NK Jemisin is a master world builder, and there was a lot of sensual pleasure in simply returning to the world of Gujaareh, a city infused with dream magic, ten years after the end of the events of the previous book. This second volume picks up a very minor character from book one (Wanahomen, son of the previous Prince) as well as some completely new characters (including Hanani, the first woman ever to be trained as a healer by the Hetawa) as its leads. This unlikely pair must work together to free their city from the Kisuati occupation which resulted from the last war. While I enjoyed how this book explored some of the indigenous tribes who live in the desert between Gujaareh and Kisua, I have some fundamental questions about the ethics underlying the plot. Gujaareh's justice system includes religious mercy killings, performed by characters who are written as sympathetic heroes. There's also a pretty black and white system for determining whether someone is corrupt, and so merits a mercy killing, or not corrupt, and so is allowed to continue on with their life. Multiple characters express that "intentions matter more than actions", a belief that is directly opposite of what I believe in our real world. Because intentions justify actions, it is okay for Wanahomen to start a violent uprising because his ultimate goal is to rule Gujaareh peacefully.

SPOILERS: It's also apparently okay for him to put Hanani in a position where she is probably going to be raped, in order to cement a political alliance and his war plans. Hanani learns that Wanahomen set her up for a sexual assault but forgives him and ultimately falls in love with him. In addition to this, the main "villain" of this story is a disabled child, who is accidentally killing innocent people with her powerful nightmares; nightmares fueled by the abuse she has received at the hands of her father, who is also her grandfather, because she is the produce of incest and rape. This story is set in a world where healers can use magic to cure 90% of all wounds and illnesses, as well as some types of mental health issues. Yet Hanani makes the call the disabled child is too damaged to be healed, and that the best option for her is a mercy killing, since as long as she lives she will continue to kill other people around her unintentionally. Why isn't the dream blood magic strong enough to heal the child? Why is it the right choice to kill the child, who is killing people but without intention, in a world where supposedly intentions are more important than actions? In some ways the ending of this book feels like an echo of Omelas, but instead of keeping the child alive and suffering in the hole, Hanani must peacefully kill the child in her sleep in order for the utopian city life to continue.

I don't know man. I'm just really not sure about the values this book seems to be arguing for. 

A sexy, self-aware fantasy story of an immortal elf lord falling for a human king. This comic was clearly born out of a Legolas/Aragorn fanfiction, but then grew into its own tender meditation on unrequited love and mismatched lifespans in a world of magic, danger, and adventure. It's spicy, it's funny, it's beautifully drawn, what's not to love? 

This book walloped me! Set in 2002, which technically makes it historical fiction, this book follows a pair of nerdy queer high schoolers who develop an intense co-dependent friendship which is then destroyed just shy of their graduation by a series of painful emotional mistakes and unprocessed traumas. Nell is the only out lesbian at the small Quaker school in New York City. Fay is a self-professed 'fag hag' (a term which body slammed me back to the early 00s) or someone obsessed with gay men and gay male culture. I immediately clocked and read Fay as a gay trans man who lacked the language to express or definite himself as such. The book supports this reading, but also keeps the majority of the plot in an 18 month stretch of time in which Fay and Nell waltz through school joined at the hip, heckling their teachers, ignoring much of their homework, acting in the school play and musical, writing fan fiction about their classmates, and DMing each other on AOL until 2 or 3am every morning but never talking about their deepest emotional wounds. There were so many feelings and moments from this book which felt deeply, or even uncomfortably, familiar from my own gender confused teen years. But also this is a novel deeply interested in the concept of narrative foils and baby does it deliver on the mirrors, the parallels, and the consequences of layering your own expectations over a real human person in your life. I have some quibbles with the epilogue of the book (part of me wants to cut that part off completely) but overall I had a great time reading this and if you were gender nonconforming and in high school between like 1998-2008 it will likely hit you very hard as well. 

This is a quiet, gentle coming of age story about two Korean American teens both trying to balance responsibilities of family and school with a search for their own identities and priorities. Caroline is a sophomore whose days are shaped by zero periods, band practice, studying, and reading fantasy romance comics when people aren't paying attention. Kim is a senior failing Algebra 2, possibly because she is in constant motion: picking her younger siblings up from school, working at a mechanic shop, teaching guitar lessons, helping her mom, and showing up at every social occasion even at very last minute notice. Caroline is assigned as Kim's math tutor, and that connection blooms into a friendship which pulls Caroline out of their shell and slows Kim down a little bit. I loved the hand inked line art and the soft way the story unfolded; it felt like real life. 

Beautiful, but at times baffling, this comic follows Oberon, a trans college dropout living in a terraformed space colony where many people have developed superpowers of some sort, called Ghosts. Oberon has been struggling with burnout and migraines which doctors can't cure or diagnose. He's also the only person in his family without a magic power, which he has a real chip on his shoulder about. But then he starts manifesting things from his dreams, and also manifesting a grown up version of his high school crush, Kon. Oberon knows that this version of Kon is just a manifestation of his own fantasy and thoughts, but he started working with Kon to try and explore and train his new powers. I LOVED the art in this and was wowed by many of the action sequences but will admit I was at times kind of lost as to what was happening. It's a trippy, dreamy book! Pick it up when you are in the mood for a dream logic ride, not when you are in the mood for hard sci-fi.  

The best reading experience of this book would be as a companion piece to a re-read of the complete set of Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, as these sketches and short comics weave in between the canon filling in a compelling love story that can be glimpsed between the lines. As a long time Sherlock Holmes AU enjoyer, I am very happy to add this version to my collection! These comics can also be read on tumblr.

In an alternate near future so close to our own it hardly feels speculative, two Muslim teens work on a guide on how to access abortion in Texas now that it is completely illegal, with prison sentences for anyone who even aids abortion access. For Laylah this is need is not theoretical- she's over two months pregnant and desperate to end the pregnancy without anyone in her life finding out. This stubborn shameful secrecy is not based in any specific logic, as it was made clear that Laylah's mother, grandmother, and best friend would immediately all support her and offer help if she asked. Meanwhile, Laylah's bestie Noor, a student journalist, is chasing the rumor of stolen donations made to the local mosque and an Iman's wife who might have taken them for her own purposes. There was a lot I enjoyed in this book, from very fun mixed media formatting choices, to the strong female friendship, to seeing two characters different relationship to religion. As an adult reader I was at times somewhat frustrated by the teens making foolish, self-sabotaging choices (please just be honest with your very supportive family!) but as a teen I think this book would have knocked my socks off. 

A brief but engaging history of role playing games, which dips into some of the most ancient forms of recorded human gaming and the diverse development of war games, courtroom games, and board games which directly proceeded the creation Dungeons and Dragons in 1974. I should have guessed that D&D wasn't the first game that Gary Gygax or Dave Arneson created, and that it borrowed many mechanics, rules, and aesthetics of previous games but remixed into a more potently successful package. The back matter includes a short playable adventure! 

A well-researched, thoughtful, engaging look at trans and gender nonconforming people through history and from all around the world. This book is very welcoming to newcomers, but also full of little gems for those of us who have been reading trans histories for years. Combs and Eakett come from within the trans community, but they also pass the mic to many other trans folks of different ages, races, nationalities, and identities to share non-white and non-Western experiences. A beautiful and compassionate primer!

I listened to the audiobook and it is SO gorgeously well produced; full of singing and atmospheric background sounds of water, rain, and rustling willows. If you like audio and can handle soundscaping I highly recommend that as the way to experience this fairly short but lovely queer fairy tale. One thing to note is that the audiobook is 4 hours long; but that it's actually one 3 hour story called "The River Has Roots" and then a second 1 hour long story which is a teaser for El-Mohtar's forthcoming short story collection. I enjoyed both but the second one doesn't have the emotional impact (in part provided by the music and sounds) of the first.