I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is advertised as a futuristic book, but it really isn't. Out of 22 stories, less than half are actually futuristic. There are sci-fi and fantasy elements to some of the others, but not enough to make it sound like a futuristic society.

It is also advertised as "queer and trans" stories. I am not entirely sure why there is the distinction, but I do know that very few of the stories are about trans people (which was the reason I read this anthology). Even when there are trans characters, there is questionable content, such as suggesting people can be forced to be transgender or that you're not "really" your gender until you medically transition. It is possible I misinterpreted these stories, as I am sure at least the former is meant as humor, but as a trans person too this feels questionable. There are trans people who don't transition, and there are too many people who think we force people to be trans for me to be able to laugh at this.

Furthermore, many of these stories are in dystopian settings. Not that they have to be lighthearted, but given the political climate and the fact I thought this book was supposed to give us hope for the future, I really did not like that.

Mandelo says in the beginning he edited stories from both amateur and professional writers, and quite honestly you can really tell. There are stories in this anthology that feel more in place on Wattpad than they do here. For example, the second story "Trans World Takeover" has very bland storytelling, with absolutely no dialogue punctuation. I know there are books by professional authors that publish that way, but it is a pet peeve of mine at the very least.

I normally am fine giving ratings to anthologies, but there were some in this that I really liked and some I really did not. The 2 stars is for the anthology as a whole as the few I liked did not really make this worth it.