Reviews

Transcendent 2: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction by Bogi Takács

alex_jk's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

caedocyon's review

3.0

Favs:

Because Change Was The Ocean And We Lived By Her Mercy
The L7 Gene
The Pigeon Summer
About A Woman And A Kid - would have liked this to be longer, but the insight on patternmaking and anxiety is relevant right now
The Way You Say Good-Night
Her Sacred Spirit Soars

mjtal's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.5

alexauthorshay's review

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

A little more relatable than purely literary collections, in part because the subject matter and in part because of the genders of the protagonists. Speculative fiction can be just as experimental as literary, and there were many stories like that in this collection. Many also felt incomplete or chopped off, like the first half of a story or the beginning of a novel. Many were so experimental I couldn't follow what was going on, or scenery or other descriptions were so sparse it was hard to guess the location/time in which the story was taking place. But there were a handful in here that I enjoyed, and that's more than I can say for most collections I've read.

franksreads's review

5.0

Required reading for many various reasons // i thoroughly enjoyed all the writing, even if the stories weren't to my taste

sleepyhydra's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Wasn't a big fan of most of the short stories but there were a few gems. 

ryttu3k's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

dmbooks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

marioncromb's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

An eclectic collection of trans focused speculative fiction. Naturally some stories i enjoyed more and others not so much, but it was a good variety and all made me think.
I particularly enjoyed:
Rhizomatic Diplomacy by Vajra Chandrasekera with its attempts to understand beings that were either waging war or doing some large scale gardening
The Pigeon Summer by Brit Mandelo, it made me cry
Sky and Dew by Holly Heisey, which had The Locked Tomb kinda vibes with underground acolytes and Lost Emperors
Happy Regards by RoAnna Sylver, which painted a lovely scene of domestic happiness holding the terrors of the outside world at bay

meganmilks's review

4.0

Standouts for me are Charlie Jane Anders' opening "Because Change was the Ocean and We Lived By Her Mercy"; A. Merc Rustad's epistolary fantasy "A. Merc Rustad"; and Jeanne Thornton's "The L7 Gene," about a trans girl confronting the cloned cis version of herself genetically engineered by her scientist mother.