TW: death, murder, gore, blood, urine, suicide, suicide ideation, guns

The trolley problem, but make it giant murderous mannequins, sprinkle with miracle-gro and add a very susceptible teenager. Enjoy this slasher in it's pure, dark hilarity.

TW: mixed orientation marriage, acephobia (called out)

A cute setup, but while I picked it up on the promise of ace rep, it didn't go much into it (or define ace from aro). I do love the sweet friendship of the main characters, but don't think I'll keep going.

TW: death, grief, gaslighting, withholding of healrhcare/medications, suicide ideation

This book expertly calls ouy the 'romanticised disabled artist' trope embraced by so many who feel they are owed disabled people's misery for 'art' or 'insperation'. we. can. just. exist.

3.5 rounded up.

Note: this review is from a completly ignorant person when it comes to science (but wants to learn!)

While I found aspects interesting and fascinating, I'm afraid it didn't 'stick' well to my brain. This could be my (personal) AuDHD, but I found topics chosen by the author a bit tedious at times (such as the swimsuits and tires) while others very interesting (gecko toes and indigonous paint preservation).

Language and accessability slipped between understandable to complicated quite frequently, which was difficult and made me have to reread paragraphs a few times over.

*Note: I am a trans, non binary, queer, white and disabled person. I want to thank Harry Nicholas and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the opportunity to access an eARC of this book.

The thing that sold me on this book was the cover (gorgeous and eye-catching colours, well chosen font choice and photo) and the title (clever and sets the whole mood for the tone and themes of this book, honestly, it’s genius). The designer deserves recognition!

Onto the contents! Now, I’m hesitant to read a lot of trans biographies and memoirs, especially as this year I decided to steer away from ‘trans trauma’ narratives. Often the trans narrative is focused solely on our trauma - on the abuse and exclusion and pain we all suffer at one point or another (weekly, daily, even hourly).

While this narrative is important to bring awareness to, it can also be dangerous - and is the main (if only) genre of any trans narrative, fiction or non-fiction. Being trans is so much more than, and honestly, not even about, pain. It’s about joy - joy in our gender euphoria, our discovery of ourselves, what makes us happy, how we WANT to live and feel, be seen, and express ourselves as.

I say all this to praise this book, because Harry, while of course discussing the trauma and pain he has encountered, focuses mainly on the joy and rhythm of his journey. His ups and downs, his smiles and sorrows, all while his main goal is to educate and tie each anecdote to a current or pressing issue. Just as with everyone, the sorrows of his life are always companions to fun, wild, dangerous, and fulfilling experiences.
His humor never misses, nor does it feel shoved in as an afterthought to lighten a harrowing moment. Instead, Harry flawlessly navigates the complicated and nuanced flood of emotions so well that no moment is ever the ‘trauma’ moment or the ‘happy’ moment. That just doesn't exist in life. We FEEL so much in each second. Yet he’s able to convey these without complication or overbearance.

If I could wish for changes, (especially as Harry wrote this book because he could not find books on this very topic (being a gay trans man in gay spaces)) I would have loved him to offer tips and advice on things he’s learned in a summary of each section. What should one prepare for and take to a gay bar? How can one take safety precautions on a date? What are the social rules and practices of a gay sauna? What can you do to prepare for transphobia on a date? Mind you, a lot of advice is given during or after anecdotes, but I, being a list person, would have appreciated some bullet-point summaries at the end.

During the section on the issues around ‘passing’ (which was brilliantly done, don’t get me wrong) he failed to mention how it affects androgynous presenting trans folk (such as myself), intersex people and trans folk who happily present as the gender they are assigned at birth but are another gender entirely. Passing isn’t even an option for some of us (some don’t want to) and some (like me) who won’t ever get the option in their lifetime. That’s honestly a large portion of our trans population that got left out of this discussion.

Lastly, this is another (as far as I’ve been able to tell) book from a white perspective. Harry does mention the need to listen to and be aware of BIPOC trans folk, but I felt that a lot of Harry’s experiences were grounded in the safety of whiteness. It limits how well this book could help BIPOC trans men looking for the book Harry set out to make. It is helpful to white folks, sure, but leaves out much needed help to our trans BIPOC siblings. I’d love for this same book to be written from a Black, Indigenous or Takatāpui lens.

Overall, I do rate this a 4.5 for white readers - as it will help them. For non-white readers, I’m not qualified to rate, but I will suggest it leaves out critical information and help for them (but I implore we listen to BIPOC reviewers always in this area rather than myself).

T.W: Blood, vomit, death, being kicked out from home, sex,

2.5

While I loved having an non-binary protagonist, a huge enveloping world, and the dragon was well worth the wait to get to, I found the romance sub(?) plot the most annoying aspect. Jebi was in insta-love and no matter what revelations and actions that took place, especially ones that would have made most people second guess the relationship, Jebi was just so in love that any concerns would eventually be dropped (not solved). It honestly ruined the book for me, but this is very subjective and others may see it quite differently.

TW: racism, homophobia, parents kicking out a child, parental abandonment, suicide ideation

I loved this book even if only for the beautiful and sweet relationship between Yamilet and her brother. Everything else was great too, but I will die for these two.

TW: racism, death, colonisation

"Italicise foreign words in your works so readers won't get confused." Te Punga Summerville's response? "Okay, then I'm italicising english" is so kick butt and sassy I love it.

TW: ableism, death, fire, child abuse
(Note: I am an autistic/ADHD reviewer)

I was excited for a book to challenge the historical ableism of the 'changling' myth - where parents thought their children were swapped by faeries with a changling, a "human but not 'quite human' creature". This was how they explained their children acting "odd" or "strange". This could easily be our disability history.

Now, while this is an interesting exploration, I felt the metaphor was muffled. Like the problem with Zootopia's tackling of racism. This felt similar. In Zootopia the metaphor breaks due to carnivores... You know... Historically eating herbavores. Here the 'changling is actually autistic, not a dangerous magical creature' fails since... there are actual (dangerous) fearies and magic in this world. Seelie has powerful magic that litterally accidently kills a guy, so people's fears (while rooted in error) were logical in-universe. I just felt the author tried to hard to keep the story as BOTH metaphorical and yet also factual, and while well intentioned, muddied the message a bit.

Despite this there were good moments and an intriguing plot to carry the often slow paced story along. Having an autistic protagonist set in a fantasy relm was fun and different. A decent read.

TW: colonisation, death, murder, war, racism

The message and facts were so important and very much needed. A 10/10.

However, I found it was difficult to follow with it's constant jumping between dates, people/iwi, years, and wars. It felt like a textbook but without the helpful formating of a textbook to help you try to navigate chronological events as well as topics.