Into the Real

August 1, 2020

Gr 8 Up-The work of understanding one's own identity, including gender, is explored in this genre-blending novel. Quinn, their parents and brother, girlfriend Lia, and sidekicks Lloyd and Caleb seem to be caught in several alternate realities that unfold from each into the next and back again, as Quinn proves to be both an unreliable narrator and a character whose intricate interior evolution becomes the real story. One setting is a dystopian fantasy in which Quinn and company must fight against monstrous and sinister beings; another is a pray-the-gay-away "camp;" and a third depicts a home life that ranges from loving to cruel. As in Greek mythology, successive moments seem to contradict anything that just happened previously, and all the characters are written to expose them as both forces of good and forces of evil, from Quinn's kaleidoscopic account. Dialogue and tender and tumultuously violent scenes are recounted in flowing prose, though Quinn's interior monologue is written with wooden sentences, making it less compelling. VERDICT Every book indeed has its reader(s) and teens who are contemplating the constructs of their identity will appreciate Quinn's company.-Francisca Goldsmith, Lib. Ronin, Worcester, MA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2020
Fractured among three worlds, a genderqueer teen faces monsters as they struggle to solve a paradox. Seventeen-year-old Quinn exists in three alternate realities. Each provides distinct traumatic trials--flesh-eating monsters, conversion therapy, and civil war. In all of the realities, Quinn grapples with defining their gender identity and rejection due to their queerness while longing for Lia, a cisgender girl. In one life, Lia is viciously transphobic while proclaiming support for other queer identities. As Quinn awakens to the connection among the realities, they must decide which one they want to inhabit. The human characters default to White; although Quinn's resistance army claims to fight White supremacists, no people of color play a role. The fighters espouse blatantly sexist and homophobic views, and as their hero, Quinn champions a peaceful compromise with fascist enemies and wrestles with internal discomfort over not speaking up against their soldiers' blatant bias. In one reality, the sacred Indigenous practice of burning sage is carried out by White characters for protection from monsters. Despite the fast-paced action, explicit violence, and suspenseful appeal of the premise, the novel feels flat, with long expository passages disrupting the flow. Perhaps because the characters play different roles in Quinn's life in each reality, they feel distant and underdeveloped, lowering the emotional stakes. An ambitious undertaking weakened by its execution. (Fantasy. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 14, 2020
In Brewer’s (Madness) speculative tale of identity, 17-year-old Quinn exists in three iterations within the municipality of Brume, their gender presentation varying across story lines. Each of three plots, told in alternating first-person prose, find Quinn navigating their identity, interpersonal relationships, and external threats while gradually becoming aware of their other existences and considering how each might be connected. A genderqueer-
presenting Quinn faces human-eating monsters after the death of their accepting family. A female-presenting Quinn agrees to reside at a conversion therapy camp that she later discovers employs torture. And a male-presenting Quinn leads a resistance against a white supremacist–led America—a resistance whose soldiers cling to homophobia and binary gender roles. Shifts between realities can be jarring at first, and aspects of the military reality, such as unclear reasoning behind why an unskilled youth commands more experienced soldiers, weaken it substantially. Though readers sensitive to queer pain may wish to steer clear, the clearly wrought threats and anguish that the Quinns face from those closest to them feel hauntingly familiar. Ages 13–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

October 23, 2020
Grades 10-12 Who is Quinn? Perhaps the more important question is which Quinn is the real Quinn? This story explores the concept of parallel dimensions by portraying the struggles of the protagonist, Quinn, in three separate scenarios. The first is a postapocalyptic struggle against mysterious monsters who have beset the small town of Brume. The second is the more personal conflict of teenage Quinn stranded in a strict religious reeducation camp. And the third follows Quinn the revolutionary leading a scrappy resistance in defying a totalitarian military force known as the Allegiance. In all three scenarios, Quinn must balance responsibilities to family and friends with a burgeoning genderqueer identity. Brewer creates a very interesting narrative composition, juxtaposing three radically different story lines. There is a little something here for all YA audiences, though the postapocalyptic strand has the strongest world building and characters. Readers should be forewarned that some graphic violence--both physical and emotional-psychological--is depicted. Those OK with that should definitely check out this unique story featuring a questioning genderqueer protagonist.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.