Hal Schrieve

2023. James is a bit of a slut. He’s gay and trans and has a crush on nearly everyone in the book. His best friend, Ian; his new crush, Orsino; and Jukebox January, the local rockstar.
There are three trans masc characters, two nonbinary characters, and one surprise trans femme, who comes out halfway through the book.
These kids are working on a rock opera fundraiser to save their lgbt center.
If all that isn’t enough, Orsino is psychic, and aliens are contacting him about trying to save show more the world by changing the timeline somewhere to prevent climate disaster.
So it’s messy, and the alien plot felt like too much, and also if it’s got to be in there I’d have liked them to have succeeded at saving the world. It felt like that plotline kind of petered out. However, kudos for trying to put all that into one book. It was definitely the book I want to exist, it just kind of failed to take it all the way to the conclusion I wanted. show less

I read this as part of Halloween Bingo, so the fact that this book could reasonably be applied to about half the squares is woth mentioning. This is the first book I've read which used the singular nongendered they/their as pronouns, which slowed me down a bit at the beginning. But it worked, and never felt gimmicky. Z. was a plausible fourteen year old zombie who's entire family died in an auto accident: only Z reanimated.

There's werewolves and high school bullying and good teachers and bad show more teachers and a growing movement in favor of shooting all the monsters. As a metaphor, it is terrifying. But it's also the story of school misfits becoming friends, and of teens solving a mystery, so there is significant fun as well as the terror.

I'm delighted it was recommended to me, and I can't wait to read Shrieve's subsequent books. As good as this debut was the next one should be astounding.

Library copy show less

diverse teen fiction--LGBTQ interest with trans and gay werewolves, a nonbinary-gendered zombie (they, them, their) just trying to survive high school, and other "monsters" and sorcery in modern Salem, OR; author is genderqueer (xie, hir) #ownvoices.
This ran a little long but I enjoyed spending time with the characters, each loners at the beginning but by the end a supportive and loving chosen family. This book resonates especially with people who are more familiar with LGBTQA history (shock show more therapy to "cure" werewolves and other magical creatures, homelessness and prejudice experienced by many of the characters), but even if you are only vaguely aware of these issues it adds another layer to the story. show less

I was so! stressed!! out!!! for most of this book. Love when the fascism is no longer creeping but fully self-actualized. Spoiler: it ends on an optimistic note.