I mainly picked up this book because there's an asexual
character in it, and I wanted to see how he was portrayed in a typical YA
fantasy fiction.
Honestly, this is one of the more socially conscious works
of YA fiction that I've read. Not only is there an asexual character, the
protagonist's sister is gay, and she has a Muslim housemate. All of them are
portrayed really well, we hear about struggles of coming out to friends and
family and Ellie's housemate's fight to get halal meats in the dining halls. It
does seem as though Healey is equating asexuality and aromanticism at times,
but also sometimes not, it's a little unclear. The only other thing is that
Ellie herself, the main character, is just a normal, heterosexual, white girl.
I'd love to read a book like this where the asexual isn't the token best friend
but is instead the hero. Maybe next time... Having said that Healey does pretty
well with imbibing a more feminist tone to it, so that’s good.
Also a big part of the book incorporates Maoi culture and
mythology. Which is really cool, it’s not usually focused on in teen lit. The
theory behind all of the supernatural stuff is actually pretty similar to American Gods if anyone really enjoyed
that sort of mythology-in-the-real-world type thing.
Other than the somewhat diverse characters, it's a typical
YA story. Sassy female protagonist learns that her love interest has
supernatural powers and that she has them as well! They fight and things. But
I think that this is a good direction for books like this to go in, it has a
little more to it than your typical teen novel.
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