was a bit off. Cool back story though with the post apocalyptic setting and AI stuff. All in all, combining with military SF element is appreciated but I would love to have more plot. At the end I was thinking, wait, that's it? I just got to know the character but what's the point of the action scene then? Why not just a soliloquy from the start to the end and some flashbacks in between?
This quote got me thinking though: If gender has always been a construct, then why not construct a new one? But then the title is about sexual identity. Sex = biological concept and and gender = social construct, no? I just realized there are some who believe sex is also a social construct. My head is spinning rn.
Naomi Kritzer's Monster (novelette rec from nerds of a feather): ****
A strong story, immersive since the first sentence. I kinda wish it's a liiitle bit longer.
Chen Qiufan's The Ancestral Temple in a Box: ***
Thought provoking though a more subtlety of its message would do the magic. It made google Teochew woodcarving, though.
And of course Isabel Fall's infamous I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter, which I read last year. **
The title sure is very catchy though I later found out there was a (derogatory) meme of it, used to disparage transgender people (the author - not a real name, was said to be a trans woman). Anyway, story/plot wise, maybe because I am not the target audience, I did not fully get it. It felt too simple as we were mostly in the head of the POV character where she (?) was philosophizing over gender. Some thoughts were well, thought-provoking but the whole action part was a bit off. Cool back story though with the post apocalyptic setting and AI stuff. All in all, combining with military SF element is appreciated but I would love to have more plot. At the end I was thinking, wait, that's it? I just got to know the character but what's the point of the action scene then? Why not just a soliloquy from the start to the end and some flashbacks in between?
This quote got me thinking though: If gender has always been a construct, then why not construct a new one? But then the title is about sexual identity. Sex = biological concept and and gender = social construct, no? I just realized there are some who believe sex is also a social construct. My head is spinning rn.
daddyswish's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant, the attack against her was ridiculous . This is genius. Keep writing.