No Man of Woman Born

These stories aren't especially deep, and sometimes they're a bit cheesy, and because the whole concept of the collection is "prophecies subverted by transness" a few of them are pretty predictable - but none of that really matters. No Man of Woman Born doesn't try to be anything more than what it is: light, escapist high fantasy aimed at younger audiences. And it does that admirably, while being extremely affirming all the way.

I wish I'd read this book when I was younger. And I hope that many, many people read it today, and going on into the future, who are at the age when it matters most. What age that is exactly I'm not sure - I'm terrible at guessing standard reading age - but preteens, certainly, and probably a good bit younger than that as well. Trans kids, of course, but cis kids as well, and especially - especially - kids who are not quite sure what they are yet, or who haven't been given the opportunity to consider it.

Please distribute this book to your children. (Or yourself.)

Selling points: trans protagonists across a wide spectrum of genders; background trans and otherwise queer representation; an aromantic protagonist trapped in a prophecy about True Love; in one story, interesting polyam family structures; all of this handled with respect; escapism.

Warnings: honestly, none - not only did I find it overall inoffensive and light, but individual stories are also prefaced with generous content warnings. There's a bit of a focus on Chosen Ones and also on monarchy, but these are kind of inimical to the concept and genre, and not every story in the collection goes this way. (Also, apparently there was a scandal about the author working for an arms dealer? This is not strictly relevant to the book itself but may be important to some people trying to decide whether to spend money on it.)

No Man of Woman Born by is a fantastic and much needed collection of short stories about prophecies, expectations, and societal assumptions. 

My absolute favorite is "Early To Rise", it was a refreshing retelling of a story I already know and yet I was blown away. The author did a fantastic job with that one in particular. I also love the titular story, "No Man of Woman Born". I love how it's more about the character's self-reflection in reference to the prophecy, making it feel like that story in particular continues after this snippet is over. A few of the stories had predictable twists, but I still loved them even when I wasn't surprised. I spend a lot of time thinking about pronouns, presentation, and gender expectations, so your mileage may vary on whether you see the endings coming. Just seeing this many subversive ways for gender-based prophecies to be fulfilled was a treat. The collection feels cohesive, and even though all the stories are about different ideas of gender no two solutions were alike. There's quite a bit of darkness there but it's handled with care in everything from the phrasing to the perspectives to putting CWs for individual chapters.

Definitely check this one out, it's a great collection of much-needed stories; may there be many more like it.

Classic fantasy, including revisited fairy tales, can be a charming genre, or it can go very wrong. Fortunately Mardoll generally charms.

You could say that these are fantasy/fairy tales with a queer theme… or you could say that they are classic fantasy/fairy tales that happen to have unexpected gender details. For the most part I would say the latter, with the bonus that those unexpected details may turn out to be critical to the happy endings – once we work them out. I also never realized how very many times pronouns appear in casual fiction – until suddenly they were unfamiliar or semi-familiar neopronouns. That was definitely an eye-opener.

My favorites are probably Tangled Nets and The Wish-Giver. I found Early to Rise to be the least compelling.

While these stories were written FOR the LGBTQIA+ community, they can also be immensely beneficial to, and enjoyed by, cisgender and/or straight readers. As with other kinds of fiction, these stories allow us briefly to inhabit selves other than our own. As at least one of Mardoll’s characters observes (and I’ve long thought), one doesn’t have to understand something to acknowledge its truth. There are truths here that many of us have never encountered before, and these stories are a charming way to meet them.