lesbians when the most powerful magical girls are a butchfemme couple
“Way to tell the world that a part of my mind is forever colonized by my credit clesbians when the most powerful magical girls are a butchfemme couple
“Way to tell the world that a part of my mind is forever colonized by my credit card debt.”
part speculative litfic, part climate change drama, & part millennial doomsday nightmare, park seolyeon’s addition to magical girl canon is a perfect pride month read. ‘a magical girl retires’ follows an unnamed millennial narrator struggling with her mental health and overwhelming credit card debt whose life is starting to look up after she discovers that she is a magical girl.
park seolyeon struck up the perfect balance between cutting social commentary and compulsively readable literary fiction gold.
recommended for people who:
- watched a lot of sailor moon as a kid - are sailor moon super fans - shipped the best cousins around sailor uranus & sailor neptune - are self-proclaimed caroline polachek enjoyers - like to do gas station hauls - are chappell roan stans - are loser lesbians (tm) - are butch/femme lesbians...more
kristin cashore has truly mastered the art of character work. she has this way of writing so introspectively and with such empathy, detailing the compkristin cashore has truly mastered the art of character work. she has this way of writing so introspectively and with such empathy, detailing the complexities of womanhood, bodily autonomy, and the relationships we cultivate and maintain as we grow.
cashore is quite possibly the most adept writer of character that i’ve ever encountered in young adult fiction. her command over the narrative and how she utilizes areas of the plot (court & political intrigue + deception) to further illustrate and develop fire’s character and her place within society as a highly desired monster woman, as well as her relationships with other characters, is stunning.
parts of the plot really fell flat for me and i was definitely bored at times, but cashore is the kind of writer you read for character studies & introspection within the realm of young adult lit rather than the kind of writer you read to get lost in hardcore, intensely intricate political intrigue.
‘fire’ also felt almost like a book about chronic illness to me? i struggle a lot with endometriosis and the way that cashore portrayed fire’s incredibly painful periods & the added detail of monsters being attracted to her blood and becoming more violent because of it (due to her parentage and magic) really spoke to me.
honestly i’ve never read character writing like this before in ya, kristin cashore & this series were ahead of their time....more
i don’t think it’s an over-exaggeration to say that this is one of the only books i’ve ever read that so staunchly respects it’s woman character’s agei don’t think it’s an over-exaggeration to say that this is one of the only books i’ve ever read that so staunchly respects it’s woman character’s agency within romance. truly ahead of it’s time...more
alix e harrow could write romeo and juliet and macbeth but shakespeare could never write ‘the six deaths of the saint’. the level of skill and a fuck
alix e harrow could write romeo and juliet and macbeth but shakespeare could never write ‘the six deaths of the saint’. the level of skill and artistry that harrow shows in just 30 pages is truly envious. the reader is left craving more of the story but knowing that it’s perfectly contained.
‘six deaths’ is a love story of the self rather than a love story between anyone else that features such unabashedly human tenderness contrasted against great violence. a must-read.
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can’t believe i’m this emotionally devastated over a 30 page short story. this is the most amazing, beautiful use of second person i’ve ever read— there’s a reason it’s called the literary arts....more
i saw another reviewer refer to this as ‘skins in space’ and i feel like that’s a very apt description…
‘do you dream of terra-two?’ by temi oh is a sci saw another reviewer refer to this as ‘skins in space’ and i feel like that’s a very apt description…
‘do you dream of terra-two?’ by temi oh is a science fiction novel, sure, there’s plenty of discussions about science as all of the pov characters are heavily involved in STEM and have been for many years, and also most of the novel takes place in space in a spaceship. however, it’s more of a speculative fiction novel in my opinion.
the book is set in a world where space science and travel is far advanced beyond what we currently know. mars has been claimed and sparsely colonized by russia, there have been multiple space expeditions, and the novel follows a group of scientists and astronauts traveling to a planet that is almost a replica of earth through their spaceship’s interstellar travel abilities. there’s a cult of new creationists that view this new earth as a utopia, untouched by humans and thus holy, ready for the worthy to colonize it and ‘do better’ than was done to the original earth.
the world building itself is shoddy, the author often opting to throw random facts at us instead of expanding and hoping we catch on.
the character work is honestly impressive, each pov character is fleshed out and has a distinctive voice. i even had characters that i really liked. but each character has different mental health issues that are often severe and intentionally ignored not just by the other characters due to their specific circumstances but by the author themselves. i particularly hate how eating disorders were handled in this book, or rather, not handled.
this book made me very uncomfortable in a lot of different ways, and perhaps this was the author’s intention, but reading about such personable characters experience different harrowing scenarios and go through so many highs and lows left me emotionally exhausted. this book really did have the same effect on me as watching gen’s 1 and 2 of skins did.
honestly, if ‘skins in space’ sounds interesting to you, you’d probably like this. but mental health and eating disorders are not well-handled or well-written, and i honestly remember next to nothing about this book now that it’s been a few days besides how poorly handled they were. also, most of the male pov characters are DEFINITELY creepy. ...more
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