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A review by swordspoint
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
adventurous
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
TL;DR, content breakdown, and recommendations at the bottom!
I had very high hopes for this novella, and it disappointed me on several fronts. It told the story of Esther Augustus, a girl who just saw her lover hang for having writings that were unapproved by the government of the Western-dystopian future she lives in. Feeling like her lover's death is her fault because of the pair's lesbian relationship, and attempting to escape an arranged marriage with the man who killed her lover, she seeks out the female-only government organization called the Librarians that she believes may be able to help her overcome her attractions.
Upright Women Wanted promised a lot of things. A tale of queer identity, a rich dystopian future full of gunslingers and horses, and an inspiring antifascist story. It delivered on a few of these points, but the whole book felt underdeveloped.
Characters were for the most part relatable, flawed, and thoughtful, but the shortness of the novella didn't give any of them besides Esther and possibly Cye, a nonbinary Librarian, time to develop. Even so, I found the relationships of the characters endearing and I loved the amount of lesbian, nonbinary, and poly rep in such a short book. The plot was put together well, well-paced, and the book was overall enjoyable, but it just felt too short- which brings me to my biggest complaint:
What I really would have liked to see more of was the world. Gailey has such great ideas- a dystopian, Western future where Utah has become a gay safe haven and the US has splintered into factions? Super cool. I honestly would have read this as a full-length novel, just to find out more about how this timeline came about. There were mentioned things like "the War" and a city governed by a family of mercenaries which sounded fascinating... but were given no explanation. I don't usually encourage infodumps, but I would have loved some here!
I do have to give props to Gailey for their prose, though, 'cause holy hell there are some good lines in there. "She had seen a man decide that she deserved to die and she had killed him for it" was my favorite.
Upright Women Wanted is a well-written horse opera adventure that has all the lesbian gunslingers and Librarians it advertised. As long as you don't mind a lack of background info, it's a perfectly grand adventure through a strange future-West world. Be gay, do crimes, read books.
TL;DR: Fun, but wouldn't ever reread it. Lesbian Western gunslingers adventure through an unusual dystopia.
Content Warnings: Some Western-type shootouts and violence, a hanging, some deaths/injuries and discussion of those situations. Emotional trauma. Some (consensual) misgendering.
Recommended For: Those not invested in worldbuilding, folks looking for a quick read, fans of the phrase "be gay do crimes", and those who want a good old-fashioned Western but with more lesbians.
Favorite Moment: "She had seen a man decide that she deserved to die and she had killed him for it." Damn!
I had very high hopes for this novella, and it disappointed me on several fronts. It told the story of Esther Augustus, a girl who just saw her lover hang for having writings that were unapproved by the government of the Western-dystopian future she lives in. Feeling like her lover's death is her fault because of the pair's lesbian relationship, and attempting to escape an arranged marriage with the man who killed her lover, she seeks out the female-only government organization called the Librarians that she believes may be able to help her overcome her attractions.
Upright Women Wanted promised a lot of things. A tale of queer identity, a rich dystopian future full of gunslingers and horses, and an inspiring antifascist story. It delivered on a few of these points, but the whole book felt underdeveloped.
Characters were for the most part relatable, flawed, and thoughtful, but the shortness of the novella didn't give any of them besides Esther and possibly Cye, a nonbinary Librarian, time to develop. Even so, I found the relationships of the characters endearing and I loved the amount of lesbian, nonbinary, and poly rep in such a short book. The plot was put together well, well-paced, and the book was overall enjoyable, but it just felt too short- which brings me to my biggest complaint:
What I really would have liked to see more of was the world. Gailey has such great ideas- a dystopian, Western future where Utah has become a gay safe haven and the US has splintered into factions? Super cool. I honestly would have read this as a full-length novel, just to find out more about how this timeline came about. There were mentioned things like "the War" and a city governed by a family of mercenaries which sounded fascinating... but were given no explanation. I don't usually encourage infodumps, but I would have loved some here!
I do have to give props to Gailey for their prose, though, 'cause holy hell there are some good lines in there. "She had seen a man decide that she deserved to die and she had killed him for it" was my favorite.
Upright Women Wanted is a well-written horse opera adventure that has all the lesbian gunslingers and Librarians it advertised. As long as you don't mind a lack of background info, it's a perfectly grand adventure through a strange future-West world. Be gay, do crimes, read books.
TL;DR: Fun, but wouldn't ever reread it. Lesbian Western gunslingers adventure through an unusual dystopia.
Content Warnings: Some Western-type shootouts and violence, a hanging, some deaths/injuries and discussion of those situations. Emotional trauma. Some (consensual) misgendering.
Recommended For: Those not invested in worldbuilding, folks looking for a quick read, fans of the phrase "be gay do crimes", and those who want a good old-fashioned Western but with more lesbians.
Favorite Moment: "She had seen a man decide that she deserved to die and she had killed him for it." Damn!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, and Homophobia