A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff

First of all, this book is very Jewish and makes no bones about it. Lukoff has a strong history as a writer of children’s fiction, ranging from picture books through the upper end of middle grade.A World Worth Saving is at the higher end of the age range. And while it is clearly written for Jewish kids…it’s also written for trans kids.

Our protagonist is a trans Jewish boy known, throughout the book, only as A. (He hasn’t picked out a new name yet). His hugely unsupportive parents keep dragging him to an anti-trans “support group” and he’s in real danger of winding up at a conversion therapy camp.

Oh, btw, it’s run by soul eating demons.

This is the kind of book people want to ban, and I definitely want to hand copies to a bunch of cis kids, if I was in a position to do so. Trans people might actually find it very raw…it really pulls no punches about the homelessness and suicide rates amongst trans youth, the way their options are shrinking, lack of funding even in the more friendly environment of Seattle, where the book is set.

In a very Jewish way, though, it promotes being trans as holy, important, and beautiful. So…yes.

(I would also like to hand this book to unsupportive parents, just saying).

This isn’t a fun or pleasant book, but it’s a hopeful one, triumphant in the end, and well worth reading if you don’t find it too…on the nose.

Cry, Voidbringer by Elaine Bo

First of all, this book is grimdark. It is dark. Nobody has plot immortality. It reminds me a bit of Sanderson, just darker and queerer (half the cast appears to be some level of bisexual).

There’s no single protagonist, but a variety of interwoven tales, but the focus is on Naias, lover to the queen, Hammer/Elera, a soldier and Naias’ ex, and Crescent/Rafaeis, Hammer’s lover. And, of course, Viridian, avatar of a destructive goddess.

And it…gets worse. Although one thing here…Bo does not resort to SA to make her work dark. It’s dark because everyone’s half crazy about power…people make stupid mistakes…and the relationship between Khall and Naias is…the phrase “disaster lesbians” comes to mind. Squared. On steroids. Nobody is good, nobody’s hands are clean.

If you’re in the mood for dark, this is a really good book. The worldbuilding is solid, the characters are interesting, and the magic is…well…there’s no magic system. Only the godchildren, the avatars, have magic, and it’s limited and chaotic and…yeah.

If you’re not, though, save it until you are…the content warnings at the start are pretty serious. This book is violent, sensual, and it ends in a very bad place (setting up for a sequel, mind).

Just so you know? Viridian’s…12.

I was sent copies of these books for review or award consideration purposes.