Indigo Springs (Blue Magic, #1)

by A M Dellamonica

[nannah]

(solid 3.5)

This is a hard book to review, mostly because I'm so conflicted. Do I like the book? I like parts of it. Very much! And then there are aspects of the book I'm just very . . . confused on, so much so that it brings my rating (and enjoyment of the novel) from 5 to 3.5.

Book content warnings:
transphobia (??)

When it comes to fantasy apocalyptic novels, Indigo Springs is the most original book I've ever read, by far. It begins with our protag, Astrid, already in police custody and being questioned by our 1st-person PoV character. Through him--and Astrid--we learn how the world fell into (magical) chaos.

Besides that, the book has bi representation! Astrid is bisexual and actually says the word. :O I know, right? Thought it's upsetting that both her women love interests turn out to be villains (:////) and only her male love interest turns out to be the 100% amazingly pure good character (make that really upsetting, because the main villain is the evil, manipulative, sex-crazy bisexual stereotype).

And then we come to why I'm very, very confused about this book: Astrid's mom and whether this book is transphobic or contains trans rep. Honestly? It's probably neither, and that's what makes me so frustrated. I wish this whole issue was left out entirely.

Astrid's mom is introduced as a very unstable character who lives within a delusion, which is the actual book the word uses. This delusion includes calling Astrid a boy, thinking of themself as the character of a book they love (a detective), and . . . thinking they're male. They also peculiarly grow bristly hair that keeps on growing despite how they pluck them every night (I'm using "they" pronouns for this character because nothing was ever, ever clear about this character or their actual preferred pronouns until the very end, and even then, I was left confused).

It became clear that this delusion was the cause of magical contamination. Contamination that is generally understood to be bad, and harmful, and could turn people insane.

After learning this . . . it's hard not to go back to Astrid's mom and think--especially after learning Astrid's mom discovered the concept of gender dysphoria and wanted to start taking testosterone--trans people = insanity according to this book ?? ESPECIALLY after Astrid siphoned the magical contamination out of her mother and all this dysphoria was gone! Her mother was even wearing a bra again, and how happy Astrid was at that!!

But then at the very end, Astrid's mother was truly healed, and they became . . . male. Thinking of the book's viewpoint on this issue previously, this doesn't make sense? And it confuses me. I mean, of course I'm . . . glad? But it just confuses me more, and I'm just not sure where this book stands. It leaves me feeling uneasy.

Anyway, besides those issues, this book is so original and well written. The climax falls a little flat and is over too soon, but I've never read something so creative. I'll probably read on.