Title: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Author: Shannon Chakraborty
Rating: 4/5

Are there LGBTQ+ characters? Yes; the main character is straight, but two major characters are part of the rainbow spectrum. One is a gay man, and another is a trans man. There may be others (one character may or may not be asexual or a lesbian) but that isn’t explicit in the text.

Brief summary / book review: Amina al-Sirafi is a retired pirate. She’s got a daughter, a quiet little hovel by the sea that’s breaking down, and some family that’s close-ish by, close enough for her to visit but not so near that they bother her.

But her piratical days are firmly behind her. She’s not just retired, she’s firmly off the map, where nobody can find her.

Or so she thought.

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Title: The Black Coast (The God-King Chronicles #1)
Author: Mike Brooks (no relation to me; though in addition to sharing the same last name, he identifies as queer and partially deaf, while I am gay and hard of hearing. I promise you we are not the same person.)
Rating: 4/5

Are there LGBTQ+ characters? Several, but none are (at this point in the series) point of view characters. There is also a fair amount of playing with pronouns.

Brief summary / book review: One of the first things I like to do when I get a book, especially if it’s been out for a while, is to look at the year it was published. Context matters a whole lot. Let’s take two examples: “The Forever War” was written in the 1970s, while “The City We Became” came out in 2020. Why does that matter? “The Forever War” is about the sense of alienation the main character feels in experiencing how his home has changed while he was fighting a pointless, distant war; its potency lies in the fact that it is a clear analogy for the Vietnam war. When “The City We Became” hits a certain age, readers will have to place the context in which Jemisin was writing the book to better understand the crystalline rage that’s threaded throughout, and her sharp critiques of racism, capitalism, police brutality, and more. Her book was written in response to a very specific moment.

So what does this have to do with “The Black Coast”?

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Title: Kings of the Wyld (The Band, #1)
Author: Nicholas Eames
Rating: 5/5

Are there LGBTQ+ characters? Yes, one gay character. There is only one point of view character in the book, and the gay character is a close ally of his.

Brief summary / book review: The premise of this book can essentially be summed up as “This is Spinal Tap” meets Dungeons & Dragons; mercenary groups are known as bands in this universe, and they are essentially treated like rock gods. The main character was a member of a band called Saga, one of the greatest bands of all time, having long since disbanded, with each of the members having gone their own way.

The main character is Clay Cooper (also known as Slowhand), and he’s living a mostly comfortable retired life, when the frontman of Saga, Gabriel, says that his daughter (a mercenary in her own band now) is caught in a siege, and he needs to rescue her, and in order to do that, he’s getting the band back together.

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Title: A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding #1)
Author: Freya Marske
Rating: 5/5

Are there LGBTQ+ characters? I mean, duh. Just look at that fabulous, fabulous cover.

Brief summary / book review: So, the purpose of this “Are There LGBTQ+ Characters” series is to let people know if the book contains actual gay characters in whatever I’ve read, which isn’t always apparent in book blurbs, reviews, or synopsis. In this case, all you need to do is read the dust jacket and it’ll tell you outright, yes, there are gay characters. Specifically, there are two point of view characters, both of whom are gay and undergo the frenemies-to-lovers journey (again, this is not a spoiler! The dust jacket is pretty clear on this).

And judging by the 5/5 rating I gave it, you probably already know I really liked this book. What remains, then, is looking at why this book is so good, from my perspective. What makes this one in particular tick, when there are other LGBTQ+ stories that don’t quite measure up as well? What makes a good story, a good story?

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Title: Redwall
Author: Brian Jacques
Rating: 3/5

Are there LGBTQ+ characters? No. Not in this book, nor in any of the other books in the series (I have read a good chunk of these as a teen, but not all of them; still, I feel comfortable in saying that there are exactly zero queer characters in the entirety of the Redwall Saga).

Brief summary / book review: Let’s get one thing out of the way: These mice fuck.

I’m not saying that to be snarky or rude or anything, but it’s true. Matthias, the main character, is a boy mouse. He is smitten with Cornflower, a girl mouse. Multiple characters tease them about their blossoming relationship and quite openly egg them on into marrying each other.

Ergo, these characters are mice who are encouraged to engage in sexual intercourse. In the sequel, they have a child, so it is clear that they have carried out their mandate (or is it mousedate?) and have done, as the kids say, the nasty.

Now that we’ve gotten the procreating habit of fictional mice out of the way, let’s talk about the rest of the book and series at large, shall we? (One mild spoiler ahead for this book, and for another book in the series, “Outcast of Redwall.”)

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Title: The Space Between Worlds

Author: Micaiah Johnson

Rating: 3/5

Are there LGBT characters? Yes, the main character exudes Big Bi Energy

Brief summary / book review: Turns out there isn’t just one Earth, but close to 400. And they’re progressively slightly more divergent than our own. The “main” Earth is where everything is normal, where you have the life you live and the habits you’ve developed. But on Earth 1, you’ve made one key change. Maybe you’re happier. Maybe you’re sadder. Maybe you’re richer, or poorer; lonelier or more in love. And the further out you go, the more different you are. You might be a celebrity on Earth 30; a beggar on Earth 80. The you on Earth 150 might not even be alive.

And in this setting, the fewer versions of you that are alive, the more valuable you are to the Eldridge Institute. Why? Because the Institute has figured out a way to travel to these alternate Earths, and if you’re still alive when you go visit, you’ll end up killing yourself.

Our main character, Cara, is dead on 372 of these alternate worlds.

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Title: The City We Became

Author: N.K. Jemisin

Rating: 5/5

Are there LGBT characters? Yes, several characters are queer. At least 3 out of the 6 main characters are on the rainbow spectrum.

Brief summary / book review: This book is freaking incredible. One of the things I loved the most about it was just that it *gets* New York. The avatar for Manhattan isn’t someone who was born there, but a transplant — someone who showed up in the city and 5 minutes later, became the city. Like, that’s just how it works. You don’t have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker. You are a New Yorker simply by *being* a New Yorker. Despite its real-life reputation, the city is welcoming. Possessive, even — once you become a New Yorker, that’s it, that’s all there is to it.

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Title: The Goblin Emperor

Author: Katherine Addison

Rating: 5/5

(CW // Suicide — note: “The Goblin Emperor” does not contain references to suicide, but my notes in the review after the jump does)

Are there LGBT characters? Sure, there’s a gay character but he has almost no bearing on the plot. That’s not to say he isn’t an important, or in some ways critical, character, but his role is still relatively minor and besides, I would go so far as to say that rather than focusing on whether this character or that is gay, I am going to say that the spirit of the book is undeniably queer.

Brief summary / book review: CD Covington described Maia, our main character and Goblin Emperor, as a “pure cinnamon roll.” And you know what? She’s absolutely right. Because amid all the court politics and all the conniving and backstabbing that typically happens in stories like these, Maia isn’t a willing participant in the darker aspects of ruling. He doesn’t want to eliminate enemies (well, save one). He doesn’t want to hurt people. He doesn’t want punishment, or retribution, or anything like that.

No. His main goal? He just wants to make friends.

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