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simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Isn’t that cover amazing and beautiful? Yes, it is!
This graphic novel, as the title says, is all about explaining queer identity. It sort of focuses on transgender and nonbinary people, but it has more general sections on gender identity vs romantic/sexual orientation, a section on coming out, discussions of self-love, and even a section on red flags in relationships.
I didn’t expect to learn anything new from this booklet, and yet it made me realise that social dysphoria exists (up until now, I only knew about physical dysphoria) and that I definitely have been experiencing it.
You see so much gatekeeping nowadays that I am wary about most guides like this, but I found this one refreshingly inclusive, with recognising that not every trans person experiences dysphoria, talking about how nonbinary people might experience transness differently from binary trans people, and an entire section on asexuality. Also, both the intro and the outtro talk about the importance of inclusivity, and “making our quilt bigger” if someone doesn’t fit under it.
Other perks of this book include accessible language, fun illustrations with snails, a section at the end where you can write a letter to your past or future self, and more.
That being said, I do have two concerns.
1) The definition of bisexuality used here is “attraction to the same gender and other genders”. This is definitely better than insisting bi people can only be attracted to binary genders or only two genders, but not every bisexual person is attracted to the same gender (e.g. a woman only being attracted to women and nonbinary people can be bi), and the concept of “same gender” might not mean much to a lot of nonbinary people anyway.
2) While there is an entire section asexuality, aromanticism is only mentioned in one sentence in the asexual section, and it’s even phrased in a way that implies that only asexual people can be aromantic. This is not true, and there is a bad tendency of only mentioning aromanticism as a “subset” of asexuality when they are different things and not necessarily go together. Since my copy was an ARC, I do hope that the publisher will consider and maybe change this.
Other than those two things, I was pleasantly surprised and content with this guide.
Isn’t that cover amazing and beautiful? Yes, it is!
This graphic novel, as the title says, is all about explaining queer identity. It sort of focuses on transgender and nonbinary people, but it has more general sections on gender identity vs romantic/sexual orientation, a section on coming out, discussions of self-love, and even a section on red flags in relationships.
I didn’t expect to learn anything new from this booklet, and yet it made me realise that social dysphoria exists (up until now, I only knew about physical dysphoria) and that I definitely have been experiencing it.
You see so much gatekeeping nowadays that I am wary about most guides like this, but I found this one refreshingly inclusive, with recognising that not every trans person experiences dysphoria, talking about how nonbinary people might experience transness differently from binary trans people, and an entire section on asexuality. Also, both the intro and the outtro talk about the importance of inclusivity, and “making our quilt bigger” if someone doesn’t fit under it.
Other perks of this book include accessible language, fun illustrations with snails, a section at the end where you can write a letter to your past or future self, and more.
That being said, I do have two concerns.
1) The definition of bisexuality used here is “attraction to the same gender and other genders”. This is definitely better than insisting bi people can only be attracted to binary genders or only two genders, but not every bisexual person is attracted to the same gender (e.g. a woman only being attracted to women and nonbinary people can be bi), and the concept of “same gender” might not mean much to a lot of nonbinary people anyway.
2) While there is an entire section asexuality, aromanticism is only mentioned in one sentence in the asexual section, and it’s even phrased in a way that implies that only asexual people can be aromantic. This is not true, and there is a bad tendency of only mentioning aromanticism as a “subset” of asexuality when they are different things and not necessarily go together. Since my copy was an ARC, I do hope that the publisher will consider and maybe change this.
Other than those two things, I was pleasantly surprised and content with this guide.
Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.
This was an absolute mess, but at least an entertaining one.
This was an absolute mess, but at least an entertaining one.
I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
rating: 4.5 stars
the short version is that I loved this, but RTC
rating: 4.5 stars
the short version is that I loved this, but RTC
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
When I look in the mirror,
I don’t see a girl and
I don’t see a boy. I just see
my goofy glasses and Beatle-like hair.
Let's get this out of the way first: the formatting of the ARC I read is horrible. There is a part where the same section repeats 4-5 times, and there are words that are either missing, or look more like keysmashes than actual words, and I have to try to figure out what it was supposed to be. I'm going to try my best not to let this affect my rating and opinion of the content itself.
I was a little skeptical when I saw that this book is written in a poetry-ish style (as in: no rhymes or real logic, but all the lines are really short for some reason), and I often wished that it had been written in prose instead - but despite that, this book felt really real. Seriously, some parts were as if they were taken straight from my internal monologue as an AFAB genderqueer/nonbinary person.
The whole book is really introspective, and there isn't really a plot other than finding yourself, figuring out your identity, trying to figure out what others would think, etc. There are supportive parents, unsupportive parents, supportive friends, queer side characters, and going to poetry readings by queer poets. There was also a part about the dangers of unsafe binding, and how you might resort to it if you're desperate but you really shouldn't.
The main character also doesn't have a love interest and kind of questions their romantic orientation, so if you're looking for a queer book without romance, this might be your thing? They don't consider being aro, though.
Overall, I'm rating this book 4 stars because other than the formatting issues I don't really have anything negative to say about it. I personally found the main character really relatable and close to my own personal experience, and I can't recall any parts that could have been offensive or hurtful - but others might think differently, so proceed with caution.
When I look in the mirror,
I don’t see a girl and
I don’t see a boy. I just see
my goofy glasses and Beatle-like hair.
Let's get this out of the way first: the formatting of the ARC I read is horrible. There is a part where the same section repeats 4-5 times, and there are words that are either missing, or look more like keysmashes than actual words, and I have to try to figure out what it was supposed to be. I'm going to try my best not to let this affect my rating and opinion of the content itself.
I was a little skeptical when I saw that this book is written in a poetry-ish style (as in: no rhymes or real logic, but all the lines are really short for some reason), and I often wished that it had been written in prose instead - but despite that, this book felt really real. Seriously, some parts were as if they were taken straight from my internal monologue as an AFAB genderqueer/nonbinary person.
The whole book is really introspective, and there isn't really a plot other than finding yourself, figuring out your identity, trying to figure out what others would think, etc. There are supportive parents, unsupportive parents, supportive friends, queer side characters, and going to poetry readings by queer poets. There was also a part about the dangers of unsafe binding, and how you might resort to it if you're desperate but you really shouldn't.
The main character also doesn't have a love interest and kind of questions their romantic orientation, so if you're looking for a queer book without romance, this might be your thing? They don't consider being aro, though.
Overall, I'm rating this book 4 stars because other than the formatting issues I don't really have anything negative to say about it. I personally found the main character really relatable and close to my own personal experience, and I can't recall any parts that could have been offensive or hurtful - but others might think differently, so proceed with caution.
Ehh. I have no problem with stories where the love interest is grumpy/distant because he's closeted and/or doesn't know how to deal with his feelings, but I DO have a problem when this turns into deliberately making the crush's life miserable. Even after Noel realised he was being an ass, I still felt no chemistry between them. Overall, I just didn't enjoy this at all.
(original review from 2018 below)
So much found family!!
First, I was kind of surprised by how much the title actually fits the book: yes, this is indeed the description of a long journey to a war-torn planet, with everything that entails. A lot of the journey is getting to know the characters and their cultures, so the plot might seem slow at times, but then something big or dangerous happens and you have to hold your breath. And then it completely destroys you emotionally. So yeah, it was a wild ride.
I loved how diverse the inhabitants of the galaxy were: I didn't feel like the aliens were just slightly different humans, they were all completely unique in biology, looks, culture and history as well. I loved how those cultures sometimes clashed, and the crew members had trouble really accepting something from someone else's (like in the case of Sissix or Ohan), but they still respected the other crew members and their culture. I found the way Sissix's people treat families especially interesting - some part of it, like the polyamorous living with your lovers/friends type of thing was appealing, while other parts were admittedly strange for my human brain, but at least I know Ashby and Rosemary shared those thoughts with me. I also loved how Dr Chef's species treated gender as something that changes over time for their species.
Not only the aliens are unique either: the humans in this book also have different groups with different views, including the Exodans who have left behind their species' bloody past and became completely pacifists with strong principles on holding guns. I loved how Ashby's views were explored and handled, and I loved the strong anti-colonialism message.
And the found family aspect? Just, wow. These people love each other so much. Sissix and Ashby are so good. Jenks and Kizzy are so good. Dr Chef's talk with Rosemary about their species is so good. Ohan and Corbin appear less often, but when they do, they destroy your emotions, especially in the second half of the book. One of my favourite moments was when Corbin gets in trouble (not describing the trouble obviously, because spoilers), and Sissix is SO annoyed because she hates his guts, but she still doesn't even consider not helping him.
There are also some complicated or questionable moral decisions that come from the difference in the cultures, most importantly in Ohan's case. I can tell you honestly that I'm not sure how to feel about what happened in the end, and I don't know what would have been the right path there. I just don't know.
Lovey and Jenks and the whole storyline about AI and their consent was amazing. (It also gave me very strong Joker/EDI vibes, but hey.) And then it destroyed me.
Random little bits I loved:
* If you don't know somebody's gender, it's polite to default to xyr pronouns.
* The part towards the end where Ashby acts the AI's name and he acts so confused and thinks he's in trouble.
* Humans being like "holy shit she's sixteen" and Sissix being like "wait how much is that? translate it to my species please."
* "Come on. Put on your trousers. I want to meet the woman who gets to take them off."
* Jenks staying to listen to a non-sentient AIs entire intro speech, to be polite.
So much found family!!
First, I was kind of surprised by how much the title actually fits the book: yes, this is indeed the description of a long journey to a war-torn planet, with everything that entails. A lot of the journey is getting to know the characters and their cultures, so the plot might seem slow at times, but then something big or dangerous happens and you have to hold your breath. And then it completely destroys you emotionally. So yeah, it was a wild ride.
I loved how diverse the inhabitants of the galaxy were: I didn't feel like the aliens were just slightly different humans, they were all completely unique in biology, looks, culture and history as well. I loved how those cultures sometimes clashed, and the crew members had trouble really accepting something from someone else's (like in the case of Sissix or Ohan), but they still respected the other crew members and their culture. I found the way Sissix's people treat families especially interesting - some part of it, like the polyamorous living with your lovers/friends type of thing was appealing, while other parts were admittedly strange for my human brain, but at least I know Ashby and Rosemary shared those thoughts with me. I also loved how Dr Chef's species treated gender as something that changes over time for their species.
Not only the aliens are unique either: the humans in this book also have different groups with different views, including the Exodans who have left behind their species' bloody past and became completely pacifists with strong principles on holding guns. I loved how Ashby's views were explored and handled, and I loved the strong anti-colonialism message.
And the found family aspect? Just, wow. These people love each other so much. Sissix and Ashby are so good. Jenks and Kizzy are so good. Dr Chef's talk with Rosemary about their species is so good. Ohan and Corbin appear less often, but when they do, they destroy your emotions, especially in the second half of the book. One of my favourite moments was when Corbin gets in trouble (not describing the trouble obviously, because spoilers), and Sissix is SO annoyed because she hates his guts, but she still doesn't even consider not helping him.
There are also some complicated or questionable moral decisions that come from the difference in the cultures, most importantly in Ohan's case. I can tell you honestly that I'm not sure how to feel about what happened in the end, and I don't know what would have been the right path there. I just don't know.
Lovey and Jenks and the whole storyline about AI and their consent was amazing. (It also gave me very strong Joker/EDI vibes, but hey.) And then it destroyed me.
Random little bits I loved:
* If you don't know somebody's gender, it's polite to default to xyr pronouns.
* The part towards the end where Ashby acts the AI's name and he acts so confused and thinks he's in trouble.
* Humans being like "holy shit she's sixteen" and Sissix being like "wait how much is that? translate it to my species please."
* "Come on. Put on your trousers. I want to meet the woman who gets to take them off."
* Jenks staying to listen to a non-sentient AIs entire intro speech, to be polite.
4.5 stars? I'm rating it 4 because I was a little underwhelmed after all the praise, but this was still an imaginative and unique sci-fi. Honestly, I'm probably just too stupid to appreciate it, but all the mathematics and currents made it difficult to get into it. It's also very short.
tldr; I loved this, but I didn't love it as much as I expected. Maybe I should have read the whole trilogy in one or something.
tldr; I loved this, but I didn't love it as much as I expected. Maybe I should have read the whole trilogy in one or something.
3.5 stars
For a realistic/contemporary story, this one really tested my suspension of disbelief sometimes. Still, once you get over the fact that these two guys keep sharing their overly personal notes publicly, it's a pretty fast and interesting read.
For a realistic/contemporary story, this one really tested my suspension of disbelief sometimes. Still, once you get over the fact that these two guys keep sharing their overly personal notes publicly, it's a pretty fast and interesting read.
