rainbowbrarian's Reviews (1.85k)

Cute little read :D Bethany gave it to me for my birthday!

I liked this, it was cute. But it felt half finished and a bit rushed at the end. I wanted to see some development with Tony's friend. I saw him being pulled in two directions, towards his friend and towards his toxic family. It felt like he just got ditched. And I get it, but it felt like there could have been more there. Maybe if this had been a print novel we could have gotten a little more development.

This was a sweet story with an unexpectedly happy ending. I liked the art style a lot as well.

Spoiler

At the end when the king showed up and walked that runway in the red dress I just died of happy. I loved that the story didn't go with a grudgingly accepting parent, but instead had the king asking what he did wrong that his kid felt like he couldn't be themselves. AND that he went right from that moment into "I am supporting my kid RIGHT THE HECK NOW".

Nice message to see. Queer folks too often get the story line of 'your family MIGHT accept you eventually, maybe, if you don't make it too hard'. Which I know sadly reflects reality sometimes. But I love seeing a more hopeful message in fiction.

I adore this whole series. I found Kao through his adorable autobiographical webcomic Mondo Mango. This series is such a fantastic magical person story. I'm really glad that Kao included some notes at the start of the volume about the challenges that Max faces in this book. Max's mother is really awful to her transgender son, Max and parts of it are painful to read. But, according to the experiences of many trans folks that I know, it can be fairly accurate.

Magical Boy puts a lovely queer spin on the traditional chosen-one, save the world storyline. It's awesome to watch Max and his friends grow and face their challenges while supporting each other.

Also the art style is just adorable and I love the talking cat companion, Walnut. All thumbs up!