The short stories in this collection all revolve around the observation how easy it is to be “no man of woman born” when you stop thinking of gender in the binary or as something set at birth. Every story is another interpretation of it, another subversion of this old prophecy. It’s a beautiful, entertaining collection and a crash course in getting used to neopronouns.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2019/06/07/no-man-of-woman-born-ana-mardoll/ ( )

The concept of this book held incredible promise it did not deliver as much as i wanted it to. The use of neopronouns and having these characters in the spotlight was great but their arcs and stories were too predictable for me to properly enjoy it. The writing was simple and reinforced the tone of the story. These stories would do well with a middle grade audience as these are essentially classic stories with a twist in characters rather than plot. For older audiences who have already read similar stories it does disappoint in that regard although it is important for those who can identify with the characters in these stories.
That's not to say that i hated the book. Two of the stories were extremely good and i'm hoping to see similar characters in more books.

Tangled Nets : This was the first story and one of my favorites. The pacing and revelations were well done and Wren was a good protagonist. My only criticism is that the entire witch aspect of the story was rushed into the end.

King's Favor : I feel like this would have worked far better as a novel rather than a short story. The world building aspects were nicely done and i really wanted a portion of the story from Janeida's point of view. Again the plot was too predictable for me to really like it.

His Father's Son : This was one of my least favorite to be honest. I had to force myself to get through it. Nothing about it was unique enough to act as a ho

Daughter of Kings. : Again, interesting enough characters and world building but entirely predictable.

Early to Rise : This one i really liked. It's a Sleeping Beauty retelling far better than the original. I was grinning throughout and it was enjoyable to read.

No Man Of Woman Born : While the concept was interesting the story felt very incomplete.

The Wish-Giver : This one was cute, really although the outcome was obvious. ( )

The concept of this book held incredible promise it did not deliver as much as i wanted it to. The use of neopronouns and having these characters in the spotlight was great but their arcs and stories were too predictable for me to properly enjoy it. The writing was simple and reinforced the tone of the story. These stories would do well with a middle grade audience as these are essentially classic stories with a twist in characters rather than plot. For older audiences who have already read similar stories it does disappoint in that regard although it is important for those who can identify with the characters in these stories.
That's not to say that i hated the book. Two of the stories were extremely good and i'm hoping to see similar characters in more books.

Tangled Nets : This was the first story and one of my favorites. The pacing and revelations were well done and Wren was a good protagonist. My only criticism is that the entire witch aspect of the story was rushed into the end.

King's Favor : I feel like this would have worked far better as a novel rather than a short story. The world building aspects were nicely done and i really wanted a portion of the story from Janeida's point of view. Again the plot was too predictable for me to really like it.

His Father's Son : This was one of my least favorite to be honest. I had to force myself to get through it. Nothing about it was unique enough to act as a ho

Daughter of Kings. : Again, interesting enough characters and world building but entirely predictable.

Early to Rise : This one i really liked. It's a Sleeping Beauty retelling far better than the original. I was grinning throughout and it was enjoyable to read.

No Man Of Woman Born : While the concept was interesting the story felt very incomplete.

A Copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

The Wish-Giver : This one was cute, really although the outcome was obvious. ( )

These stories were fine, but since I got it as an ARC and did not read much of a synopsis, I did not realize they would mostly all end in exactly the same, already-spoiled-by-the-collection-title way. There was no variety! It became pretty monotonous. I get the emotional catharsis of having your identity validated by prophesy, but I think allowing trans and nonbinary protagonists more than one kind of story would have been way more affirmative. ( )

This is an absolutely stellar collection of short stories, set in fantasy worlds, where prophecies are fulfilled in unexpected ways by a great variety of trans characters. If you, too, have ever been annoyed by the prophecy in Macbeth (and thought that Tolkien's solution wasn't good enough), you need to read this book. My favorite story was "Early to Rise," a Sleeping Beauty revisioning with an aromantic genderfluid protagonist, with special honors to "His Father's Son," which has just killer worldbuilding and characters and I want to read so much more about that world. ( )