Chrysalis by Anuja Varghese is a collection of stories that explore transformation, belonging, queerness, family, and community. The stories center around women of color and show the reader the complex intersections of their lives through a feminist lens.

While I found some of the stories to be poignant and brilliant, I must admit that many of them didn't quite hold my attention. However, I would still recommend this book to prospective readers who are interested in magical realism and folklore, and who appreciate stories that take a critical look at societal power dynamics. One of these stories was featured in Queer Little Nightmares, another story collection I highly recommend and what initially drew me to Varghese's work.

One of the standout stories for me was "The Dreamer," which follows a woman who repeatedly dies in her dreams until she finds salvation in an unexpected source. This story, like many others in the collection, blurs the lines between the monstrous and the mundane and left me feeling haunted long after I finished reading it. It was one of my favorites.

Varghese's writing is poetic, sensual, and surreal, and she has a knack for creating settings that transport the reader to other worlds. Her exploration of sexuality, cultural expectation, and the ways in which racialized women are robbed of power is both timely and important. I appreciated those aspects of the book.

Overall I found this to be a unique and thought-provoking collection of stories that will appeal to readers who enjoy genre-bending fiction with a feminist twist. While not all of the stories stood out for me, the ones that did made the read well worth it.

Thanks so so much to House of Anansi Press, Inc, Astoria, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book prior to its release in exchange for my honest thoughts.