I was so ready to love this book. A murder mystery set in Victorian London featuring a transmasc lead that the author claims isn't centered around his transness? Amazing. But that's the issue: almost every single issue Leo goes through all somehow links back to the anguish he feels as a transman. 

I don't really want to go into spoilers but Leo faces almost every humiliation and aggression a trans person could through: constant misgendering and deadnaming, forced outings, forced to pass as female in one scene, etc. He even gets raped in one scene, outing himself to an aggressor so that he could spare a woman from it. I'm sorry, but constantly degrading your trans character in these ways in a book that "isn't supposed to be about his transness," makes it clear it's a pretty integral plot point. I'm just so tired of trans pain, especially one in stories they ordinarily aren't a part of, due to the misconception of "Oh they didn't exist back then." I get the historical accuracy, but then it still fiction, you can do anything you can rightfully pull off. The rape scene did nothing to further any plot point or character progression and everything would have advanced just fine without it. 

I understand the intention of the author and I'm sure he didn't mean the book to come off this way, but at a certain point intention counts for very little. 

Now I didn't hate every aspect of this book. I thought Leo was a fine character and I did appreciate that he was able to make a good life for himself. His character was understandably naive, though occasionally misguided. I would have loved to see the progression of his character but, looking at the synopsis of the next book, where his former identity is used as blackmail, I feel it's just going to be more the same.