Review: No Man of Woman Born

★★★★★

Simply put, wow. I needed this book and I had no idea until I picked it up on a whim.

No Man of Woman Born is a collection of seven short stories, all featuring trans and nonbinary characters in epic fantasy settings. Aside from how overjoyed I was with the representation in this collection, I must take a moment to comment on Ana Mardoll’s incredible talent as a writer. In each brief story xie conjures an elaborate, fleshed out world that could support its own collection of tales. Though the world xie creates may be filled with strife and warfare, xer characters persevere. While some protagonists experienced hardship in their past, none suffer gruesome deaths or tragic fates, no characters are deadnamed, and misgendering and bigotry are minimal. Each story elegantly subverts well established tropes in the fantasy genre, and left me smiling each time it did. Mardoll puts the heart of this book best in xer own words:

The heroes and heroines in these pages aren’t special because they are trans; they are special and they are trans.

I loved this book from cover to cover and I highly recommend it to any lovers of fantasy, retellings, and queer fiction.

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No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll
Genre: Fantasy/LGBTQ+/Short Stories
Length: 174 pages
Publisher: Acacia Moon
Pub. Date: July 10, 2018
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
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