Welcome to the October edition of the QLR! This month we have trans witches fighting an evil artificial intelligence (AI), lesbian women fighting biohazard waste while falling in love, and two best friends cooking and eating together.
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Happy Reading!
Title/Author: Awakened by A. E. Osworth
Reviewer: Dani
Summary: After nonbinary loner Wilder wakes up one morning with the magical and anxiety-inducing ability to understand all languages, they’re strong-armed into joining a small coven of trans witches. Guided by their leader, Artemis, the four witches investigate the strange glare her magic can sense coming off technology and must ultimately figure out how to use their shared magic to defeat a power-hungry AI.
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre/Sub-Genre: Urban fantasy
Book Format: Physical
Length: 377 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Variously trans and queer
Content Warnings: Transphobia, misgendering
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Mostly well-written
Would I Recommend?: Yes
Personal Thoughts: I had such a good time with this book! I was immediately intrigued by the premise — trans witches fight an evil AI — and overall, it did not disappoint. Weird and wonderfully queer all the way through, Awakened is a jubilant, magical romp that’s just right for “everyone who feels betrayed by J. K. Rowling” (as the dedication reads).
I found it refreshing to be immersed in a story where pretty much all the significant characters are trans. Even more, I appreciated how Osworth uses the conceit of a group formed to support the magically awakened to bring together characters who don’t have much else fundamentally in common and explore trans identity in a non-monolithic way. From across New York City and across circumstances, their experiences are impacted by gender identity, race, class, age, the age at which they came out, how well they pass, and whether they have any interest in passing at all. The focus on magic and AI allows the novel to playfully and poignantly take on some of the quintessential themes of queer literature: what it means to exist at odds with normative society, what it means to have a body, and what it means to find family.
One of the things that charmed me most about Awakened is its use of point of view. I’m the kind of reader who gets prickly when nominally close-third narration ping-pongs between characters’ perspectives mid-scene, and this book raised some early red flags. But I enjoyed discovering that this was an intentional feature of the writing (and ultimately used for very poly means). Eventually, all is explained, and we meet a character who quickly became my favorite omniscient narrator.
The aspect of the book that didn't convince me as much was the AI’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) origin. Amid our current cultural discussions about the impact of AI, it just seemed kind of quaint. While the AI itself is depicted in a satisfyingly disturbing way, its backstory seemed like a missed opportunity to comment on something weightier and more relevant to the rest of the novel’s concerns than sexism in the video game industry.
But I’m willing to forgive plot points that don’t land quite right for the sake of characters this endearing. I felt enough for Wilder and the gang and was so thoroughly invested in their journey that it was easy to get caught up in the joy of their successes. If you’re up for an off-kilter, loving celebration of transness, I'd recommend giving this one a try.
Title/Author/Artist: SHWD by Sono.N
Reviewer: Jordan
Summary: In a world overrun by terrifying creatures born from biological weapons, only one organization stands between safety and chaos — the SHWD (Special Hazardous Waste Disposal). New recruit Koga, the second woman to join the male-dominated Tokyo branch, is ready to flex her muscles and prove she can handle the job. She's teamed with another woman, Sawada, a hardened veteran whose sharp mind complements Koga's raw power. But while sparks fly between them, there's little room for romance when every mission could be their last.
Series/Standalone: Complete 3 volume omnibus!
Genre/Sub-Genre: Yuri Manga
Book Format: Physical
Length: 468 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Lesbian
Content Warnings: Some violence
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Well-written
Art/Illustrations: I really liked the artwork, especially how the women were drawn as extra big and buff, but fully clothed.
Would I Recommend?: Yes
Personal thoughts: The first thing I expected was a lot of violence. I’m impressed that while there is violence, it’s not that much. There is minimal gore as well. The biohazard creatures (called Dynamis) are drawn very dark and of an indeterminate shape, which helps. There’s no distinction between dripping blood and the Dynamis body. This story is more about the women than it is about fighting the Dynamis, even though the Dynamis feature heavily in their lives in some very unexpected ways. I do wish those ways had been explored more rather than thrown in at the very end.
The second thing I expected was a lot of sex scenes. There are two lesbian couples in this series: Koga and Sawada & Leone and Nonaka, and not a single sex scene in all three volumes. For me, this was a breath of fresh air in terms of how most manga romance involves a lot of graphic sex. I do think this could have gone deeper into the women’s lives and their growing attractions to one another. Overall, their romances are more surface-level than I would have liked, and I needed to see more of what’s bringing them together.
Despite these flaws, I did enjoy it and recommend it for a light and quick read.
Title/Author/Artist: Let's Eat Together, Aki & Haru by Makoto Taji
Reviewer: Lo
Summary: A sweet, slice-of-life look into best friends and roommates Aki & Haru’s lives. Mostly, consisting of Aki making food for Haru and their friends, whilst Haru gives Aki praise and positive reinforcements that seemingly go against Haru’s coy demeanor.
Series/Standalone: Series
Genre/Sub-Genre: BL Manga
Book Format: Print
Length: 122 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Gay/MLM
Content Warnings: None
Well-Written/Editor Needed: So cute, a few translation things could have been improved but nothing that took away from the story
Art/Illustrations: The art style is so cute and expressive!
Would I Recommend?: Yes! It is such a light and airy little slice-of-life manga with tons of recipes and instructions if you wanted to follow along and eat with Aki and Haru.
Personal thoughts: Despite this being marketed as a BL, in this first volume, it really is just Aki and Haru completing each other and expressing that they don’t want to leave each other, even as they are progressing in school/life. I haven’t read further volumes yet, but as of volume one, this can also totally be read as a QPR (queer platonic relationship), as nothing has progressed physically or has been explicitly stated.
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