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beaniebookbagel 's review for:
Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens
by Tanya Boteju
I have mixed feelings! Parts of this story were enjoyable, parts were frustrating.
Some not-that-spoilery stuff ahead: As another reviewer pointed out, Deidre isn’t just a drag queen—she’s a trans woman. I think? I say “I think” because it’s never named, which felt VERY odd. The main character refers to her only as a drag queen, but Deidre uses she/her pronouns and feminine honorifics and...definitely identifies as a woman, even when out of drag. Actually, the book leaving out pretty much any explicit discussion of trans people in general felt very strange. There were A LOT of moving parts and relationships in this story, some of which didn’t quite land for me. I did like Nima’s relationship with her dad—that could’ve been developed even further. And, again, like another reviewer mentioned, I was a little weirded out that Nima is 17 and her love interest is supposedly 21. That’s not that many literal years, but it’s definitely different life stages/experience. But that’s something I’m especially sensitive to, and may not be an issue for other readers.
Some not-that-spoilery stuff ahead: As another reviewer pointed out, Deidre isn’t just a drag queen—she’s a trans woman. I think? I say “I think” because it’s never named, which felt VERY odd. The main character refers to her only as a drag queen, but Deidre uses she/her pronouns and feminine honorifics and...definitely identifies as a woman, even when out of drag. Actually, the book leaving out pretty much any explicit discussion of trans people in general felt very strange. There were A LOT of moving parts and relationships in this story, some of which didn’t quite land for me. I did like Nima’s relationship with her dad—that could’ve been developed even further. And, again, like another reviewer mentioned, I was a little weirded out that Nima is 17 and her love interest is supposedly 21. That’s not that many literal years, but it’s definitely different life stages/experience. But that’s something I’m especially sensitive to, and may not be an issue for other readers.