I’ve given myself a few hours before I write a review/my thoughts on this book. I listened to the audiobook which I loved.

Pet surprised me in a great and unexpected way. I knew going in that there is trans rep but I didn’t know exactly which character is trans and if it was FtM or MtF.

Jam, the main character, is male to female. She is strong, she knows what she wants, and most of all, she knows who she is inside. Seeing that in a book character makes me SO happy. Seeing a trans character in a fantasy story made me fall in love with this book even more. On top of Jam being trans, she doesn’t talk much. Seeing sign language being represented in literature is amazing. I want to learn sign language and this book has made me want to learn it even more.

Seeing so much representation in a such a small book (under 300 pages) makes me so happy and feel seen by society. Being a trans man it’s hard to find literature with trans characters in general. ESPECIALLY in fantasy novels. But Emezi wrote them all so well into the story. Not only is there LGBTQ+ representation, mostly all of the characters are poc. Since I listened to the audiobook, I’m not entirely sure if all of them are poc but I’m 90% sure they are.

On top of Jam, there is a side character who is non binary and I love them too. There is portrayal of a polyamory relationship and from what I know and have heard, it’s portrayed well!

The character, Pet itself, I loved. The dynamic between Pet and Jam was so well thought out.

This book has become a new favourite and I definitely want to get a physical copy. If you want a cute, well written fantasy, loads of lgbtq and poc representation, Pet by Akwaeke Emezi is for you.