“If Halwen’s prophecy were true, Wren could do this because xie was neither man nor woman. Xie was human and whole, but different from others. Wren was xerself.”


I first heard of this book through unconventional means, to say the least. I was in a weird mood so I was scrolling through the blog of someone who, to my knowledge, seemed to hate women, POC, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, non-Christian people, and the list goes on. Again, I was in a weird mood where I wanted to get angry. Anyway, this person made an angry blog post about this book and mentioned snowflakes and SJWs a couple times, so I knew it would be the perfect book for me. (I'm not leaving out the person's name to be coy or not start drama, btw, I legitimately don't remember who it was)

My discovery of this book isn't the point though. Onto the review! This is an anthology featuring twists on the classic gendered prophecies by placing transgender and non-binary people at the forefront of the stories, written by a genderqueer author. I'm going to be reviewing each story individually, as I usually do for short story collections. I won't be including content warnings like I usually do because each story in this collection comes with incredibly comprehensive content warnings beforehand.


Tangled Nets [4/5]
representation: non-binary protagonist (uses xie/xer pronouns)
This one follows a teenager who is still grieving xer sister after she was given to the dragon that the village made a deal with long ago as a sacrifice. This one had some really great Hunger Games vibes to it, with there being a “lottery” of sorts to decide who the sacrifice is, and the strong sibling relationship shown even if one sibling is already dead when the story starts. This story also perfectly sets up the idea of how non-binary people can subvert gendered prophecies in a way that reminded me of the “I am no man” moment in LOTR. There are also witches!!

King’s Favor [3/5]
representation: non-binary protagonist (uses nee/ner pronouns)
Okay, apparently the badass declaration of how the MC subverts the prophecy is going to be in every story, and I am so here for it! King’s Favor is about a hedge-witch and spy who gets captured by the queen of a land nee must pass through. While in custody, nee forms a bond with a woman and they become friends (with some hints at a future romance maybe). This one was a bit slower to start as there’s a LOT of worldbuilding just kind of crammed in there, but once the story got going it was really enjoyable. I love when witchy beings have specific areas of magic as a specialty, and plant-based magic is also one of my faves, so this was especially a win for me.

His Father’s Son [5/5]
representation: transgender protagonist (uses he/him pronouns)
I have so many conflicted feelings. This one started really heartwarming, then got super angsty, then ended triumphantly, AND I AM A MESS OF EMOTIONS. In this story, the protagonist is Nocien, a trans boy who hasn’t come out to his mentor yet. He is determined to kill the man who slaughtered his entire family and, as you would imagine, the end fight scene is fucking badass and the prophecy-defying moment is just as badass as the last ones. This one just made me feel a lot of things, especially with the stuff at the start between Nocien and their mentor as they were sparring. Easily my favourite thus far.

Daughter of Kings [4/5]
representation: transgender protagonist (uses she/her pronouns)
So, this entire collection is fantasy and has lots of different magical beings woven into it, but I am loving the fact that witches of some kind are showing up in almost every story, even if it isn’t the main focus of this one. Instead, this focuses on the granddaughter of an influential queen who was prophesised to one day have a granddaughter who would be able to wield her sword and would rule over the kingdom. The protagonist, her companion and younger brother go into the woods and come across a witch who leads them to the sword and… you know where it’s gonna go from there. In conclusion, I love women being powerful, and I’m a little bit head over heels for Finndís.

Early to Rise [5/5]
representation: aro/ace genderfluid protagonist (uses she/her, he/him, they/them pronouns. I will be referring to the protagonist using he/him pronouns throughout the review as those are the final pronouns used in the story)
I’m always a slut for a reimagining of a problematic fairytale that takes away the problematic elements. Though, to be fair, the original Grimm’s fairytale of Sleeping Beauty had her raped and she only woke when she gave birth, so I guess Disney was the one that made it problematic?? Anyway, this story does none of that! The set-up is exactly as you would expect from a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, but the gender-related twist made it one of my favourite fairytale retellings, which is impressive considering how short it is. Claude is never explicitly stated to be aro/ace, for obvious time-period reasons, but I would say that the way he talks about not having a True Love makes it fairly obvious that he at least falls somewhere on the spectrum. Forget His Father’s Son, this one takes the medal of my favourite (so far, there’s still more to come)

No Man of Woman Born [4/5]
representation: questioning protagonist (uses he/him pronouns), side m/m relationship, side transgender character (uses he/him pronouns), side non-binary characters (one uses they/them pronouns, one uses kie/ker)
This one didn’t go at all like I was expecting, but I really liked it for that. Unlike the rest, which definitely had a more epic fairytale feel to them, this was one very quiet and personal, to the point where it feels like it could be set it any time period. There was a prophecy saying that “no man of woman born” could kill an important figure. Innes, the protagonist, has always felt a connection with the prophecy and this leads to him questioning his gender. There are some really great discussions between him and non-binary side characters, as well as a touching moment at the end between him and another character as they talk about relationships, gender and the prophecy. As someone who is always here for character driven stories, this one fulfilled my every need.

The Wish Giver [3/5]
representation: transgender protagonist (uses she/her pronouns)
This was just just short and sweet. It’s set in a village where there’s a dragon who can grant wishes, and a toddler goes to the dragon and wishes to have everyone acknowledge her as a girl. It’s only a few pages long, but was so fluffy and made my heart grow three sizes larger.


Overall, my ratings average out to around a 4 (don't trust my math though, dividing has always been a weakness of mine). I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for good trans/non-binary rep (especially if you want said rep that isn't written by a cis person), for good twists on classic stories, or just a really solid fantasy anthology series.


I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.