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grets_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A lovely, whimsical very very queer read that was such a balm for the soul.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Transphobia, Abandonment, and Homophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Acephobia/Arophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Misogyny
visorforavisor's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I can barely begin to adequately express how wonderful this book was. The fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, reimagined with a trans boy, was always going to be something that I would enjoy, but the delight of The Story of the Hundred Promises goes far beyond that.
The most wonderful thing about it is the world-building. This goes further than anything else I’ve ever read with the concept of “gender is a social construct”, by pointing out that not only is gender constructed, but the way in which it interacts with our lives is too.
For instance, our main character Darragh introduces himself sometimes as “Darragh he Thorn”. This is a custom which exists in some of the places in the book, the structure of “[given name] [pronoun] [family name]”. In other places, he introduces himself as “Goodman Darragh”. Not only do the customs vary from place to place as he travels around, but none of the customs match modern Western ones. It’s so wonderfully thought-out. Before a person introduces themself with their gender, the narration consistently uses neutral pronouns for them. It is delightful.
The use of the e, em, eir, eirs, emself pronoun — while signposted in a note at the beginning of the book — is so natural throughout the book. I can only commend Neil Cochrane on this. Fair play. Not only does the pronoun feel natural, it feels normal: and not only that, but widespread.
Yet more world-building that i really enjoyed: the sailors’ tattoos. Darragh is a sailor; he and his fellow sailors wear a variety of tattoos to communicate things to each other. Where “[given name] [pronoun] [family name]” and “[honourific] [given name]” are too formal for the rough sailors, Darragh has a mermaid’s-purse with a harpoon to indicate that he is to be referred to as male, and a friend of his wears interlocking triangles to show that she enjoys the company of other women. Darragh has a three-faced head to show he is trans. It’s wonderful.
Additionally, while many of the queer characters do experience negativity from others on the basis of their queerness, this reads on the whole as individual cruelty rather than a small part of more consistent or organised bigotry. When Darragh’s father does not believe Darragh to be a man, or when [redacted]’s friend refuses to believe they cannot experience romantic love, these do not feel like common experiences.
It was refreshing and happy to see it acknowledged that these things happen in a story that also tells us that discrimination is not an inherent part of society.
As a side point, I really enjoyed the enormous number of Celtic names in this. Just good fun.
The exploration of Merrigan’s feelings about eir genderlessness and what it means for em was, I thought, beautifully done, and the word “gender-kin” is just perfect.
To finish up a very very positive review, I must note that Neil Cochrane has done a tremendous job of making the narration sound like a fairy tale without it sounding in any way stilted. Bravo.
Please, please go and read this.
The most wonderful thing about it is the world-building. This goes further than anything else I’ve ever read with the concept of “gender is a social construct”, by pointing out that not only is gender constructed, but the way in which it interacts with our lives is too.
For instance, our main character Darragh introduces himself sometimes as “Darragh he Thorn”. This is a custom which exists in some of the places in the book, the structure of “[given name] [pronoun] [family name]”. In other places, he introduces himself as “Goodman Darragh”. Not only do the customs vary from place to place as he travels around, but none of the customs match modern Western ones. It’s so wonderfully thought-out. Before a person introduces themself with their gender, the narration consistently uses neutral pronouns for them. It is delightful.
The use of the e, em, eir, eirs, emself pronoun — while signposted in a note at the beginning of the book — is so natural throughout the book. I can only commend Neil Cochrane on this. Fair play. Not only does the pronoun feel natural, it feels normal: and not only that, but widespread.
Yet more world-building that i really enjoyed: the sailors’ tattoos. Darragh is a sailor; he and his fellow sailors wear a variety of tattoos to communicate things to each other. Where “[given name] [pronoun] [family name]” and “[honourific] [given name]” are too formal for the rough sailors, Darragh has a mermaid’s-purse with a harpoon to indicate that he is to be referred to as male, and a friend of his wears interlocking triangles to show that she enjoys the company of other women. Darragh has a three-faced head to show he is trans. It’s wonderful.
Additionally, while many of the queer characters do experience negativity from others on the basis of their queerness, this reads on the whole as individual cruelty rather than a small part of more consistent or organised bigotry. When Darragh’s father does not believe Darragh to be a man, or when [redacted]’s friend refuses to believe they cannot experience romantic love, these do not feel like common experiences.
It was refreshing and happy to see it acknowledged that these things happen in a story that also tells us that discrimination is not an inherent part of society.
As a side point, I really enjoyed the enormous number of Celtic names in this. Just good fun.
The exploration of Merrigan’s feelings about eir genderlessness and what it means for em was, I thought, beautifully done, and the word “gender-kin” is just perfect.
To finish up a very very positive review, I must note that Neil Cochrane has done a tremendous job of making the narration sound like a fairy tale without it sounding in any way stilted. Bravo.
Please, please go and read this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia and Homophobia
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