Reviews

Nine of Swords, Reversed by Xan West

leahkarge's review against another edition

4.0

With NINE OF SWORDS, REVERSED, Xan West continues to stun with comforting descriptions, relatable characters, and warm friendships! The writing is as lovely and soothing as always, and by the end, I found myself with three new characters to love!

Read the full review on my blog.

araleith's review against another edition

5.0

Oh, this book. I love this book. I love how it deals with kink in a non sexual way, I love how it deals with queerness and disability, I love how it deals with communication and talking even when it's hard and how assumptions are so easily made. I miss Xan so much, and I forgot just how seen their writing makes me feel.

bhavya_reads's review

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

wardenred's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

 

Survivors in relationships trigger each other. It’s expected.

Such a beautiful and important short read. I love the diversity and intersectionality in Xan West's writing, and I absolutely fell in love with the characters here: their personalities, their relationship, the non-sexual D/s dynamic, the subtle inclusion of magic.

Essentially, this is a small snapshots in the lives of the main couple as they go through a misunderstanding and talk it out. Nothing big, and at the same time, something huge. There are so many themes interwoven here: internalized ableism, the issues disabled people in relationships can encounter (and solve!), nuanced and relatable depiction of nonbinary/genderfluid experience. A lot of it is just so familiar, and I felt incredibly, overwhelmingly seen while reading this story.

Also, all the descriptions? Just wow. Especially the food ones: mouth-watering doesn't begin to cover it. I'm actually kind of hungry right now. :) 

ran_the_bookworm's review

4.0

I like this book so much. The representation was GOOD and thoughtful and I loved the use of non-gendered pronouns and honorifics. This book was honestly a breath of fresh air. I loved the characters and the humaneness of everyone. The conflict felt so real and the conversations sounded like normal people talking. My only reason for giving it 4 stars and not 5 was I wanted MORE. There’s something about longer books that make you completely engrossed into the characters’ lives that you just don’t get with shorter pieces and I love these characters so much I really want to see them before the story and after. There needs to be more books like this and just as modern and socially aware and representative of real people.

bookdeviant's review

5.0

This was the best way to close out the year.

littlebookterror's review

3.25

 This novelette offers a great insight into how play might look like when you have disabilities that affect you physically (chronic pain, mobility issues, brain fog) and how to navigate that. I am not at all surprised I enjoyed this aspect of the story the most.
There is this nugget of wisdom West includes about the difference between service and dependence that was phrased beautifully and is a great metaphor for this book.


I don't think this is a fantastic story but as much as I can appreciate the more communal and ritual aspects of religion, I am not as understanding of the more spiritual parts? The novella talks about tarot reading and divination, dream messages and dybbuks which all seem to intersect with their Jewish faith. I've just seen tarot readings and such been misused too much to put my faith into something like that and the novella did not have the space to unpack all of that (which is not necessarily its job but does explain my rating). 

theboywithallthekeys's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

thewickedbookworm's review

4.0

Honestly precious and a great example of what healthy communication looks like. I love this little story and I'll probably come back to it multiple times.

bunny_boy's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5