Welcome to the February Queer Lit Review! This month, we have a collection of poetry, a politician trying to prove himself in the middle of war, and a young man trying to confess his feelings to his roommate.
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Happy Reading!
Title/Author: Lord of the Butterflies by Andrea Gibson
Reviewer: Jordan
Summary: A collection of 38 poems with artful and nuanced looks at gender, romance, loss, and family. Each emotion here is deft and delicate, resting inside of imagery heavy enough to sink the heart, while giving the body wings to soar.
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre/Sub-Genre: Poetry
Book Format: Paperback
Length: 95 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Gender queer
Content Warnings: Politics, panic attacks, gun violence, homophobia, and white supremacy
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Well-written
Would I Recommend?: YES!
Personal thoughts: I don’t normally read poetry, but a few years ago, I read Take Me With You, an illustrated book of Gibson’s most memorable quotes, and discovered how accessible and relatable their work is. It’s a book I think back on often, and when I heard of their passing in July 2025, I vowed to get into their other poetry collections.
I’m finally getting around to that goal with Lord of the Butterflies for my Winter Reading Challenge Americas pick, and I’ve got to say I was not disappointed! These poems are heartbreaking, angering, hopeful, and heartwarming. Gibson’s words paint vivid pictures and give emotional gut punches throughout. I also found myself nodding along in agreement. These poems are absolutely accessible to anyone, even if you’ve never read poetry before, which is one of the best parts.
Their poetry shares what it’s like to be queer, to struggle living in a heteronormative world, but also to find the love of your life. They cover the horror of school shootings in one poem, and rail against certain politicians in another. In yet others, there are the imaginative thoughts of a wishing well, heartfelt words about found family, and the struggles of having depression and public panic attacks. These poems are real life, relatable, and must-reads for anyone with feelings on these tough and wonderful topics.
Some of my favorite poems from this collection include: Fight for Love, Living Proof, Ode to the Public Panic Attack, First Love, and America, Reloading.
Title/Author: The High King's Golden Tongue by Megan Derr
Reviewer: Puck
Summary: Prince Allen has trained his entire life to be the consummate politician, and for the past few years, to become the new consort of the High King of Harken. Unfortunately, it seems no one has prepared High King Sarrica for him. Sarrica is ruling an empire at war and wants someone like his late consort – a former soldier like himself, someone used to war and the harsher elements of rule – so he declares Allen a useless songbird and throws him out of court. Left to his own devices, Allen teams up with an elite mercenary team to solve one of Sarrica’s most pressing political problems. It’ll take Allen into the treacherous mountains of Carthia, right into the war and death Sarrica thinks he’s too weak for, but risking his life will be worth it if he can prove himself worthy of the throne.
Series/Standalone: High Court, #1 (can be read as a standalone)
Genre/Sub-Genre: Romance, speculative fiction
Book Format: eBook
Length: 410 pages (paperback)
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Gay/queer
HEA/HFN: Yes
Content Warnings: War, kidnapping, violence, torture, murder, discussion of past physical abuse
Ratio of Sex/Plot: Very low
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Well-written (editor needed for later books in the series, though)
Would I Recommend?: Yes!
Personal Thoughts: The High King’s Golden Tongue feels like it was purpose-built for me specifically – linguistics nerdery, political marriage arrangements that turn into real love, and enticing queer-centric worldbuilding. The first POV character, Allen, is a skilled interpreter and translator, a certified silver tongue – someone who is fluent in three or more languages and is therefore considered valuable in the multicultural empire of Harken, where currency is set to a silver standard. (This term gets upgraded to the titular “golden tongue” against Allen’s wishes later in the book.) Allen, being an overachiever who has spent his whole life being groomed to do just this one thing, is fluent in fourteen languages, three of them dead, so any time the narration is from his perspective, we get some wonderful insights into the linguistic nuances of the secondary world Derr introduces here.
The eponymous High King, Sarrica, is annoyingly obtuse in the first half of the book, but he is grieving his late consort and naturally suspicious of the non-military aspects of politics, so his recalcitrance does make sense, even as both Allen and the reader rail against it. Allen knows that High Consort is a job; it’s a job he’s been trained to do, and he knows he’ll be good at it if Sarrica just gives him a chance. One of the things that drew me in right at the start is how Allen begins solving problems at the court even after Sarrica initially throws him out. I love a competent main character, especially if that competence is in a less-valued skillset.
As for the tantalizing queer-centric worldbuilding, this becomes more explicit in later books, but even early on in this one, we get a hint that, at least in Harken countries, physical sex and social gender are not culturally linked. When Allen reminisces about his childhood in Gaulden (one of Harken’s most powerful vassal states), he thinks of his father, his mother, and the dame on whom his mother sired him. Later, we learn that Sarrica’s former consort, Nyle, bore their two children.
Finally, the external plot ties in perfectly to the character-driven themes of Allen needing to prove himself and Sarrica needing to admit that he can use Allen’s help: Allen’s prodigious language skills set him up to be useful to a high-ranking mercenary troop tasked with rescuing a kidnapped royal of a neighboring country. Of course, it takes Allen and Sarrica working together to fully resolve this plot to their satisfaction. Sarrica’s attempts to go it alone were patently not working from the very beginning, but Allen going off alone to prove himself doesn’t cut it either. The two of them make an excellent team, and once they accept that, they can also accept the potential for genuine affection – and even love – that can grow out of their political arrangement. And for me, that is catnip.
After finishing The High King’s Golden Tongue, I immediately went on to read the subsequent books in the series, in which Derr makes her way down the hierarchy of the Harkenesten court, giving everyone from the High Commander of Harken’s military to the royal secretary to the captain of a mercenary troop a chance at true love. The writing in the later books is less tight than in this one, but the characters are endearing, and the worldbuilding continues to be excellent. They are true potato chip fiction – you can’t have just one!
Title/Author/Artist: Hirano and Kagiura Vol. 1 by Shou Harusono
Reviewer: Lo
Summary: Akira Kagiura has decided. He will marry him. Taiga Hirano, his roommate―and the most perfect man who has ever existed! After all, Hirano’s bad boy vibe doesn’t really matter when he acts so sweet. Like when he wakes Kagi up every morning or cheers him on when he’s feeling down...So now there’s only one thing left to do: enact his grand plan and overcome the first hurdle―confessing his feelings!
Series/Standalone: Series
Genre/Sub-Genre: BL Manga
Book Format: Print
Length: 148 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Gay
Content Warnings: None needed, this is mainly fluff and pining.
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Well-Written indeed, all the little extra things included, like it’s under the characters’ breaths or their internal thoughts that happen as they are also saying something different.
Art/Illustrations: I love Harusono’s art style! Everything is very expressive.
Would I Recommend?: Yes!
Personal thoughts: So, full disclosure: I absolutely ADORE Sasaki and Miyano, and this story takes place during the same timeframe as that love story. Sasaki and Hirano are friends, and Hirano is Miyano’s senpai in their afterschool club/committee. That being said, this is A LOT less chaotic and doesn’t have a character that is in constant panic like Miyano. In fact, we see both Hirano and Kagiura expressing their comfort in being around each other and the genuine care they hold for one another.
Specifically, Hirano doesn’t like being away from Kagiura. He misses their companionship, and he worries about him. Several people in Hirano's class think he should be annoyed by Kagiura, but he affirms he is not, even though he is internally struggling to identify the type of relationship he has with Kagiura. He often reflects that they might be too far beyond a senpai/kouhai relationship and even awkwardly compares them to brothers at one point, but that is dismissed quickly by his friend Hanzawa.
Kagiura, on the other hand, is very much obsessed with Hirano, and to his friend does not mince his words when he says he just wishes he could marry Hirano. Throughout this first volume, we see Kagiura starting to build up the courage to confess to Hirano. Unfortunately, Hirano is a bit oblivious and thinks Kagiura is talking about something else. However, this is only volume one and the story is to be continued…
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