morebedsidebooks's reviews
423 reviews

The Ice Princess's Fair Illusion by Dove Cooper

3.0

No, dear. If you’re going to tell it,
Tell it loud. Tell it proud.
That’s why I agreed to do this.
I want to hear no more
Of people like yourself
Who needed words they never learned
Because no one believed they were needed.

A retelling in verse of King Thrushbeard Dove Cooper offers a queerplatonic sapphic tale of the princess Marian (alloro ace) and the queen Edel (pan aroace). While I love retellings of fairytales, King Thrushbeard was a story I hadn’t previously been familiar with. It makes a wonderful base for Cooper’s interpretation featuring asexuality and aromanticism. Instead of through pride, Marian rejects suitors because she can’t be herself. The world can’t seem to understand her. Cruel out of necessity she creates a façade to turn off anyone who might show interest. Edel, who previously had no designs of marriage either yet found herself wedded and widowed, spots something familiar in the princess. Especially as Marian’s vexed father makes a declaration that his daughter marry the next beggar to show at the gates. So Edel decides to make sure she’s in disguise and the first. Through magical help and amidst humble surroundings the two eventually find ways to communicate, the tale unfolding in this conversational winding way.

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PET by Akwaeke Emezi

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tense

5.0

“Monster’s don’t look like anything, doux-doux. That’s the whole point. That’s the whole problem.”

In Pet by Akwaeke Emezi after a revolution that changed so many of the terrible things to come before, Lucille is a peaceful utopian-like place. But in its success is still shadow. The same blind spots, the same even stronger disbelief. Not here. Monsters are not here, those bad things are long past, they do not happen here. But like a fairy tale or the innermost of nightmares out of a painting comes the powerful creature Pet, a hunter. Is Pet a monster or an avenging angel? What is justice? Seventeen-year-old Jam, her friend Redemption, their families, and the whole community will be challenged with questions and the remedies thought of long resolved.

One of the most fascinating yet only touched upon aspects of this novel is the radically changed society, greatly improving the lives of the people. It’s certainly better for a selectively mute trans girl like Jam. Yet among the many shifts one was especially thought provoking. History is full of conflicts around religion. Yet, the loss of religion through conflicts or prohibitions is usually a bad sign. So, this was an early red flag that something is very wrong in the book’s world. Further in the real world it doesn’t work. People just go underground. It made me more certain about what other hidden things were going on in Lucielle, not just the monster Pet came to hunt. Also, there are differences between religion and faith or belief. Even a reader can see how concepts persist like the subject of angels, human or otherwise, in the book. Most of the issues around religion boil down as Redemption puts it to a battle for control. Power, over property, people, bodies, thoughts, religious bigotry or hate and intolerance masquerading under the guise of religious conviction.

It’s interesting as well how much Lucille puts on librarians to assist since material on monsters, angels, holy texts etc. is in the library where one must go with such questions, not other sources. School education around some topics is minimal at best. Most adults are hesitant or uncooperative when asked. Indeed, sometimes a library is the only source available. It too makes one think about how in reality institutions like libraries, schools and their workers are under attack. Then Pet also has become a banned book. The failure of this lack of representation and education is also another part of the problem in Lucille. This is a story when being able to recognize the signs of an abuser, the abuse, and the victim comes late. Or is just ignored. Until made to. And how it affects many.

Emezi manages to write heavy topics with subtly and sensitivity. This YA novel is well deserving of every accolade. Pet is a book that only speaks more to very real problems that must be faced.

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Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin Van Whye

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Important to note Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye has after its publication been banned in some US libraries. Because of this I decided I should share this review I’ve been sitting on for way too long because of different controversy the title has been involved in.

From an affluent family but with a messy home life and teased about his disdain for high school relationships, captain of the boys’ soccer team Bryson Keller is dared to date anyone from among the senior class (including underclassmen apparently would be gross) who asks him out on Monday. BUT… only for the school week. After over two months of Bryson with a parade of girls, the closeted and less than popular Kai Sheridan impulsively asks Date Me, Bryson Keller!

Kevin van Whye, a gay mixed race South African writer, in an author’s note to the book besides speaking on his own lived experiences lists several works and their creators he feels indebted to as inspiration for his debut #OwnVoices young adult novel Date Me, Bryson Keller. These are Skam a 2015-2017 Norwegian teen drama TV webseries (especially season 3), two other English language young adult novels in 2014 To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, in 2015 Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, also the latter 2018 film adaptation, going way back a 1999 American teen movie rom com She’s All That, and finally a Japanese boys love comic series Seven Days written by Venio Tachibana and illustrated by Rihito Takarai. But it was concerning this last well-liked work where a nerve was touched across readers of Japanese comics and YA books.

Firstly, with accusations against Kevin van Whye of plagiarism. Seven Days features a popular first year high school student who dates the first person to ask him out on a Monday but, only for the week. Until, instead of a girl, a handsome upperclassman on a whim asks him out. For more details on Seven Days, I have previously reviewed the 2010-11 English edition. While dating with a time limit is common in the romance genre, I hadn’t encountered another title quite like it before. In fact, it was the mention of Seven Days which led me to put Date Me, Bryson Keller on my list of 2020 anticipated releases.

Secondly, the conflict involved the concept of representation and critique of the BL genre. During February 2019 the author posted a response on Goodreads. In part: “There were themes that I wanted to explore in a western setting and as an own voices writer. These were born from my own critique of the work with respect to actual and realistic LGBT culture, people and issues. I wanted to write a story for the LGBT reader, as told by my own lived experience.” Further in an interview on the YA Sh3lf blog in November 2019: “my own critique and feelings toward the manga Seven Days (and the Boy Love genre in general) definitely served as a jumping off point as far as inspiration.”

Critiques and the question of representation in Japanese BL is a decades long complex discourse. At times swinging from the more apolitical to political. Furthermore, especially fraught when involving identity politics. Which may be somewhat familiar as many other examples of queer literature from elsewhere around the globe undergo analysis, critiques, and disputes. Too movements like #OwnVoices, intended to promote marginalized writers, became less helpful and after years faced demise. Unfortunately, I cannot begin to outline the parallels, differences, and nuances of these debates in this review. (Though if one is interested, I can suggest some scholarly reading.) However, it is this background which the author, who also pointed to a rudimentary TV tropes page on the BL genre, stepped right in to.

Speaking of tropes, I have a soft spot for dating tropes. Also, to include works like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. After old love letters are sent, Laura Jean Covey ends up faking dating an old crush Peter Kavinsky, which then turns into the real thing. (Also, Peter’s character most influenced Kevin van Whye with Bryson.) The concept of a dating dare is also the premise of She’s All That (itself a take on My Fair Lady, in turn adapting the stage play Pygmalion). Where soccer star and class president Zack Siler on a bet tries to make Laney Boggs, an artistic clumsy girl, Prom Queen to his King.

But heaping parts tropey teen dating novel Date Me, Bryson Keller is also a coming out story, with hardships. Grappling with the meaning of gay identity and the effects. In common with the hugely popular Simon (among several other similarities) and Skam Season 3.

Seriously, if one is well read in a genre, one knows the scènes à faire. Further if you are familiar with these works you can pick up the beats and bits from here and there, and there and here with Kevin van Whye’s book. He calls the stories “woven into the tapestry of this novel “. But, unlike some cases, these threads do make the work stand out less and feel more derivative. Even as the author specifically also talks about some of the aspects that are personal. Still, it is true as he writes in the author’s note: “I’ve always believed that more than one story of a certain type can exist. We need more representation all around. We shouldn’t settle for just one thing, because we are not just one thing. Our race, culture, geography, sexuality, and experiences make us different. These things shape our stories, our lives.”

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The Red Sofa by Michèle Lesbre

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reflective

3.0

If my visible luggage was minimal, I carried other baggage in my head and sometimes it could overwhelm me and take me back to my worries.

An unassuming little book the award-winning The Red Sofa by Michèle Lesbre, translated by David and Nicole Ball, is a quiet meditative journey of a woman travelling, not just the Trans-Siberian railway, but mapping connections we make, time, memories, and life. Fellow passengers, a friend, and former lovers can all make us think, change us as we change ourselves.

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Initiation: Sex Wizards, Book 1 by Alethea Faust

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3.0

“I don’t understand it, but somehow, we’ve made magic.”

Initiation by Alethea Faust is the first volume of an erotic fantasy series pitched as if Harry Potter was gayer, not transphobic, and full of kinky sex featuring emotionally mature adults.

From a rural mountain village Dominai (pansexual) never expected he’d have magic in his lineage when it’s the purview of the wealthy. Or go to Crux, the centre of magical study in the kingdom. He still can’t seem to believe he belongs in the wizards’ towers. Even as a complete novice he shows more and more talent, open and willing to try anything twice.

Focusing on risk-aware kink, consent is a pillar of the magic system’s foundation. However, this isn’t an ideal world. Characters run afoul, make errors or questionable decisions. From the start the personalities are very human, even if some of the characters are not. I rather love how Dominai doesn’t let his anxiety disorder hold him back from experimenting. Though, he does need to seriously figure out and express his limits.

Faust most cleverly integrates content warnings, veiling them in descriptions regarding the schools of magic and casting methods following the chapters titles. I really appreciate the detailed breakdown. Though it unfortunately leaves something to be desired. Information presented only at the chapter mark does prevent a potential reader when initially browsing from having the full content list before purchasing. (The book preview available online does not show a full CW as otherwise claimed.) If an author is hesitant because retailers can be fickle and arbitrary about CW and content guidelines, CW could also be put somewhere else. Authors choose personal websites, social cataloging websites, etc. I check multiple places when researching a book. So, besides my own notes, I made the decision to copy out the chapter descriptions for the content section below.

Once a reader can open up Initiation, well… First there were a few instances of content I would have offered a note for that the author doesn’t (see below). Then there are repeated references to Enchantment, one school of magic, first being worked in chapter four. Yet, what this school entails isn’t part of the chapter description. Context is instead piecemealed in the text up till the last chapter devoted to Enchantment where the description occurs. Too in particular, around 60% into the book there is a shift with a subplot coming to the forefront involving kidnapping, abuse, torture, sexual assault and rape. There’s a lot of possibility to explore these subjects, justice, survivorship, and these characters’ relationship with plus the potential of BDSM. However, Dominai’s perspective, despite being close to two of the wizards affected, barely provides such in the pages of the first volume. Plus, not just regarding trauma, while there are physical methods for healing described, the emotional care available is unclear. Which is honestly disappointing because aspects then come off as shallow. I do not believe that was the intention. But there’s a disconnect.

Know if a reader decides to skip over chapter(s), it will depend if that works so well because each can naturally build on another some more so than others. Unfortunately picking up book two, Mastery, again leaves largely the same questions until it is in one’s hands. (Since I did later get book two, which is longer, know there is a whole thread near throughout about trauma.)

All in all, I really love many of the ideas Faust makes use of in this first book. Yet the execution does leave one wanting, in the wrong way, with this debut novel.

Content Warnings

Note the chapter Diving into Divination also includes brief panic, vision of confinement against a person’s will, and mentions of abandonment and death of a parent. The chapter The Devilish Boar includes alcohol, injury and animal death occurring in the past. The chapter Creating a Conjuration also includes Enchantment (please see below) a domination spell. The Black Burrows includes death of a familiar. From the author: This queer erotic fantasy novel has a kink-based magic system, and as such, contains explicit adult content. As this story crosses a wide range of kinks of varying degrees of intensity, applicable chapters will have a description at the top showing what type of play is included in the chapter as well as any other applicable warnings. Welcome to the Crux— Abjuration: The school of magic that blocks, banishes, or protects. Casting methods include rope bondage, domination, and submission. Introduction to Evocation— Evocation: The school of magic that taps into and manipulates energy. Casting methods include impact play, sensation play, and pain play. Diving Into Divination— Divination: The school of magic that can discern the truths of the past, present, or future. Casting methods include full sensory deprivation, body worship, and edging. Playing Assistant— While casting, a wizard is not constrained to any one school. Some of the most effective spells come from combining casting methods. Combining elements of abjuration, evocation, and enchantment can create powerful and effective spells. Creating a Conjuration— Conjuration: The school of magic that creates matter out of thin air. Casting methods include periods of chastity and masturbation. Courage and Corpimancy— Corpimancy: The school of magic that controls the forces of life, death, and healing. Casting methods include piercing and bloodplay. Training in Transmutation— Transmutation: The school of magic that transforms and modifies matter. Casting methods include objectification and role-playing such as pony play. Breakthrough— Longer periods of sensory deprivation in the silver can potentially increase the chances of a successful divining. Please note that this chapter contains mentions of rape. Revelations— Please note that this chapter contains brief mentions of sexual assault. On the Road— Illusion: The school of magic that controls and manipulates the senses. Casting methods include sensory play and deprivation. The Cave— Wizards of the Crux base all of their magical studies and practices around the concept of consent. Rape or coercion are anathema and grounds for immediate expulsion. Please note that this chapter contains allusions to rape, brief visual of sexual assault, mention of non-consensual drugging and brief violence. Target— Enchantment: The school of magic that can entrance or beguile others. Casting methods include humiliation, degradation, and other forms of mental manipulation.

Witch's Knight by Evelyn Silver

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2.5

Witch’s Knight by Evelyn Silver is the first book in the paranormal romance Bloodline Chronicles series. Featuring an isolated witch named Sarai Reinhart (bisexual polyam) with unusual darker skills becoming involved with powerful vampires. Particularly the impressive Knight Commander Marcelle de Sauveterre (bisexual polyam).

I love gathering an assortment of queer vampire books and am always on the lookout for new additions. I thought Witch’s Knight was an interesting debut novel with a neat premise, mixing lore for its own distinct worldbuilding. Both Sarai and Marcelle have backstories filled with adversity but are resilient, faceted characters. Though unfortunately, sexual assault in the book fell into a cliché.

Spoiler

A vampire named Nicolas sexually assaults Sarai not once, but even after facing punishment a second time. The second time Sarai is able to use her necromancy skills on Nicolas, leading to his destruction. This is done in self-defense of not only herself, but her love interest Marcelle who comes to the defense of Sarai. But later to quote Marcelle: ‘“She… is an enchanting little thing. I don’t know if I’ve ever been around someone whose scent draws me in so completely.” She almost added, no wonder Nicolas snapped and tried to take her, but decided it was best not to mention the late monster.’ So, Nicolas, the attempted rapist vampire, monstrously attacked Sarai because he was under such emotional strain from Sarai being special and just that irresistible it broke him? This is such a common idea. Nevertheless, it is also offensive in this case. Sexual predators are responsible for their actions. How attractive one finds their victims does not matter! Such rationalization shifts responsibility. Then to relate an experience in any way to that of an attempted rapist... Marcelle’s line was even more jarring coming as it did the morning after her and Sarai had sex for the first time. Given the genre, a significant aspect is the taboo romance between the two that forms (witches and vampires haven’t mixed for millennia). Too despite how Marcelle is supposed to be manipulating Sarai, since Marcelle’s sire the Crown Prince Setanta (pansexual polyam) wants to use Sarai in political maneuvers. So, already a complicated relationship, the intensity between Marcelle and Sarai might as well as turned to dust in an instant for me.

This book unfortunately won’t be staying in my collection.

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The Lost Queen by Traci Lovelot

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adventurous slow-paced

2.75

The Lost Queen by Traci Lovelot is the first volume in a New Adult romantic fantasy series with a polyamorous lost Elven heir and her gaggle of pansexual Fae guards. Faerie myths, check. A narrative that takes a while to heat up, a slow, slow burn it is. Although the “refreshing story with substance as the heroine finds her inner strength” is just by volume’s end starting to peek out. Regrettably repetitious at times and at six volumes the Our Fae Queen series may be too drawn out and lengthy of a commitment.

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Fairytales for Lost Children by Diriye Osman

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3.0

“In Somali culture many things go unsaid: how we love, when we love and why we love that way.”

Fairytales For Lost Children is a very important collection of short stories by gay Somali writer Diriye Osman that isn’t afraid to confront heavy topics and taboos. Interesting too if you think about what forms the expression of desire is (dis)allowed to exist. Though I almost stopped early into the book as a couple stories raised my eyebrows. Fortunately, I persevered because there is potent writing to be found in the collection.

Watering The Imagination a mother reflects the unsaid regarding her eldest daughter who is in love with another woman.

Tell The Sun Not To Shine in Nairobi a 14-year-old boy has sexual encounters with an 18-year-old named Libaan visiting from Somalia, years later at Eid he recognizes the Iman as Libaan.

Fairytales For Lost Children the title story about a boy who is a 10-year-old Somali refugee in Kenya and infatuated with a six-year-old boy.

Shoga in Kenya a Somali teenager is involved with an older refugee from Burundi who does domestic work for his grandmother who finds out.

If I Were A Dance exes collaborate for the sake of a dance performance which mirrors their relationship in both expected and unexpected ways.

Pavilion features a trans woman nurse in England who doesn’t take any mistreatment and will creatively fight back.

Ndambi a lesbian muses on love and freedom in the face of rejection.

Earthling a woman struggling with mental illness, her girlfriend, and the sister who rejects her because of a fiancé’s intolerance.

Your Silence Will Not Protect You after a quote by Audre Lorde, this has another character in England a mentally ill gay man striving for independence who stands steadfast against abuse this time coming from homophobic family. Also my favourite of the collection.

The Other (Wo)man an immigrant art student in Londonmeets a married man twice his age through a dating site and begins experimenting with gender expression.

My Roots Are Your Roots In England a Somali man and a Jamaican man are lovers finding solace in each other.

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The Bride of Amman by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, Fadi Zaghmout

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Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

Perhaps people’s lives never stop intersecting and revealing a new truth with every minute that passes.

The Bride of Amman by Fadi Zaghmout follows four women and one man in Jordan. Leila, a graduate, also works for a bank but her accomplishments are overshadowed by the expectation of marriage. Salma, her single older sister already treated as a spinster nearing thirty. Hayat, a friend suffering under the abuse from her father has trouble in relationships. Rana another friend, is from a conservative Christian family but falls for a Muslim man. Last, Ali an Iraqi closeted gay man also succumbing to the pressure, so he proposes to Leila.

The Bride of Amman by Fadi Zaghmout was a controversial novel upon publication. A reader can see why, not only is it an incisive look at Jordanian society but, also contains some unflinchingly written heavy topics. Though the book does struggle with character voice written in parts with each chapter alternating through the five. Still, this title was one recommended to me and it is exactly the sort of feminist book in translation, translated in English by Ruth Ahemedzai Kemp, that appeals.

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How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok

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adventurous mysterious tense

4.0

How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok, a fresh debut YA thriller, features amateur teenage sleuth Iris Blackthorn (cis pansexual) with two of her friends, Sammy Valdez-Taylors (cis lesbian) and Imani Turner (non-binary lesbian). The trio forms a sapphic detective agency out to solve the disappearance of two people close to Iris as the clock ticks during the Louisiana autumn.

Also incorporated in the text is an edgy true crime podcast where the novel takes its title from. Unless a reader is a true crime fan it probably doesn’t endear you to its creator and Iris’s ex-girlfriend, Heather Nasato. When Heather disappears, teaming with Iris is also is Lea Li Zhang (cis bisexual). On the school newspaper plus an internship at the local paper, an ex-friend turned love interest yet who also exploited the disappearance of Iris’ sister. The four are a motley crew sort of out of a darker Scooby-Doo. Though Iris takes the focus. It is great to see a new pansexual author writing a book with a pansexual main character. The word comes up three times in the story.

“Out of the three of us, Imani’s the only one who can drive— Sammy hasn’t applied for her learner’s permit yet, and I’m pansexual. It goes against my nature.”

LOL, WHAT!? This is the most random way I’ve ever seen a character’s sexuality referenced. Apparently, it is drawn from the author’s own experience/anxiety.

Mention number two is that Iris also has a "WORLD’S OKAYEST PANSEXUAL" phone case. Which I gotta say is cute and actually a thing.

Third:

“Are all pansexuals this bad at communicating their feelings? Or is it just you?” She shakes her head. “You know, you’d think you have it easier with the whole falling for people based on how they act regardless of their gender thing, but you really need to work on how you talk to people you clearly like.”

Iris is a tenacious character, too tenacious for her own good sometimes. But a reader should be able to understand her passion and difficulty with letting people in or trusting the police. If you like teens on the hunt to solve a mystery this YA book should be on your autumn reading list.

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morebedsidebooks's reviews 423 reviews

morebedsidebooks's reviews
423 reviews