Decelerate Blue by Adam Rapp

Title: Decelerate Blue
Author: Adam Rapp
Illustrator: Mike Cavallaro
Length: 199 pages
Published: February 2017

In this dystopian world, life has become so accelerated that the focus of everything is on speed and efficiency. In speech, contractions are mandatory, adverbs are discouraged, and when you finish speaking you say "Go." Cool things are called "hyper" and movies are 14 minutes long. Angela discovers a resistance movement underground, where people are trying to slow down by never using contractions, sitting and reading, and lowering their heart rates. There's a bit of a young love story in there too.

I think this is a great concept for a dystopia, but while I enjoyed this graphic novel I feel like a novel might have done a better job of exploring the world a bit more. Lots of aspects of the world are hinted at but never explained, like how everyone talks about "guaranteeing their Guarantees" and people say "Go, Guarantee, Go!" to each other. What is the Guarantee Committee? What is the Database? These questions are never answered. The dystopian feel was good, but in my opinion a good dystopia has details.

The same is true of character development. I wanted to get to know the characters more (except the surprisingly many unpleasant characters in the underground; what's up with that?). Also, the plot goes at a good pace but then suddenly all the big stuff happens and the book is over!

So ultimately, I enjoyed this book, but I wanted MORE of everything.

Oh, also, the underground deciding to all take drugs together at the same time without really getting a chance to even see the effects of it made them seem a little less like a resistance and a little more like a cult. So that was a strange direction for them to take.

3 stars.

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Title: Boy Meets Boy
Author: David Levithan
Publication Date: September 9, 2003
Length: 6 hours (audiobook)

Boy Meets Boy is a sweet teen romance story that takes place in a town that has more than the average amount of acceptance for LGBT+ people. Gay students are totally accepted by their peers, and a trans girl named Infinite Darlene is both the homecoming queen and the quarterback. The story is told by Paul, who meets the new boy, Noah, and falls head over heels. Of course, complications ensue, including an ex-boyfriend who suddenly needs Paul's help, and a best friend (Joni) who starts dating a total jerk.

I enjoyed the setting of this novel. While it's often described as utopian, David Levithan has said that he intended it to be basically the real world as it is currently becoming. Basically it's one town in which progress has been made to the point where LGBT+ people are just accepted for who they are. (It's not the whole world; just one town over is Paul's friend Tony, whose religious parents are more familiar to people living in the real world.) It was refreshing to read a story about gay characters whose biggest problems are misunderstandings with new boyfriends.

Tony was one of my favourite characters, showing the most growth over the course of the story. He goes from hiding his whole life from his parents to finally standing up to them and forcing them to see him as he really is.

One warning: I'm assuming it's because this book is over a decade old, but the treatment of Infinite Darlene is not the greatest. Throughout the story she seems to be pretty clearly portrayed as a trans girl, but then near the end they suddenly call her a drag queen. So, that was weird. In my mind she will remain definitely a girl, no matter how much football she plays.

On the audiobook: I listened to the Full Cast Audio production of this book, and it was excellent. I've read reviews of this book saying that the narrative was flat, but I think it's impossible to see it that way when hearing it read by Nicholas Robideau, who portrayed Paul in this edition. Good acting, music, and other sounds combined to make this better than the average audiobook I've listed to.

4 stars.

2016 LGBTQIA Challenge

This reading challenge is for books that feature a main character who is LGBTQIA. This goes well with my ongoing efforts to diversify my reading. I'll be starting off easy with level Orange - 6-12 books.

I'll list the books I read for this challenge below.

1. Stealing Nasreen by Farzana Doctor
2. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Honourable mentions:

1. MRS by Noa Grey: The friend of one of the main characters is a lesbian.
2. Deadlight Jack by Mark Onspaugh: There is a lesbian couple in the extended cast of characters (the parents of the missing boy at the centre of the plot).
3. Roses and Rot by Kat Howard: There is a side character who is bi or pan.

The Book of David by Anonymous

Title: The Book of David
Author: Anonymous
Publication Date: June 2014
Length: 272 pages

Following the tradition of Go Ask Alice, The Book of David is written as if it were the diary of David, a gay teen living in the American South.

When Jon moves to town, the attraction between him and David is immediate and undeniable. But David is in total denial, so he spends much of the book trying to figure out his identity, all while trying desperately to hide his attraction to Jon from his family and friends. Eventually the truth comes out, and each person in David's life makes it clear whether or not they really care about him.

David's story is painful to read. He lives in a town that is still very backwards and where he knows he won't be accepted. I don't know if there really are still places in the U.S. that are that bad, but certainly there are still people as bad as those who don't accept David. This book made my heart break for every kid who has to worry about coming out to those kinds of people.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the woman-hating. Like, just because you aren't attracted to girls, doesn't mean you have to be a jerk about it, you know? I felt bad for Monica, dating a closeted gay guy who constantly gives her a hard time about not wanting to have sex with him.

But the budding relationship between David and Jon was sweet, and the characters who stand up for them are good enough people that the story has a happy side to it. Even though David's coming out has some pretty major consequences in his life, the story still ends with hope for a better future.

4 stars.

The Dark Victorian: Bones by Elizabeth Watasin

Title: The Dark Victorian Volume 2: Bones
Author: Elizabeth Watasin
Publication Date: January 23, 2013
Length: about 348 (ebook)

Warning: This is a review of the second book in the series, and may therefore contain spoilers from the first book. You can see my review of the first book here.

Bones picks up right where Risen left off. Right after solving their first case together, Art and Jim start searching for a black arts surgeon who is stealing the bones and organs of healthy, poor people to transplant into wealthy people with various diseases and disfigurements. As the surgeon searches for the skeleton of a woman over 6 feet tall, Art herself is in danger as they hurry to solve the case.

I loved the first book in this series, and I loved this one even more. It felt like it just had more of everything, in the best possible way. More of Art untangling her past, more of her relationship with Helia (and the other somewhat mysterious ladies in her life), and more of Victorian-era lesbians!

The story of the Bone Stealer is engrossing, the character development is satisfying yet simultaneously makes me want more more more, and the writing is absolutely gorgeous.

Oh and guess what! This blog is totally quoted in the critical acclaim section at the beginning!! *positively faints with excitement*

5 stars.

Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy of this book from the author.

Angel on the Ropes by Jill Shultz

Title: Angel on the Ropes
Author: Jill Shultz
Publication Date: June 1, 2013
Length: about 307 pages (ebook)

Amandine Sand is a leopard, a person born with spots, discriminated against because of the misguided belief that leopards carry a plague. She is also a trapeze artist. Amandine lives a double life, in the spotlight of the circus, with her spots carefully covered by makeup, and working for the Seekers, helping other leopards get to safe houses. When she meets a man who takes her breath away, if she isn't careful, both her worlds could be in danger.

This book made me wish I knew more about the trapeze. The descriptions of Amandine's and Jango's performances were beautiful, and I felt like they'd be even more beautiful if I knew enough about the trapeze to be able to accurately picture the act in my head.

The Plaguellants are very frightening villains. Religious zealots that hunt down and kill leopards towards the goal of purifying the world, they really show how the scariest bad guys are the ones who really believe they're the good guys. This makes the eventual humanising of one of the Plaguellants all the more powerful and strange.

I love the casual depiction of LGBT characters in this book. Several of the main characters are shown to be bi- or pan-sexual, and it's just part of the characters; that's never what the story is about. It's quite refreshing. There are even polyamorous characters, with a small plot line about the difficulties in a relationship between a poly and a mono.

Angel on the Ropes is beautifully written, with a thrilling depiction of circus life, a spicy romance, and a frightening class struggle fueled by ignorance and intolerance. Oh, and made up swear words that actually seem natural, not like they're trying to hard to sound like fantasy/sci fi, which made up words in these genres too often do. Amandine's use of the phrase "moulti tiva", in particular, always seemed so fitting. I appreciate an author who can make up good swear words and other expressions.

4 stars.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the publisher through Netgalley.

Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon

Title: Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite
Author: Lianne Simon
Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Length: 234 pages

Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite is the story of an intersex person named Jamie (Jameson), whose parents didn't get her gender right. When she was young, a doctor told her parents she should have been raised a boy, so that's what her parents tried to do. But Jamie was just pretending to be a boy, knowing all along that she was a girl (or, as she says, an elfin princess).

The story takes place in the 60s, which was actually the one thing I didn't like about it. I feel like setting it in the 60s makes it too easy to think this story couldn't happen now. All the characters are extremely sexist and homophobic, because it's the 60s, so someone reading this might think that nowadays things aren't so bad, when in reality there are still many obstacles for intersex children, including parents who refuse to respect the child's gender identity. I'm sure the author knows this is still a problem; I just worry that readers might not. So I feel like setting it in the present would have given the story a bit more power.

That being said, this is one powerful story. I spent half the time I was reading it in tears. Mostly angry tears. Jamie's father, in particular, made me really mad. Every time he broke Jamie's heart by being disappointed with her, I just wanted to slap him. He actually gives Jamie a list of "things boys do", saying that once she's done the things on the list, if she still thinks she's a girl, he'll consider bringing her to see another doctor.

Thankfully, Jamie also encounters supportive, accepting people, who encourage her to embrace her true gender rather than trying to please her parents. (Sidenote: I don't know if this is just how people were in the 60s, but Jamie cares WAY too much about what her parents think. If they were my parents, I would have been long gone.)

I'm not sure I've done it justice, but trust me when I say that you should read this book. It's a moving, powerful story, and you might just learn a thing or two while you're reading it.

4 stars.

Full disclosure: Free copy received from the author.

A Tale of Two Mommies and A Tale of Two Daddies by Vanita Oelschlager

Titles (this is a review of two books): A Tale of Two Mommies and A Tale of Two Daddies
Author: Vanita Oelschlager
Publication dates: Sept. 1, 2011, and Apr. 1, 2010
Length: 40 pages each

A Tale of Two Mommies is a conversation between three children at the beach, about how one of the kids has two mommies. The other two children ask all sorts of questions about who takes various roles in the boy's life.

A Tale of Two Daddies is a similar conversation between a girl who has two daddies and another kid.

The problem I had with both of these books is that I don't think kids would ask these questions. Am I wrong here? What kid thinks that only one of your parents is there when you scrape your knee? Or that only one of them would help you take your bath? I'd be sad if a kid had gender stereotypes built into their brain at so young an age that they assume only dads can build treehouses or only moms can bake birthday cakes.

On the other hand, I do like the answers to the questions. I noticed that the author does not make it so one of the parents is doing all of the traditionally masculine work with the other doing the traditionally feminine work.

My favourite parts were when both parents do something. Of course, both moms help look for a lost kitty, and both dads are there when you need to talk.

So, despite their flaws, these are still nice books. They'd probably be more appropriate for kids who don't understand LGBT families, rather than the actual kids they're about.

3 stars each.

Full disclosure: I received free e-book copies of these books from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Marrying Kind by Ken O'Neill

Title: The Marrying Kind
Author: Ken O'Neill
Publication Date: June 19, 2012
Length: 264 pages

Steven Worth is a writer for The Gay New York Times, and his partner Adam More is a very successful wedding planner. As Adam sinks into depression as a result of planning other people's weddings when he himself cannot legally get married, Steven suffers a minor breakdown when he is named only as "and guest" on a wedding invitation. As a result, they (well, mostly Adam) decide to boycott weddings as a protest against inequality, and through Steven's column this boycott grows to include many of the gay florists, chefs, etc. But will their resolve remain when their own siblings decide to get married? (That's right, I just ended my summary with a question mark. Deal with it.)

Overall this was an enjoyable read. I liked Steven better than Adam. Adam is charming, but through most of the story I found him a bit heartless. He's so devoted to the cause, which is awesome, but I felt much more on the side of Steven, who was always torn, wanted to support his brother, and didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Maybe that just means I'm not a very good activist.

Even though I found Adam a bit overwhelming, this was an inspiring story of two men who start a movement. Whether or not their efforts would actually lead to laws being changed, such activism gives hope to everyone involved. The Marrying Kind is a humourous look at a totally unfunny issue in the US today, and while progress has been made since the book was written, it still couldn't be more timely.

I'm so glad I live in Canada where I can attend weddings (and get married myself!) guilt-free, because everyone has that same privilege.

4 stars.

Full disclosure: Free e-book copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.

Running in Bed by Jeffrey Sharlach

Title: Running in Bed
Author: Jeffrey Sharlach
Publication Date: May 5, 2012
Length: 291 pages

Running in Bed tells the story of a gay man living in New York City in the 70s. This was definitely a promising premise, as that was a setting in which the gay pride movement was really gaining momentum, but HIV/AIDS was also appearing. The story follows Josh, a successful young advertising exec, as he comes to accept himself as a gay man, and tries to find his Prince Charming. He becomes rather obsessed (in quite an unhealthy way, I think) with a guy named Tommy, seemingly just from seeing him once at the beach.

What I liked: Seeing the major events in the gay community unfold from the point of view of someone who was living through them, and therefore not realising how historically significant they would be, was really interesting. I learned a lot about the history of AIDS (like that it was originally known as GRID: Gay Related Immune Deficiency. Can you imagine?).

What I didn't care for: The book reads like a diary. There were major events in the story, and in between were long stretches of Josh going out to the bar, Josh pining over Tommy and wishing Tommy would call (also an element I didn't care for), Josh hanging out at Fire Island, and in general just Josh going about his daily life. So, it was a bit slow. And I spent a lot of time wishing that Josh would find a guy who was nice and would actually give a rat's butt about him.

3 stars.

Full disclosure: Free e-book copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.

Steam-Powered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories

Title: Steam-Powered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories
Author: JoSelle Vanderhooft (editor)
Publication Date: October 2011
Length: 440 pages

First off, let me just say that it is so amazing to read 400 pages of steampunk with no male main characters. That alone makes this book worth reading for anyone who's feeling a little under-represented in the genre. Similarly, the stories take place all over the world, not just in Victorian England, so there's a lot more cultural diversity than is typical. Yay!

As for the individual stories, as usual with short story collections I liked some more than others. However, I definitely liked more than I usually do in this one. For example, in the first story, Journey's End by Elizabeth Porter Birdsall, a material from asteroids is used to build engines, which causes ships to become sentient. After some decades of serving her crew, a sentient ship chooses a crewmember to fly her to her death. In Playing Chess in New Persepolis by Sean Holland, people from around the world participate in a chess tournament with giant steam-powered chess pieces of their own design, where both their technical abilities and their chess skills are put to the test. In The Terracotta Bride by Zen Cho, the reader is shown a fascinating concept of the afterlife, in which people go to Hell, and then try to stay there rather than be reincarnated, and for belongings people have whatever their descendants burn for them.

So overall, while there were a few stories that didn't really do anything for me, I think there were more stories that had truly original ideas, really captured the essence of steampunk, and were really well-written stories that kept me interested and entertained.

4 stars.

This book counts for the 2012 A-Z Book Challenge.

Full disclosure: Free copy received through a Goodreads giveaway.

Witch Hunt by Nick Chivers

Title: Witch Hunt
Author: Nick Chivers
Publication Date: October 31, 2011
Length: 195 pages (ebook)

So, I went through a lot of phases of feeling during this book. There were times when I couldn't stop complaining about it, but then I'd sit down and read it for an hour without stopping, needing to know what happens next.

To briefly summarise, Mike is a witch with crazy amounts of power, and in the past he had the Bands of Binding put on him, which dampen that power. He did this for mysterious reasons! But don't worry, you will learn about them! So suddenly, his best friend Drew shows up with his soul-bound partner Jerome, telling Mike that someone from his past wants him dead, and thus the adventure begins! Most of the book follows the three of them as they try to make it to Brazil where a magical council will be meeting to figure this whole mess out. On the way, Mike proves to be rather emotionally volatile when it comes to love interests, in a way that is mostly endearing though sometimes a bit jarring.

Now, on to the critiquing!

First, I had issues with the writing. Some of the dialogue felt a bit unnatural, and I definitely felt that there were not enough contractions (people say "don't" a lot more than they say "do not" in natural speech, for example). So sometimes that could disrupt the flow a bit. When I'm reading dialogue, I don't want to notice the writing style. I want to be able to get caught up in the conversation.

On the other hand, I really did enjoy the story. I love the whole premise of the book. The witches have really cool powers, the characters are likable, and I enjoyed the ending.

Overall, I just feel like it could have used a bit more depth. I liked it, but wanted more out of it. The characters were good ideas for characters, but I felt like for some of them I didn't get enough background, enough personality. I definitely would have liked more out of Rick, because I love the whole "forest guardian" concept of his character.

So, I would rate this book a somewhere-in-the-middle. It gets high ratings in some areas and low ones in others, balancing out to right around the middle.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the publisher.