#romali vor

[alexsfictionaddiction]

Review: The Boy I Am by K. L. Kettle

A speculative novel that flips our social norms and injustices on their heads is always going to draw me in, so I was very excited when I got accepted for the debut novel from this brand new, talented YA voice.

Jude Grant lives in a world where once a year, young men from the House of Boys are auctioned off to elite women. Those who don’t get selected are doomed to a life in the mines, when they turn 17. Jude’s best friend Vik was murdered at the hands of the Chancellor and he is now hell-bent on exacting revenge and breaking free from the life laid out for him.

There is a strong emphasis on the good-looking boys being more desirable and valuable -an attitude that we’re used to seeing attributed to the value of women. The language surrounding the auctions is also very reminiscent of what you’d hear at female beauty pageants. Physical beauty appears to be the most lucrative, sacred quality for these boys and it was fascinating to see this gender reversal and the results be the same.

Sound familiar? I’ll admit that it took me a while to get on board with the belief that men would allow themselves to become the objectified gender but I guess if they are yet to have an emancipation, why would they consider that things could be different? The more details I gained about the world that Jude lived in, the easier the dynamics were to believe. 

Jude meets and forms a friendship with a young girl called Romali Vor, who has her own reasons for wanting to overthrow the tyrannical Chancellor. Eventually, Jude joins forces with her to execute their revolutionary plan. Romali is quite an enigmatic character and I definitely wanted more background information on her. However, I loved what I did get. She’s a badass, no-nonsense rebel who is dedicated to bringing justice and equality to the dystopia she lives in. 

One very tense scene, just before the violent, pulse-racing climax hit, featured Jude and Romali waltzing while sharing information. While being incredibly cinematic, this scene was full of pending drama and darkness. The dum-da-das of the waltz seemed to be echoing in the upcoming chaos and I was just waiting for something to happen.

As you might expect, there are some very dark goings-on at the heart of this world. All of the worst, most evil things that typically happen in modern dystopians are here. It’s not just a case of rife misandry and injustice. It’s completely horrific levels of manipulation and control, not dissimilar to those experienced by women, people of colour and those living outside of the heteronormative lifestyle have been dealing with in real life for decades.

The Boy I Am is an original, exciting read from a talented debut author. It has elements of The Handmaid’s Tale and Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses series but it is definitely a unique idea all on its own. The seemingly far-fetched nature of this society may mean that it takes you a while to get into it but once you realise that the effects of a matriachy appear to be exactly the same as those of a patriarchy, it becomes a lot more relatable and believable. Compelling, unique and a promising new YA.