While I typically really enjoy LGBT-focused stories, I can’t say I loved this one. The premise of “closeted person has super religious friends and/or family that shun them when they come out” seems a bit overplayed. I didn’t have a problem with the inclusion of a trans grandparent for the main character, like some did, but it did feel a little half-assed. I guess it’s just gotten to the point where it’s exhausting to read about the hatred some harbor towards LGBT (especially T) folks. I wanted to see more of a relationship built between the main character and her step-grandma Dina. I wish that was explored more and less time was spent on trying to get the audience to have a soft spot for characters that wound up being incredibly homophobic. It’s just something I would have preferred to read about.

Real rating: 3.5 stars

This graphic novel has me so conflicted. The first third of the story felt incredibly slow to me. I found it difficult to keep reading. I knew some turning point was coming, and I was getting impatient to find out what it was. After the plot was finally revealed, things really picked up, though. I was glad to finally know what the point of this story was, and I was excited with where it was going. I wish less time was spent in the first chunk of the story and more time was spent in the last third. I felt like things started to move a little fast, and while we did learn more about our side characters, I think I would’ve enjoyed their stories to be even more fleshed out.

Overall, the world building was very interesting. It was honestly refreshing to see a story with no men in it. I would definitely recommend it to science fiction fans.

This might be one of my favorite books that I’ve read so far this year. I understand why it might not have worked for some people, and there’s definitely a risk when writing a collection of short stories - some stories just may not speak to readers, causing their opinion of the book overall to falter. I guess I was lucky that each of these stories worked really well for me. I found myself needing to take breaks often because of how at some points it felt like I, as the reader, was impacting the story. Overall, a great book.