Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Transmogrify!

In all honesty, most short story collections are just hit or miss for me, mostly because there are usually just a few standouts. For fantasy, it's especially hard if there is a lot of world building. There's a lot to fit into a smaller amount of pages.

I think my favorite stories in this one were the ones that Vico Ortiz narrated. Do I remember which ones those were? Nope, but I liked the vibes of them. A good narrator always makes or breaks it for me.

If you like short story collections, check this one out! There are still some gems in here.

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As with all anthologies, there were some that I loved and some that were just okay. It was a fun time, and I loved the message that magic is for everyone! Magic means something different to each of the characters in this story, from chosen families to using that power to help other people.

A thing I love about anthologies is how it introduces me to new authors. The only author I’ve read from this book (so far) is Mason Deaver, which I loved. It was great to see a collective of trans joy expressed in this way, and the representation and diversity was awesome.

A thing I struggled with was that a lot of these stories didn’t have the room to expand or develop, and I feel didn’t work as short stories, although enjoyable. Many of them felt like an excerpt of a full length story, rather than stories that hold on their own. I’d love to read some of these as full books.

I’d recommend this to anyone, but especially teenagers who are struggling to cope with things.

Origin Story by Saundra Mitchell

“That’s the problem with a binary for me: too easy to hang qualities under category one or category two”

This follows Daisy Rae Collins, a trans child recently kicked out of school for magical students. I thought this was a great story for the anthology to start with, it helps set the tone for the rest of the book. Overall, I enjoyed it, it was fun and whimsical. It felt like a condescended first part of a YA novel, before the action and the meat of the story begins. I don’t think the writing style was for me in a short story format, at least (and they also called the pandemic “the pando”, funny but). A story about how if people don’t want to accept you, you can create your own community who will.

Halloween Love by Sonora Reyes

This anthology is a T4T love story set on Valentine’s Day by an author I’ve wanted to read for a long time but haven’t gotten around to yet, with witches of course. It’s very wholesome and sweet and has the message for trans kids that love is for them, too, even if it looks different for you than it does for everyone else.

Verity by Renée Reynolds

“Broken things can be mended, and magic can be found even in the darkest of places”

This was about seeing your truth and always being yourself, regardless of the hostility and fear of others. This one especially feels like a direct response to HP. It speaks on how other peoples’ ignorance and fear is what propels them to hurt others, and maybe they’re denying their own truth as well.

Dragons Name Themselves by A.R.Capetta and Cory McCarthy

This story was told from the perspective of a school and was about raising baby dragons, so it would have been quite difficult for this story to fail. This one was really fun with a cute, wholesome romance thrown in as well and has the message that it’s okay to be a slow bloomer and we’ll become who we become in our own time.

High Tide by Francesca Tacchi

“are you invested in tradition only when it doesn’t challenge your own worldview?”

About challenging tradition and paving way for the future generation of trans people, this is a inspiring story about demanding you get what you want and obtaining respect. I really liked it, and I especially enjoyed the way it ended. The friendship group was so cute and I loved the energy you got from them, even in such a short amount of space.

In a Name by Ayìda Shonìbar

“Not all sinister things bear the faces of beasts”

A story about the power of a name and being true to yourself, another story about how there is no time limit in finding out and discovering who you really are. It also sheds light on how some monsters are within your own community, not outsiders. I enjoyed this, this was more fantasy-esque than the other stories which isn’t normally my cup of tea, but I had fun.

Bite the Hand by Nik Traxler

This one is about wanting to grow old as the person that you are and not the person you ‘should’ be, and not to be afraid of going after what you want either. I loved the use of monsters in this story, it was fun and creative, it hard a darker tone to it than the rest of the stories so far.

If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power by G. Haron Davis

“When you grow up poor, you build up equal amounts of rage and daydreams, and when they collide the explosion can be as beautiful as it is dangerous”

I love that this follows someone who is poor. I feel like we don’t get enough stories from those who are poor, it follows mostly people who are lower middle class or above. This is a story about not being afraid to admit you want power and going for it. Not a power to hurt others, but to help them. It’s also a story about, I think, on how love follows different roads and it’s not always romantic. I can always get behind messages like that.

The Hallow King by Jonathan Lenore Kastin

This one was a really fun one and had the same vibes as a family Halloween movie. The

message for this one was how we have all wanted the people who have harmed and oppressed us to suffer, but ultimately that’s not going to help anyone, and that’s isn’t even what we want, we just want them to change. As much as the world will try its best to turn you into the monster, you are not the monster, and I think that’s an especially great message for struggling trans teenagers. Also, if you love Halloween, I think this story will especially be for you.

Genderella by Mason Deaver

A trans retelling of Cinderella! I had another great time with this one, the message being that trans people deserve happy endings, too, and deserve stories like this where they feel seen. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the pop culture references, I really don’t like when books do that.

Seagulls and Other Birds of Prey by Ash Nouveau

This was a cute story about friendship, community and changing the rules to make things better for you and the generations to come. It was very wholesome, and even though they aren’t really similar at all, the magical society this one had felt like the same vibes of ‘Halloweentown, and that’s my favourite Halloween movie!

Bend the Truth, Break it Too by Cam Montgomery

“There is still time for things to be wonderful”

This is a sweet, although eiry, little story about overcoming heartbreak and accepting who you are, for the morally grey person you might be. Going from a villain to just a regular person who has made mistakes, and that great things await you in the future, even if you can’t see it now. This one is, I think, a very hopeful message for trans teenagers and one I’m glad they get to hear. It was a little confusing though, maybe I was just tired when I read this but I wasn’t sure what was going on, largely because I didn’t know what kind of world they were in, so I wish we knew more about that.

Espejísmos by Dove Salvatìerra

I liked this, although I was a little bored. It was a bit darker than the general tone of the anthology, and I liked the mythology and the friendships and the journey of acceptance the MC was taken on, and how they decided to be who they are by the end. It was cute, I just think it was (oddly) too long for what it was. The pacing was definitely off, for me.

The Door to the Other Side by Emery Lee

This was a great one to wrap everything up, about the MC travelling in a world beyond to find where they really belong, because there is a space for all of us and, if there isn’t, we must make the space because we deserve to be here as much as anyone else does. The message was sweet, and especially with the weight of what’s going on in the world right now, this hit extra hard.

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