A review by ohbookisme
The Boy I Am by K L Kettle

dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

There aren’t many books that render me speechless – but this is certainly one of them. To all fans of The Hunger Games, The Handmaid’s Tale, and any dystopia: trust me when I say, you’ll love this.

"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙱𝚘𝚢𝚜: 
𝚆𝚎 𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚢. 
𝙾𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚎𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍. 
𝚃𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗."

I was amazed at how hungover this book left me. This book takes immersion and gender subversion to a whole new height. By flipping the gender roles, I was caught off-guard by how many times I subconsciously had assumed a character’s gender – only then to spot the pronoun, and then correct myself.

The world was so vivid and rich, and the world-building chapters gave such invaluable insight to the situation and the life of being a boy. Some books feel as though they begin and end within the pages, whereas this world feels as though it exists both before and after the text. 

I feel privileged to have lived within this text for a short time.

"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚊 𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚕? 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝."