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scrow1022's review
5.0
Every story in here a win for me. Especially fond of the stories by Matthias Klein, L Chen, Andrew Joseph White, Blue Neustifter.
ryttu3k's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
4.25
adrinthesky's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
solly's review
4.0
Anthologies are always a little bit scary for me because, well, it's hard to like more than 10 authors' work equally. However, I've been writing more shorts myself and I found my interest in short stories renewed. This was a really cool anthology! I can't say I loved all the stories equally but that's rarely going to happen with anthologies anyway.
Most stories were delightful. There was a few that weren't my cup of tea, but overall I enjoyed myself a lot reading this. It's also just incredibly nice to go into a book knowing you're going to get to read only about trans characters!
I won't review each story, but I'm going to talk a little bit about a few of my favourites!
Assistance made me feel Feels. It was a story about a non-binary MC dealing with anxiety and panic attacks and internalized ableism, with the help of a sort of robot specialized in mental health and it felt real and sweet.
When The South Wind Whispers had two autistic main characters, shields protecting the Earth, and an IA that sounds like a too-nice British grandma. It was super interesting and I loved it.
Into The Gray was about a murderous mermaid and the almost as murderous girl who loves her a bit too much. It was really good and I really liked the ending.
Chokechain I had already read elsewhere a while ago, but it was just as good the second time! The SF aspect is used in such an interesting way to explore transphobic families. Very very nice.
Sandals Full of Rainwater was amazing! As a bilingual non-binary person, I just really loved the focus on language, pronouns and gender. The sweet polyam family was an excellent bonus.
Ghosts made me So Emotional. It uses "you"/2nd person and it does it so well! It's a really short one, which I usually struggle more with, but it was absolutely amazing and so well-executed and got me really emotional.
Nuclear Disassociations had a kind of post-apo/body horror feeling to it that I really enjoyed. I feel like this is one of those stories that could have been longer and explore things in more depths? But the whole concept and the main character won me over anyway.
So yeah, I had mostly a very good experience, and it made me want to pick up more (queer) anthologies in the future, so that's good!
TWs are provided for each story at the beginning of the book!
Most stories were delightful. There was a few that weren't my cup of tea, but overall I enjoyed myself a lot reading this. It's also just incredibly nice to go into a book knowing you're going to get to read only about trans characters!
I won't review each story, but I'm going to talk a little bit about a few of my favourites!
Assistance made me feel Feels. It was a story about a non-binary MC dealing with anxiety and panic attacks and internalized ableism, with the help of a sort of robot specialized in mental health and it felt real and sweet.
When The South Wind Whispers had two autistic main characters, shields protecting the Earth, and an IA that sounds like a too-nice British grandma. It was super interesting and I loved it.
Into The Gray was about a murderous mermaid and the almost as murderous girl who loves her a bit too much. It was really good and I really liked the ending.
Chokechain I had already read elsewhere a while ago, but it was just as good the second time! The SF aspect is used in such an interesting way to explore transphobic families. Very very nice.
Sandals Full of Rainwater was amazing! As a bilingual non-binary person, I just really loved the focus on language, pronouns and gender. The sweet polyam family was an excellent bonus.
Ghosts made me So Emotional. It uses "you"/2nd person and it does it so well! It's a really short one, which I usually struggle more with, but it was absolutely amazing and so well-executed and got me really emotional.
Nuclear Disassociations had a kind of post-apo/body horror feeling to it that I really enjoyed. I feel like this is one of those stories that could have been longer and explore things in more depths? But the whole concept and the main character won me over anyway.
So yeah, I had mostly a very good experience, and it made me want to pick up more (queer) anthologies in the future, so that's good!
TWs are provided for each story at the beginning of the book!
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