Reviews and Comments

Although it was fairly dense with lore, I love that in a book! I was constantly flipping back to the Dramatis Personae to understand the story.

The end of the book’s action flowed really well and I read the last 100 pages in a day.

If you’ve had questions about your gender, or questions about what it’s like to be transgender or non-binary, please read this book.

Obviously every trans person experiences the world differently, but Kobabe’s frank and thoughtful exploration of eir’s own gender was profoundly moving.

I can’t fully address the bigots who wish to ban this book, and I believe there are far more cogent responses than what I could compose. But this book is beautiful and profound, not disgusting or immoral.

This is a book dedicated to helping people find safety and comfort in their bodies and their identities. I hope enough people read this to cancel out the bigotry.

I think this book is vitally important, both to help trans kids understand themselves and to help allies understand what a non-binary experience can be like.

I only teared up twice while reading it, but I might cry about it later.

This book is truly monumental. The prose is witty and engaging, while being impactful during the dramatic moments. The themes of struggle from colonized people against the power structures of the imperial core are extremely relevant for modern political discourse. In addition to the political arguments, the discussions of linguistics and languages offer many insights into the English language itself as well as helping explain the imprecision of translation. This book argues that people should be multi-lingual, a project I wholeheartedly support.

If you like books about magic schools where there is a struggle against an authoritative regime, you must read this book. Kuang is a master, and I genuinely see a potential Nobel nomination in her future.