A review by cbm8594
Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I enjoyed the book, but there’s some issues that lowered my overall enjoyment. Callie seemed to have a lot of internalized misogyny that affects how they view Magic and themselves. This I understand is due to their abusive relationship with their mother. They’re so focused on proving they’re not a girl that anything deemed girly they keep at arms length. 

Even though it’s heavily highlighted and the main theme of the book, they don’t realize that the transphobia is heavily rooted in misogyny and anti-magic sentiment. They know that it’s wrong but doesn’t connect the two.  Highlighting that intersectionality somehow would’ve been nice. Eventually they learn to find magic useful and not something to resist, but that’s different than actually respecting it and the people who typically wield it. 

Callie’s flaws weren’t really fleshed out or highlighted like the other characters. Everything was black and white, right or wrong. And everything wrong had nothing to do with them. They always knew what was the right thing to do. The other characters had more depth and thought to them than Callie. They had flaws and struggled not just externally but internally as well. 

I really enjoyed the book but I think another character should have been the strong pillar of justice and righteousness instead of Callie. There could be some more depth to Callie in the next book but I’m not sure after reading the synopsis. 
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