This graphic novel is a trans girl fantasy. Our main character Ash has been struggling with their identity. Their mother is gone, but she was a writer who made up a magical world. One day Ash ends up in this magical world with their friends and the secret of this world is that only girls are allowed. So, Ash feels elated that this secret area chose them, and that their feelings of being a girl are reflected and approved. This world is part Watership Down, part Neverland. Just when one thinks that Ash and their friends are going to solve the problems in this world, turns out that the problems are boys and Ash realizes that maybe it wasn’t the world telling her she’s a girl. In order for this world, invented by her mother to be saved she’s going to have to find her true self and her true power and get her and her friends safely home. This book is a bit of a slow read, but in the end it is worth it. It was an enjoyable adventure especially for those who already enjoy fantasy with anthropomorphic characters. However, there’s something deeper and darker in here. This land invented by her mother is all about fear. Fear is what gives it power. But her mother’s greatest fear was a man. That is never addressed, and I wish it was. The end of the book makes it seem like there will be further adventures and if there are I will check into them because while this was a slow read, it was a good one. ( )

Fantasy v reality

Good story. All bout identity and finding one’s true self. And the strength & bimetallic of true friendship. One for MS libraries. ( )

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/3bVde-xVgB0

Enjoy! ( )

On the one hand, I've been looking for books that younger kids can get into that explore trans experience, so that's appealing, and I think it's handled pretty well.

Also, the fantasy world definitely reads as the kind of elaborate dream world a child might build over the course of their growing up -- from rabbit warriors, to fairie-type grass creatures, to elaborately named pretty ponies and weird candy villages guarded by creepy marionettes. It's original and authentic.

Unfortunately, the plot really lets it down. It's very one dimensional; the girl vs boy dynamic as the big theme for the quest is just not that interesting; and doesn't hang together particularly well. It's also confusing when you add in the death of Ash's mother in the dream world -- she was literally killed by her fears? Her fears came to life and because she didn't figure out that she had to love and embrace them, she died?!? What, now? What the heck kind of message is that? I found the blurring of fantasy/metaphor/reality very confusing, and the "solution" to saving the cartoon world felt like something out of an 80s cartoon. It's a legitimate choice, it just didn't work for me.

As far as characters go... that's the other thing that lets the book down. Aside from the harmful depiction of the one black character as combative and rude (a huge issue that several other people have commented on far more eloquently than I can) -- the characters in general are fairly flat. Even Ash's struggle to work out his/her identity is lacking a certain level of intensity -- though I do like how accepting Ash's father is.

The budding romance with Eleanor also bothered me -- that little aside when she tells Ash that she's in the Pride club because she likes girls -- it's meant to be encouraging and flirtatious -- I'll like you as a girl. But to me it came across as valuing Ash's gender more than Ash as an individual which is clearly not the message the book wants to give.

There's a lot of potential here, but I wonder if it would benefit from significant expansion. Delve more into the depths, give us more to love and get invested in. Give us back story on characters so they become more than the sketch on the page.

Advanced Readers Copy provided by Oni Press.




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