Reviews and Comments

Jaelyn

jaelyn@bookwyrm.social

Joined 3 months, 3 weeks ago

Mainly reading queer and trans literature. Also a bit of SFF. Find me elsewhere: linkstack.lgbt/@jaelyn

Importing my reviews from Storygraph to here was hell, so I'm sorry if some of my reviews ended up on blatantly the wrong book. I'm still trying to find everything that Bookwyrm put in the wrong place.

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Kristen Schilt: Just one of the guys? (2010, The University of Chicago Press)

The fact that men and women continue to receive unequal treatment at work is a …

A fascinating insight trans men give on gender inequality and mascline socialisation

This is some fascinating research on the experiences of trans men (stealth and open) in the workplace, covering aspects of discrimination, transphobia and masculine societal norms. While a lot of it is well known to anyone experiencing it, the broad academic work here is very useful and can certainly open your eyes to things that you may take for granted or haven't had firsthand.

Much of the work is broadly intersectional, taking into account the varying experiences, such as the impact on race on workforce dynamics. It also contrasted some very different experiences of trans women and how those can reflect on societal attitudes around gender.

I was noting a lot of sections of this book, but I do have to just include below a few of my favourite lines concerning the leveraging of masculinity and homophobia against other men in order to deflect potential transphobia;

Robert has grown comfortable …

Jules Gill-Peterson: Short History of Trans Misogyny (2024, Verso Books)

Vital and challenging

Between the Hijras under the British Raj, the genocide of two-spirit people by the US, and the persecution of transvesti in Latin America, this book demonstrates that the persecution of groups often now identified as trans massively predates the modern concept of trans women. This book outlines how deeply ingrained trans misogyny is in our society and its connections with aspects of class and race. It's a vital and challenging read in outlining the inherent violence of trans misogyny, how broadly it impacts peoples swept up under medicalised labels, and how the broader gay rights movement abandoned those who started it.

A. J. West: Betrayal of Thomas True (2025, Orenda Books)

It is the year 1710, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with …

"It's innocence what kills you when yer different, not guilt"

A sort of whodunit set in Georgian London’s gay scene where Gabriel, the guard at Mother Clap's, must track down the rat who is feeding names to the Society for the Reformation of Manners and getting fellow Mollies murdered.

It's a fun thriller with a cute romance and some very hard to digest moments as we explore the underground Molly culture and 18th century London delving as far as a dash of folklore incarnate. It has its moments of queer solidarity, yet also our infighting and betrayal as suspects do what they can to avoid the noose.

Jordy Rosenberg: Confessions of the Fox (2018, One World)

Set in the eighteenth century London underworld, this bawdy, genre-bending novel reimagines the life of …

"If I am to die today, please God let it be with the memory of the taste of her on my tongue"

Holy fuck. So on the face of it this is a re-imagining of the 18th century outlaw Jack Sheppard via a faux uncovered memoir revealing Jack to be a trans man. The text itself is "discovered" and edited by the author with numerous, very comedic footnotes. What starts out as translating a very long list of period slang for pussy begins to bleed into the narrative with metatextual discussions on gender, publishing, policing and capitalism. If you ever wanted a raunchy queer period drama with commentary that is one part stand-up, one part revolutionary treaties, then this is for you.

reviewed Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri (The Burning Kingdoms, #3)

Tasha Suri: Lotus Empire (2024, Orbit)

The Lotus Empire brings Tasha Suri’s acclaimed Burning Kingdoms trilogy to a heart-stopping close. As …

"I have won an empire, and we will kill your gods"

An awesome, epic ending to the trilogy. Who doesn't want to see gay gal take on patriarchal religious nuts to claim an empire and save their people? I only wish I got more time with them actually happy together? Not that I have any issue with them jumping between flirting and battling of course. Frankly, keeping that many knives under your pillow is hot.

I Want That Twink OBLITERATED (Paperback, Bona Books)

Science-fiction, fantasy and horror, inspired by classic pulp magazines, starring LGBTQIA+ heroes and villains.

Featuring …

Gay Pulp Chaos

This is a hilarious anthology of queer and camp pulp short stories. I came across this as I was previously writing some pulp trans scifi in a similar vein to some of these, notably the story "Dotch Masher and the Planet 'MM'" but also a few others in here. The styles and genres vary so it can be hit-and-miss depending on your tastes of course but I adored the camp silliness of many of them. It's maybe a bit biased towards cis dudes compared to most of my reading - as you'd expect from the title - but there is still a diversity of characters within. If you're looking for an OTT and slightly horny gay anthology, ripped from the 50s but without the ingrained bigotry of the era, then this is a good call.

Izzy Wasserstein: These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart (EBook, 2024, Tachyon Publications)

Security expert Dora left her anarchist commune over safety concerns. But when her ex-girlfriend Kay …

Cyberpunk Noir on the nature of identity

This is a cyberpunk noir novella about a trans woman who returns to her anarchist commune in the decaying remnants of Kansas City. Dora is as unwelcome as her parting shots were when she stormed out years ago, but now she's the only one who can solve the murder of her ex. Caught between two warring pharmaceutical companies, Dora faces shadows of her past.

I thought this was a lot of fun and really had a good noir vibe to Dora's perspective. Given it's quite short, I think there was an opportunity to add a little more to make her a little more well-rounded, flesh out the supporting characters a bit and add more dynamics to the commune (as much as I feel this with every novella, I'm starting to like the simplicity that comes with brevity). I did nevertheless enjoy it and it was paced well for its length. …

Andrew Joseph White: The Spirit Bares Its Teeth (Hardcover, 2023, Peachtree Publishing Company Inc.)

Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead …

You're trapped in there with him

In an alternate 1883, The Veil between the living and the dead thinned and purple-eyed mediums speak with the dead under the auspices of the Royal Speaker Society. That is, male purple-eyed mediums; women born with those spiritual eyes are barred from spirit work and are treated as nothing more than breeding stock for the Speakers regardless of their age.

Enter 16yo Silas, to be married off by the end of the year. Despite having those valuable purple eyes, Silas isn't a perfect daughter, or even a daughter. A lifetime of being bullied into masking his autism, his transness and his proficiency in surgery has left him desperate to escape. But when his attempt to flee is uncovered, he is thrown into a brutal asylum for women suffering from a vague "Veil sickness". There, the spirits of women murdered within its walls beg for help, and for Silas to run …

reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Hardcover, 2021, Tordotcom)

It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; …

So much beauty and hope in so few pages

Becky Chambers makes me cry again, this time in a hope punk novella about existence and purpose. Long ago, humanity's Factory Age ended when robots suddenly gained consciousness and decided to leave. Humanity respected their agency and choice, allowing them to leave into the wilderness and legend while restructuring human civilization into a sustainable, solarpunk society.

Sibling Dex is a tea monk, going from town to town offering people their ear, their counsel and the perfect cup of tea to soothe their worries. But Dex themself feels an emptiness and pain; they feel guilty for not being happy in a life which - on the face of it - gives them everything it should. This inner conflict they keep from those they help really resonated with me from the very start.

Hoping to find an answer in anything but their routine, Dex goes off track into the wilderness. There, they …

Jeanette Winterson: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (Paperback, 1990, Vintage)

This is the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by her mother as one …

Review of 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit ' on 'Storygraph'

A beautiful but often traumatic navigation of coming out as queer in a fiercely Pentecostal family in Lancashire. Jeanette is brought up to be a missionary but when she falls for a girl the religious fervour of her family come own in the form of exorcisms and exile.

I’d also recommend ‘Why be Happy When You Could be Normal?’, which is Winterson’s autobiographical account of the time Oranges was based on.

F. T. Lukens: Otherworldly (2024, McElderry Books, Margaret K.)

Seventeen-year-old Ellery is a non-believer in a region where people swear the supernatural is real. …

Review of 'Otherworldly' from 'Storygraph'

A small region is stuck in a perpetual winter. Offerings from locals to the goddess to bring spring have gone unanswered. Ellery, no longer believing in the gods, leaves his family's frozen farm to work in a city diner to help support his family trying to scrape by with greenhouses to grow crops.

When Ellery meets Knox, a runaway familiar from the Other World, his understanding of the world and the perpetual winter is thrown upside down. Ellery helps protects Knox from the shades who seek to drag him back in exchange for finding out the truth about the winter. But as Ellery helps Knox experience more of human life, they both begin to feel more than they bargained for.

This is a very cute YA romance with an enby protagonist, an adorably OTT sapphic couple and contemporary magic with goddesses and underworlds to boot. The characters are lovely even …

Lucy Holland: Sistersong

In the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, there is old magic to be found in the …

Review of 'Sistersong' from 'Storygraph'

Set in ancient Briton as the Saxons advanced across the island, the kingdom of Dumnonia has begun to abandon the old gods and their magic to favour a Christian missionary and the promise of alliances and trade deals which would follow. As the king's ties to the land's magic fade, so do the kingdom's prospects and defences.

The king's three daughters possess some latent magic still, as forbidden as it is to acknowledge it. But enter Myrdhin, a magician/witch who works to restore the kingdom's connection to it's magic through the children before the Saxon's overrun them. As well as reconnecting the children to the land, they help the eldest daughter, Keyne, be see as he truly is: as the king's son and heir.

The story twists between the perspectives of the king's three children as the kingdom teeters on the edge of invasion, and the rifts that emerge between …

Courtney Kae: In the Event of Love (2022, Kensington Publishing Corporation)

With her career as a Los Angeles event planner imploding after a tabloid blowup, Morgan …

Review of 'In the Event of Love ' from 'Storygraph'

Morgan Ross is that high-flying career lady character who is a big-time event planner only to have a little career snafu when she accidentally kisses her client's fiance. Oops, now that 'New York Promotion™' is on the line and your clients are deserting you.

Hey, why not take up that job in your hometown you were derisive about a few seconds ago? Some small easy win and you're back in the game. I mean, the town is only full of heartbreak and regret, right? Totally solid plan. Though maybe it isn't the best entrance to crash your car into your former girlfriend's sign at the entrance to her tree farm. That's right, she's a hot, toned plaid-clad lumberjack called Nicole Coenen. No wait, my imagination got away with me there. She's called Rachel Reed and it turns out she's actually the client! Sort of.(But go on, insert Nicole in there …