paganqueer

[paganqueer]

THIS IS. SO GOOD. baz would definitely be obvlious to the fact that agatha n simon aren’t dating, i can totally see this happening. also THEM WEARING EYELINER (i’m not sure if ‘wearing’ is correct in this case, i do not know english)...... i’m a lesbian but yeah simon i can see the appeal. 

- the other mod of the event but only my fellow mod and best friend has access to the tumblr account so ! 

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tyrannus Basilton “Baz” Pitch/Simon Snow, Penelope Bunce & Tyrannus Basilton “Baz” Pitch, Tyrannus Basilton “Baz” Pitch & Agatha Wellbelove Characters: Tyrannus Basilton “Baz” Pitch, Simon Snow, Agatha Wellbelove, Penelope Bunce Additional Tags: Nonbinary Tyrannus Basilton “Baz” Pitch, Trans Agatha Wellbelove Series: Part 1 of transmagesweek 2021 Summary:

Baz is dealing with an ongoing gender identity crisis, a hopeless crush on Simon, and the knowledge that Simon is probably dating Agatha.

@transmagesweek

[paganqueer]

i wanna have friends on tiktok but i don’t know how :)

[paganqueer]

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] M.A. Binfield’s “Not This Time”

RATE: ☆☆☆☆

This was an enjoyable book. I liked how both protagonists struggle with similar and yet different things as well as the way their characters develop throughout the story: while Maddie's struggles root in her personal life, Sofia's root in her career. I hated some secondary characters, such as Noah (who I'm pretty sure was written in a way that the reader is supposed to dislike him) and Rosa, Sofia's homophobic mother who becomes 'okay' with her daughter being in a relationship with a woman at the end of the story., I'm not sure what the author expected us to think about her; she was written in an antagonist kind of way, although Sofia says several times that her mother isn't a monster even though she may seem and sound like one sometimes, and Rosa being okay with Sofia and Maddie dating felt like a redemption of some sort and it truly didn't feel that way for me. Realizing that your daughter dating a woman is okay doesn't equal a redemption arc if she's been homophobic several times, only in this book. So, yeah, she's a bitch and I hate her.

I really enjoyed Ashley's character though. I personally didn't like Daya, but I get where she came from and thought her character well constructed: she does things that piss you off, but you can see she just wants to protect Maddie. Ashley, on the other hand, does all the right things, at least in the way I see it. I found Daya unreasonable at times, but Ashley felt like... the voice of reason, you know. Maybe because Daya herself was involved, as one of the bandmates Sofia supposedly used to get her way to the top, while Ashley was an outsider who was just worried about Maddie's happiness, as her sister, not someone who was personally a 'victim' of Sofia's actions. I also liked the development of Felix's character. I can't say I like him, but he wasn't a straight up homophobe, but he did recognise he didn't support Sofia like he should have and... well, he's an interesting one. Not saying he's a good person, but nicely written? Sure. It uses a lot of 'internet' slang, abbreviations etc. which I didn't mind, but I have to say that I cringed when Noah said "okay, boomer" to Maddie. Not only because Noah's entire existence is cringe, but because... does he know what boomer means? They're both the same age and it was kind of ridiculous. I'm still not sure if that was supposed to portray how ridiculous Noah's character was or if it was the author's fault, but I had to address it. I cringed hard. 

I also would've enjoyed it more if there were a little bit less sex scenes, but that's a personal preference, and it isn't so much as to make it the famous porn without plot or anything of the sorts, so, not a fault of the book or the author. All in all, the book has many soft scenes, but it can also show the characters as sad and also sexy, and troubling, and ill and making wrong decisions, fucking up and admiting their mistakes. These aspects made the characters feel real and multifaceted. If you're looking for an easy to read romance that also deals with heavy topics, but in a light manner, and that also has good F/F romance, then this is your calling: you should read this book. And with that, I finish my last review in 2020. Happy new year and hopefully, 2021 will be better. 

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] J.K. Pendragon’s “Witch, Cat, and Cobb”

RATE: ☆☆☆☆

Reading this book felt like a soft blanket during a chilly weather: it was cute and dreamy with its fantasy setting, a hopeful story with a Ghibli feeling. And it involves LGBTQ+ themes! There are lesbian and transgender characters and while those identities are significant to the storyline and plot, they aren’t used as character traits, but aspects of multifaceted people.

As a transgender lesbian, I felt like I could finally exist in fantastic stories with magic and that people like me could, too, be princesses like the Disney ones. I also practice witchcraft and am a big cottagecore enthusiast, so seeing a trans lesbian witch living her dream life in a cottage was very much... well. Meaningful, to me.

Now, about the most technical aspects: the main romance felt a bit rushed. I feel kind of a hypocrite saying that, as many of my relationships started less than a week after I knew my partners, but although it was rushed, it wouldn’t feel like it. A few more chapters with interactions between Brean and Mel would’ve helped the reader to see that, while it hadn’t been long since they met, they felt like they’d known each other forever. That was nailed near the end, by the second half of the book, but I would’ve liked to see the transition, the process of them falling in love. One thing that also bugged me was the ambiguous age difference: Brean’s age isn’t introduced to us, and Mel says, at some point, that she’s probably old enough to be her grandma, and it’s implied that Brean was just at the age to get married, which in monarchy settings is around 16-18. 

It would’ve been more enjoyable of a book if this detail had been explicitly talked about, introducing Brean as someone who tried to push the wedding away for years and introducing her as someone in her mid-20s, with Mel at her mid-30s. This aspect of the book made me a bit uncomfortable, but I decided to go on because a) this plot is something I’ve unconsciously wanted for a while and b) I’d already read a lot of the book and wanted to write this review for NetGalley, which was where I got this ARC.

To finish this review, I’d say that if you’re comfortable with the criticism above and you’re LGBTQ+, then you really should read it. There’s witchcraft, a lesbian princess, a witch and a prince swapping bodies and a cute, magical cottage. 

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] J. Marshall Freeman’s “The Dubious Gift of Dragon Blood”]

RATE: ☆☆☆

This is a good book. Not a perfect one, but surely entertaining and fun to read. Crispin was an interesting main character, though my favorite character in the book was Davix: he was often afraid and impulsive, and would say things as they happened, without romanticizing them, characteriswtics which I’m not used to seeing in protagonists. He also made several pop culture references and used ‘internet slangs’ (such as ‘OMG’ and ‘DILF’) throughout the book and that can be positive, but at least to me, it felt excessive and a bit unnatural in this book.

As to the pacing, it felt... messy. The first 60% of the book had a rhythm while the rest had another, both making me feel like I was reading two different books: the first was more lighthearted, while the latter felt more dramatic and sad. I didn’t notice a clear transition between those two parts, so that could’ve been smoother. Plus, it would’ve been beneficial to have more drama and sadness in the first part so they’d match and actually feel like two parts of the same work. At times, I also felt overwhelmed by the amount of lore, as if that was being thrown at me, and maybe that was done deliberately, since that was probably what Crispin himself felt while being thrown in a whole new realm, but it did feel weird.

I like some of the plot twists, I can say that: the death of a dragon wasn’t what I’d previously expected and the concept of an attack by the Realm of Air was good, though I felt like the build up to that was poorly developed. A mention about social aspects of and how were the dragons of the other Realms would’ve been a nice touch. While plot twists should be unexpected, what makes them good is that they could be noticed if the reader looked at the right places at the right times. Thus, the thing about plot twists isn’t how unexpected it is, but the ability of the author to manipulate the reader’s attention at will, to specific points and scenarios. 

Most characters were multifaceted, which I very much liked, and I’ll dedicate this paragraph to Davix, because... well, as I said before, I love him. His was my favorite character development in the whole book: he starts as serious and grumpy nerd who’s very responsible and strict. I instantly liked him, because I’m predictable and enjoy this character type. Throughout the story, he softened to Crispin. His vulnerabilities started to show: his grief towards one of his friends who died by the beginning of the book, the start of his defiance towards authority blossoming, with him questioning the law more and more, but also the guilt to do so, because that meant betraying the entities and codes he’d always admired and worshipped. Despite being a scholar and not a soldier, he’s a true warrior, wielding his intelligence to make up strategies, which is shown near the end of the book. And also through him, it becomes clear that the dragons and others in power can be corrupt and are flawed, an interesting aspect: the dragons are human in their core (not literally, but an interpretation). 

So, I’ll end this review with my usual ‘read this book if...’: if you enjoy pop culture references in books, multifaceted, honest and morally gray characters, as well as seeking a whole lot of lore, then... well, this book is for you! 

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] Chloe Gong’s “These Violent Delights”

RATE: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

First things first, I’ll say that this book is fantastic. I finished reading it yesterday (an amazing christmas gift) and I’m still obsessed with it. The work with characters is just wonderful: they’re all multifaceted, each with different, complex morals and personalities that are relevant to the plot. 

The relationships are phenomenal, I cannot stress that enough. I’ve been basically living off LGBTQ+ romances, since I am part of the community myself and stories with that focus tend to be more interesting and relatable to me, but “These Violent Delights” had been recommended to me several times through the past few months and since I adore the enemies-to-lovers trope, I decided I could give it a try. Plus, a Romeo & Juliet retelling where they’re from rival gangs in 1920s Sanghai does sound pretty interesting by itself. And I wasn’t disappointed: this book is everything it promised to be. 

The plot is intricate and it feels like Gong’s words hold you on your chair, bed, whatever and don’t let you leave until you finish. Something that was very well handled by Gong was the use of point of views. As a writer myself, I know how difficult it is to nail the point of views in order to control the pacing of the story, but also not using this resource too much, which could bore the reader, and the way this was handled in this narrative was a master work I congratulate Chloe Gong for (that feels weird to say, since she certainly isn’t anxiously waiting for my approval or anything like that, but this is a review after all, so I guess this kind of comment is appropriate in the context).

If you’re looking for a book that’s, well, an emotional rollercoaster, both in the plot and the character work as well as their interactions, then you should definitely pick up this book. It also tackles topics like the characters’ moralities, how there’s not a single, widely accepted truth, but that the truth can be changed depending on the point of view, and... mwah! Chefs kiss! This was added in my list of favorite books on Goodreads as soon as I finished. 100% recommended!

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] Ivy L. James’ “Make the Yuletide Gay”

RATE: ☆☆☆☆

This novella, James’ debut, is about Nicola and Grace, boss and secretary respectively, who have to gon on a trip together for work during Christmas. The thing is, both of them have feelings for each other. It’s a heartwarming sapphic romantic comedy with a Christmas setting, the kind of thing you’d want to find on Netflix by the beginning of December: it’s cute and entertaining, as well as having well-constructed characters, especially Nicola.

The process of reading this book, at least for me, was fast. I read it in less than a day, it truly felt like binge-watching a Netflix show (I’m dropping hints that I’d absolutely watch a cinematic adaptation of this book made by Netflix, did y’all notice?). It was fast, but not rushed, though, so kudos to James for nailing the pacing! 

I really enjoyed that their attraction to women wasn’t a problem in the narrative. Their problems were unrelated to their sexualities and it feels good to read something that isn’t focused on the overwhelming experience of LGBTphobia for once. However, I think it could’ve been talked about more. The story is in a modern setting, meaning that labels and the experience of LGBTphobia exist and while it doesn’t need to be the focus of the narrative, a brief mention could happen. There could be a mention of their ‘out status’: is Grace out to her family? What about at work? They could’ve talked about their previous relationships, too (the part where they talk about the space Grace takes in the bed and she implies that she’d slept with someone next to her at some point, would be a good introduction to the subject).

Besides, seeing the ‘lesbian’ label used casually in a novella as lighthearted as this one would be meaningful and it’d help normalize it, as it’s usually seen as inherently sexual. It’s only mentioned once near the end of the story, by Grace, and I would’ve liked to see it more often in the narrative. Finally, a detail I appreciated was the fact that it’s mentioned that Nicola started therapy by the end of the book. It’s a fairly popular trope to imply that romantic love can heal everything, even mental illnesses, which is... not the case. And that detail being a part of the story actually touched me, since it’s not a recurring theme.

If you want a cute and quick Christmas sapphic romance that has a happy ending, then you should get ‘Make the Yuletide Gay’. The plot isn’t complex, there are enough Christmassy situations to set up the mood and enough fanfiction tropes to get you emotionally invested.

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] Crystal Jeans’ “The Inverts”

RATE: ☆☆☆

‘The Inverts’ is a novel about a pair of best friends, one a gay man and the other, a lesbian, who lived their youth in the 1920s. It’s an interesting book, with a very raw writing style: it told things as they were, as they happened, with little to no romanticization. Both Bart and Bettina, the main characters, are shown as deeply flawed, in a way that felt human. While it ached to read some things, it felt real.

I disliked (I’d even go as far as to say that I hated) some things, that I’m not sure whether they were intentional or not. I despised Jean, one of Bettina’s lovers, finding no redeeming traits in her character since the moment she appeared and her sole existence made me want to give up on this book, which I only changed my mind about when I thought about this review. And I thanked heavens when she stopped being a constant in the narrative, because boy, was I tired. She wasn’t funny, or caring, or sweet, or... even interesting! No redeeming traits whatsoever. Besides, the first time Jean and Bettina had sex, it felt deeply uncomfortable, since it didn’t seem like Bettina wanted anything more than a few kisses.

One thing I rather enjoyed was the use of LGBTQ+ artists as a way of mentioning you’re queer, as well as trying to figure out if the person you’re interested in is as well. Bettina mentioned Sappho several times to several of her love interests, and Étienne, Bart’s partner, read him poems by Rimbaud. There was also Bart using Polaris, a secret subculture code used by gay people during early 20th century.

It’s a very straightforward reading, which is refreshing at times, but it also affected the book negatively to me, as there were many time skips that didn’t allow the reader to actually see the drama, which were the consequences of their actions and more details on how they dealt with them. It’s a book about the roaring ‘20s, followed by the Great Depression in 1929, then the World War II. There was a brutal change in their lifestyles, but I couldn’t see that much of a difference. I’d say it’s one of those cases where the author tells instead of showing.

There are also several lines about fat people and overweightness in general that made me uncomfortable, as a fat person and a lot of focus on genitals, almost portraying them as something that equals sexuality  (liking dick doesn’t necessary means liking men), which, as a trans person, made me uncomfortable. Yeah, transgender people weren’t as mainstream as they, we, are today, which already isn’t a lot, but I’m sure that within the queer community, at least, there was some knowledge about it. But then again, the protagonists are rich, selfish and egocentrical, privileged people who don’t realise their privilege, and the characters being... well, not exemplary people, that was a point that made me find the book enjoyable. They’re deeply flawed and I don’t think Crystal Jeans tries to prove otherwise.

 Overall, it’s an entertaining book, with a few good lines and some positive characteristics, but it’s no must-read masterpiece. The idea of it is wonderful, but could’ve been developed way better. I do think it’s a good start for works about platonic queer relationships, which is what I was seeking with this book (I’m a lesbian and my best friend is achillean, so I was looking for a representation of that. Needless to say I didn’t find it, but it can inspire other queer authors to write something with a similar concept). 

To be fair, I was really looking forward to youthful, over the top queer best friends, with all the glamour of the jazz age, a fun book, turning into dramatic in 1930, with their financially stable families entering into poverty, a decrease in their comfortable life conditions, and all the losses brought by war. It did have some of these aspects, of course, but it wasn’t what I expected it to be. So, if you’re looking for a book with a fast rhythm, with a simple writing style and with a lot of sarcastic comments and flawed characters you can relate to but also hate and feel angry towards, then it’ll be a good reading to spend some time with.

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] Moses Yuriyvich Mikheyev’s “Strange Deaths of the Last Romantic”

RATE: ☆ 

I refuse to finish this book, but I’ll review it anyway, only to warn people not to read it. It’s terrible. I’ll start with the only good thing in this book, the very thing that made me choose it in NetGalley’s shelves: the initial idea of it. From the summary, it sounded like an interesting thriller with a boring heterosexual romance I could ignore, or even grow into liking a bit. A tiny little bit. 

I couldn’t have been more wrong. First of all, Adam, the main character, is boring. So boring and dull it hurts: he isn’t funny, nor he is mysterious, nor caring and he does passes as sweet (or, at least, it’s what the author expects to portray), but in a way that’s just creepy. 

Besides, I can’t help but add that the book and its protagonist are painfully sexist. I’m going to have a wild guess that the author is the same. I’ll try to list everything wrong that I’ve picked on this book within only 14% of it.

The first moment where Adam claims he became a romantic was when he played a prank on Anna, one of his classmates, and he almost died. He hated her guts, but after that, she suddenly became beautiful in his eyes.

We’ll still talk about poor Anna for a little while. The boys hate her, and they are disgustingly and excessively violent, to the point where Adam tells that, during her birthday party, there was piñata and their response was to pretend the piñata was Anna herself, and they beat it up. No, you’re not hearing it wrong. A bunch of fourth grade boys were in a party anf fantasizing about beating their classmate up, quite literally like a piñata.

Then, as if just that wasn’t enough, the boys felt like playing a prank on Anna would be fun, so one of them suggests putting a dead bird next to her lunchbox, and Adam not only supports it, but suggests that they also paint the animal’s corpse with red paint they’d steal from the art teacher’s office! Poor Anna, who wasn’t paying attention at the time, took a bite of the bird, and started to choke. For a moment, I’d assumed he’d feel guilt when he said “I thought we--no, I-- had killed her”, but then, he says “he saw the tragedy of his own existence” and that he “emerged out of the chaos a new creation, a new man”. Because of course, that situation was about him.

It’s also worth saying that he kept describing the lunch lady as ‘large’ and talking about her performing the Heimlich maneuver on Anna as if it was some kind of sick joke. He’d almost killed his classmate, but the only time he refers to her as ‘poor Anna’ is when “in between abdominal thrusts, poor Anna struggled to break free from the large woman’s embrace”. 

Anna’s parents were absolutely okay with what happened! It’s actually written in the book that during the meeting, her father spent the entire time winking and smiling his way! And after that, he took Adam aside and told him that Anna “talked a lot about him at home”, and said the line that Adam described as “probably the best explanation of feminine psychology he had ever heard”, finding it “so simple, and yet so profound.”

“If she hates you, she hates you for not loving her back.” That was it. He said it to the boy who’d just almost killed his daughter. It’s so disgusting, the implication that, when women say no, or show that they’re repelled, it’s because they’re playing hard to get or something amongst those lines. If someone seems to hate you, just leave them alone! 

And, unfortunately, this isn’t the last sexist line in the book. Soon after, out of Adam’s POV, which was a relief to me before I realised that the main character was different, but the author who was writing him remained, I found the lines:

“As for Lilyanne, she could never do anything wrong in her father’s eyes. From the first time he looked into her eyes, he knew he’d hold her tiny hands until she grew into adulthood while his own aged with wrinkles. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for his two girls. From cameras to tracking devices, from expensive security systems to thorough background checks on every babysitter, Mr. Beloshinski oversaw it all. Some perceived him as paranoid; he preferred to see himself as being intelligently cautious.”

“...her husband refused to let her work” 

“she learned not to argue with her husband” 

Besides the several sexist parts and plot points, the characters felt inconsistent to me, such as Adam revealing that he’s finally realised life wasn’t fair after being beaten up by the man who adopted him, which would be fair if, before that, he hadn’t lost his mother, spent weeks in a coma, and almost killed Anna. I find this very enough for one to notice the unfairness of life. Adam’s also extremely cocky, acting like a child genius despite being one of the most boring characters I’ve ever seen, a creepy, sexist asshole who cannot deal with a ‘no’ as answer to save his life--not that saving his life is something he’d need, all things considered--and a bully. He’s immature as fuck a character who, as the writing style suggests, was supposed to be the nerdy one who reads a lot and has a higher level of comprehension than his peers.

In conclusion, this book has no redeeming qualities. The only thing that kept me going was this review, and not even that kept me going for long. I’m never even getting near anything by Moses Yuriyvich Mikheyev again, ever.

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] E. Lockhart’s “We Were Liars”

RATE: ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Just like it took me four years to finish this book, it took me a month until I decided to attempt to rate and review it. I needed to think about this book to get to a genuine opinion on it. I think I’m ready to do that now, so here we go.

I have history with this book: I bought it by 2016 and started reading it very soon after that (still in 2016). However, I started having several mental health issues and my therapist at the time asked me to stop everything I was in the process of reading and watching that could’ve triggered it. It was only this year, around november, that I thought, “Hey! Maybe I could get We Were Liars again from my bookshelf to check if it had actually triggered me and if yes, whether I’m stronger mentally than I was back then.” 

Well, I must say, before I start this review, that my therapist had a point when she asked me to stop. This is an intense book. It’s a psychological thriller that follows Cady’s story as she tries to remember what happened during the summer she lost her memories due to an accident in her family’s private island. The way the mystery of the trauma induced amnesia was very well built up: there are clues about what actually happened throughout the text, but the way the story is told, it’s hard for you to pick them up before you read everything again, knowing exactly what you’re looking for. It makes sense.

I personally don’t see many flaws in that aspect. But (of course, there is a but), Cady’s character annoyed me. A lot. As you must expect from a girl whose family owns a private island, she’s a white, cisgender, heterosexual, spoiled rich girl. The author isn’t unaware that her main character is privileged, since all those facts are clearly stated in the narrative, but when Cady criticises her family, when she talks about her mother and aunts wanting fancy things just for the thrill of it, just to be able to say they have it, amongst other things, she never talks about herself. There’s always that impression that, while she sees that her family is privileged, she doesn’t see how she herself is, too. It’s like she doesn’t even realise she’s a member of the family too. 

My favorite character in the narrative was Gat, and I believe he was the only one I genuinely enjoyed. He’s of Indian descent, the nephew of one of Cady’s aunts’ partners, and since some of the Sinclair kids took a liking to him, he goes back to the island every summer. And, as someone who isn’t rich nor white, he explicitly points out the privilege everyone has, criticises Cady for not knowing the name of the people who worked in the island, the ones who cooked and cleaned and the whole family for being so privilege that they own a private fucking island! Plus, he shows his emotions and he seems real. Maybe that’s the point, to show that the outsiders are the only people who seem real, but I don’t personally think that matters. I like him. 

Taking the focus out of the characters, I’ll speak of the writing style: it’s confusing and sometimes, annoying. There are many metaphors in the book and you often assume they’re literal, then you’re told otherwise. For example:

I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound, then from my eyes, my ears, my mouth.

This excerpt? It’s a metaphor. That annoyed me, because it confuses the reader in a totally unnecessary way. Then, there was a part where Cady talks about wounds in her arms and that it was bleeding and it’s easy for the reader to assume it’s a metaphor just like the quote above. I, for one, did that, and imagine my surprise when, a few lines later, it was pointed out that it was literal through the fact that Gat was helping Cady with the wounds and bandages? That’s unnecessary and I could’ve excused that if those parts were somehow related to the mystery that surrounds the book, since it’s useful to confuse the reader in this context, but no; there’s nothing to do with it.

Another little something about the writing style: E. Lockhart often separates the lines for no reason whatsoever (besides aesthetic. I can’t see any other reason besides aesthetic for her to do that). I managed to ignore it most of the time, but I can see how some can be annoyed at it. I was a few times, too, but it was tolerable for me.

It’s a book that has many good quotes, but if that kind of writing style bothers you and/or if character construction matters more to you than the plot, then I wouldn’t recommend it. 

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] P.S. Scott’s “The Prince and the Thief”

RATE: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

I’m going to start saying one of the only things I didn’t absolutely love about this book: there were a few inconsistencies in some of scenes, like Aiden and Will’s ages, but those were things I could easily overlook, as I don’t have many other complaints.

Now, let’s start with the praise party I’ll be hosting today in this post! Both the plot and the characters are simply fascinating. No less than that. Basically, the story centers around Aidan and Will, the prince and the thief respectively. Aidan is gay, but not out, since his family arranged a marriage between him and a princess from a powerful kingdom, and his uncle is blackmailing him with love letters sent to and by his ex boyfriend, threatening to reveal the secret. That’s why he hires Will to steal the letters from his uncle’s house.

I gotta say I loved the way the roles had been switched in the book from what would normally would be the secure route: Aidan, the prince, is kind and altruistic, while Will, the thief who lives without luxuries but wished he did, is the materialistic, egocentric one. That alone already got me from the start. The world building is also good, having powers related to the elements, which reminded me of Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

But that isn’t all: trauma and the relationships between the characters are incredibly well explored. Aidan’s problems with his family are nicely portrayed; as someone who has those as well, the way it was told resonated with me. Despite them doing things that are wrong, there’s still that conflict, the doubt about the undoubtable, that’s hard to explain, but I feel like Scott did this right.

It’s scary how much I’m loving this book right now. I started it this morning, because I made the mistake of requesting too many books on NetGalley, all at once, so I gotta push myself towards reading everything (or, at least, most of it) as soon as possible and I finished it at [checks clock] 19:45. The story is extremely attention grabbing, the plot is well developed just like the pacing (I didn’t get bored for even a minute!), Scott’s work with the characters is fantastic, the world building is nice and the ratio between lore information and plot/character development is just perfect, the right measure, the relationships are well built... Some scenes and information like ages, as I said before, aren’t exactly consistent, but with everything Scott got right, it was easy for me to turn a blind eye. 

One warning I must give you, though, if you’re going to read it is, there are some trigger warnings: sexual assault, rape, child abuse and mentions of death. There’s nothing graphic, but it’s explicit enough to be triggering, so make sure you’re safe! 

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] Tolu’ A. Akinyemi’s “Black ≠ Inferior”

RATE: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

As usual, Akinyemi nailed his deeply political poetry, with the perfect ratio between angry and appreciative. This is how political poetry should be, I can’t help but think whenever I read his work: it’s complete, showing both hatred and love. The anger towards society, towards the oppression is there, as it should, but so is the appreciation of those who are oppressed, whose beauty in every singular way is portrayed wonderfully, with care.

Reading Akinyemi’s work feels like fierce protection, a sentiment that has a basis on hating what you’re facing and loving what’s behind you, the things and people you have a duty, a desire to protect.

There’s also some beauty in the way that those political poems aren’t implied: ‘black lives matter’ is written very explicitly in several poems, and the messages are very direct, while still being a poetic message full of metaphors.

While “A Booktiful Love”, another poetry work by Akinyemi, has a few works about individual struggles, not only political, social ones, this book is exclusively about the latter. This book is a protest, mainly against racism, but you can also find one poem or another about sexism.

There are words and verses that feel just like raw power, such as:

Do not cry for me, for though I may be gone,

my words make me immortal.

I’m a god; gods don’t die!

It’s as striking as lightning, as strong as stone, and I could go on with a dozen other metaphors, but it won’t compare with the sensation of reading this excerpt yourself. I highly recommend this book if you’re going through a reading slump, since the poems are short and straightforward, though still lyrical. 

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] Hannah K. Chapman & Lauren Burke’s “Why She Wrote”

RATE: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

If you’re looking for a book about women writers in history, whose books are considered classics, then that’s the one for you! ‘Why She Wrote’ summarises the story of many female writers, mostly from the 1800-1900s, and their stories are also illustrated by Kaley Bales in a way that makes it a fun and lighthearted read. 

It’s a good way to know more authors, since some aren’t as known mainstream as others, and to know more about the lives of those you already know. This book is just perfect for people who want to start reading classics and classical authors, but find them particularly difficult to understand or keep up with, or those who don’t have much time in their hands to do so. Basically, it’s the perfect way to become familiar with classics. 

It is also a very interesting reading in a historical point of view, to analyze the context those texts were written and which struggles those writers had to go through socially to be able to speak their mind and live their life as they wished.

Basically, it’s a book that deals with heavy topics, as expected from any form of media about women who lived a century ago, especially some who were sapphics, women of color or in poverty, but the narrative of this book is as lighthearted as possible, considering the topics it portrays. It’s a great book you should certainly read if you’re interested in history and/or literature.

[paganqueer]

[REVIEW] Eku Takeshima’s “Whisper Me a Love Song”

RATE: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

I read this manga volume in one sitting and I’m completely obsessed with it. I don’t have many coherent thoughts, but I’ll do my best. First of all, the art style is beautiful. I seriously took so many screenshots for me to look at lovingly every single day, that I don’t even know. It’s just so cute!

Second of all: Himari, I understand you. I am completely, utterly, wholeheartedly in love with Yori Asanagi. I have to say that, as someone who is a fan of Bang Dream! Girls Band Party, lesbians in a band is my jam, and this completely honors the trope. It’s all just so wholesome, and it’s just fun to read! 

And, as a lesbian, their reactions and comments are just... so accurate and pure. Yori’s comments about how she suddenly understands what’s the sugar mommy hype is all about? I feel that. I’ve said things that are very similar to that. I’d spend hours rambling about it if I could (I’ve already spent approximately 45 minutes giggling to myself, minutes which may or may not be included in the time I spent reading the whole thing), but then again, it won’t be more coherent than loud screaming, keysmashes and emojis, so I’m going to consider this review done by now. 

Just another detail that I felt fit more the end than another part of this review: I’m going crazy to read the rest of that. Hopefully, they’ll be available at Netgalley too, because I want to support the heck out of this author and this manga, so piracy is definitely a no! Soooo, since I’ll post this review there and on Goodreads, this will be my daily begging because I’m a broke lesbian who wants to get wholesome content. Please.

[paganqueer]

‘“!mi querido!” he snapped viciously’ and ‘“philtatos,” achilles replied, sharply’ have the same energy

[paganqueer]

— cemetery boys (2020)