The Names We Take is a young adult dystopian novel set in Spokane, Washington after an epidemic called the One Mile Cough wipes out a huge chunk of the population. Pip, the protagonist, is an intersex trans girl just trying to survive. But a group of bounty hunters has a different idea as they seekRead More
Danika reviews Once and Future by A.R. Capetta and Cori McCarthy
That’s what resistance looks like, Merlin. It’s not one glorious, shining victory. It’s a torch you keep burning, no matter what. I’m not even sure how to approach writing about this book, because it is so ambitious. Once & Future is a queer, sci fi retelling of the Arthur myth, with a female Arthur. It’sRead More
Danika reviews The Swan Riders by Erin Bow
After hearing only good things about the Scorpion Rules duology, I was eager to pick it up. Unfortunately, I read the first book during a readathon, and reading a crushing dystopian story about war and brutality was not the best choice to read all in one sitting. It was darker than I was expecting, so I wasn’tRead More
Danika reviews The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
If you’ve been looking for the queer Hunger Games (or, at least, queer Mockingjay), this is the book for you. Do you want to read about crushing oppression and the horrors of war, but with a bisexual protagonist? The Scorpion Rules is the book for you! This was a bad choice for a readathon. I should have seenRead More
Danika reviews Biketopia edited by Elly Blue
A smart person once told me that the key to having a good life in the face of world’s uncertainty is to find something that is meaningful for you and go all-in for it. For me, that’s the real appeal of both bicycles and science fiction–no matter how grim the world looks, each other canRead More
Megan G reviews Forget Yourself by Redfern Jon Barrett
Blondee’s world is comprised of fifty huts divided between four groups of people: least, minor, moderate, and severe. Each person is grouped based on what crime they committed in their previous life, though nobody can really know for sure what their exact crime was, as everybody comes into this world with no memories of whoRead More
Kathryn Hoss reviews Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee
Five words: lesbian, bisexual, and trans superheroes. Wait, I think I need a few more. Lesbian, bisexual, and trans superheroes taking on the kyriarchy, falling in love, and just… being kids. Jessica Tran doesn’t fit in. I know, not the most original premise. But along with all the normal crap teenagers worry about– mediocre gradesRead More
Emily R. reviews Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey
Vividly rendered at the intersection of liminal spaces of all kinds, Santa Olivia follows the story of Loup Garron as she comes of age on the Mexican-US border. Born to a woman and a genetically enhanced soldier, part of a military “werewolf” experiment, Loup inherits some of her father’s abilities. After being orphaned, she isRead More
Danika reviews Smoketown by Tenea D. Johnson
I was intrigued by the first sentences of Smoketown: Anna Armour had had her fair share of failed resurrections. There had been the lichen when she was three and the dragonfly at six–the sad twisted platypus that her mother took away before it ruined her tenth birthday. Since the day of her mother’s death whenRead More
Danika reviews Twixt by Sarah Diemer
Sarah Diemer is an author that I am pretty familiar with from her online presence, but I’ve only read one book by her, The Dark Wife. One of my favourite Booktubers, Jessie Quinn from Cup of Books, reviewed Twixt pretty positively and recommended it as an October read, so I figured it would be a good one toRead More