Summary [courtesy of Goodreads]: After a terrible political coup usurps their noble house, Hawke and Grayson flee to stay alive and assume new identities, Hanna and Grayce. Desperation and chance lead them to the Communion of Blue, an order of magical women who spin the threads of reality to their will. As the twins learn more about the Communion, and themselves, they begin to hatch a plan to avenge their family and retake their royal home.While Hawke wants to return to his old life, Grayce struggles to keep the threads of her new life from unraveling, and realizes she wants to stay in the one place that will allow her to finally live as a girl.
Apparently middle grade graphic novels are very much my jam, because I’m not sure I’ve come across one that hasn’t captured my heart. This book is no different, though I would say it could straddle the line between MG and YA pretty easily. Between the eye-catching art and the heartwarming message of trans affirmation, Niki Smith has created a lovely ode to the importance of community and being open to change. At the same time, she’s managed to fill the book with tons of swashbuckling adventure, high-stakes family drama, and some heavy (but not TOO heavy) emotional moments.
SPOILER TERRITORY
Yes, a secondary character dies in this; yes, there’s fundamental treachery and betrayal from a powerful person; and yes, there’s some misgendering (mainly because Grayce hasn’t come out to her twin brother at that point in the story yet, and he’s slow to catch on from context clues) and inadvertently forced, temporary re-closeting (because shy teen Grayce understandably can’t insist on her identity alone in front of an entire kingdom), but for the most part this book focuses on the solutions to these problems and the ways that caring people form community, even in the midst of a murderous coup. The end itself is so affirming and happily-ever-after-seeming that I cried: Grayce is not only accepted but affirmed as the girl she’s always been by the sisterly order she’s been so desperate to join. Her name even gets corrected on her family’s magical ancestry tapestry, and the novel concludes with pure gender euphoria.