Wednesday, May 27, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Stealing Thunder by Alina Boyden


Stealing Thunder is the debut novel by author Alina Boyden.  It's also an adult fantasy novel by a trans woman author about a trans woman - something that the book's intro claims is the first put out by a mainstream American publisher.  I have kind of a hard time believing that in the year 2020*, god knows I've read adult SF/F with other types of non-cis protagonists from other non-cis authors, but it's still a thing worth celebrating.  Add in a Southeast Asian-inspired (mainly India/Pakistan) setting based upon the authors work as a trans right activist and cultural anthropologist, and well it's a book that really had a lot to recommend it. 

*Also, this book, with a 17 year old protagonist trying to find a place for herself and her found family to live in peace and happiness could very easily have been marketed as YA - it is not, so I won't refer to it as such, but it does put a damper on that claim.*

 And Stealing Thunder mostly succeeds on that promise.  It features a trans woman protagonist - and a number of other trans women characters - who is incredibly easy to like and root for in a fantasy setting that is really well done and enjoyable: again SE Asian inspired fantasy world with elemental dragon like creatures that are really fun.  Add in a plot about her proving herself to people who for generally bad reasons - see transphobia - doubt her mainly for who she is, with a happy ending in the end?  Yeah, it's a book that has a lot to recommend it, even if it does have some flaws.


-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
Razia Khan gave up her old life - the life of a prince, with all the comforts that entails, and the companionship of her beloved thunder zahhak, Sultana - 4 years ago when she ran away from her father, the powerful sultan of Nizam.  But it was worth it, because to live as the man her father thought her as would be a lie, for that is not who she is.  And so she has found a new family in her Dera - a group of Hijras like her, who have taken the necessary steps to make their bodies better fit their own souls - a woman's soul.

This is not to say Razia doesn't miss parts of her old life - especially Sultana - or dislike parts of her new.  While she has sisters she loves and cares for, to survive she must openly dance and perform for men to earn money.  And secretly, her guru has her stealing valuable objects from noblemen using her great climbing skills, a task that is only getting more and more dangerous and brings in money that she never actually sees.

But when Razia goes to a nobleman's house to perform and then later steal her biggest heist yet, she meets Arjun, the son of the local sultan, and her heart stops.  And Arjun reciprocates her interest, even as he openly searches for notorious noble thief with his skills on his fire zahhak.  Their relationship will bring Razia back to the noble life which she once fled, where her secret past could get her killed to say nothing of her secret present.......
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Stealing Thunder features a world for a trans woman that is clearly based upon a real world people, the hijras of South East Asia.  Like our real world, it is not a scifi/fantasy world where such people are accepted without reservation - which is something that's becoming more common in SF/F - and while hijras are accepted in groups as existing, they are looked down upon as being lesser and treated with disdain and transphobia by others - even by eunuchs, who look down upon those who would have themselves castrated deliberately (unlike themselves).  Razia has to deal with not only the fear of her distant father, who would kill her for her actions if he could find her, but disdain from nearly everyone she meets, at least at first, and a need to prove herself to be accepted.

I start this review with this mainly because despite all of the above, Stealing Thunder is an optimistic book, showing a world where such a Hijra can rise above it all and achieve happiness and acceptance after it all.  This is, despite everything, not a dark novel - honestly sometimes to its detriment (more on that below) - our heroine triumphs in the end, and the good characters mainly get good results, even if there are some negative results in their changes of circumstances.  If you are looking for a book that may make you smile in pleasure at the result of it all, and/or want to avoid horrible things happening to our characters on page, Stealing Thunder is absolutely in your wheelhouse.

It does that with characters and a setting that are generally really great.  Razia is an absolute terrific lead - a strong woman who knows who she is and what she had to give up to not have to hide that, but naturally still regrets some part of it.  She's smart about consequences and tactics, but still has the moments of intelligent slip ups that are natural parts of being a human being, and her fears and convictions always feel real.  And in a world that constantly doubts her - except for that of her love interest, and even he is sometimes a bit too self absorbed to realize how things will be - her actions to stand up for herself are tremendous and make her incredibly easy to care for.  She's sometimes scared for others and forced to wait and other times taking charge to help and save those others, which just makes her a truly tremendous main character.  The rest of the cast is mainly good as well, especially Razia's sister Sakshi, who has to knock Razia down a few notches at times in terms of her privilege and her putting certain others into danger, which just makes the story come to life.

And the story and setting is really great. It's a world where the nobles - at least their men - ride dragon like creatures known as Zahhaks, which have different abilities based upon their element: there are Fire Zahhaks, Thunder Zahhaks, Ice Zahhaks, and Acid Zahhaks all seen in this novel, wiht several scenes of aerial combat both talked about and shown, to say nothing of just having our heroine fly through the air on one.  And the conflicts shown as Razia has to deal with more and more nobles, some of whom are more disinclined to transphobia than others, all feel very real to go along with conflicts more traditional in epic fantasy (battles between warring nobles both physical and political) and heist novels and integrates them all really well together.

That's not to say this is a perfect novel, it has some serious flaws.  While I enjoyed the optimistic tone the book eventually takes, it takes such a tone to a fault and consistently disregards any consequences for actions Razia and others might take which could harm those hopeful outcomes.  What I mean is that the book sets up a number of potential pitfalls repeatedly in the first half, with a number of characters' actions clearly being set up to lead to trouble once things take certain turns....but when those turns happen, none of those set up consequences ever happen.  Some of this is totally justifiable based upon the characters set up and is enjoyable, but others are not, and in the case of one creepy character its kind of worrisome/disturbing?  It's possible one of these things might come up again in the sequel mentioned in the Acknowledgements, but it's kind of hard to see how?  Again there's nothing wrong with - and there's a lot enjoyable - in our protagonist getting pretty much all that she wants in the end (I wanted her too!) but if you blatantly set up with foreshadowing several potential bad things to happen, just dropping them without showing how they can be overcome is a bit annoying and drives me a little nuts.

Spoiler in ROT13:  Gjb ryrzragf bs abgr fgnaq bhg urer.  Svefg n genafcubovp nffubyr anzrq Xnevz fubjf hc rneyl nf n cbgragvny nagntbavfg, jub xarj Enmvn va ure cnfg yvsr naq vf vzcyvrq ng ntr 11 gb unir encrq ure (juvpu vapvqragnyyl jnf juvyr fur jnf fgvyy bhgjneqyl tbvat nf n zna).  Xnevz pbafgnagyl bhgf Enmvn'f vqragvgl gb crbcyr juvyr fur'f va uvqvat, naq zvftraqref ure ol hfvat fhpu n anzr, juvpu gur ernqre ybtvpnyyl vzntvarf jvyy unir pbafrdhraprf: creuncf na nffnffva be xvqanccre va gur zvqqyr bs gur avtug frag gb gnxr ure?  Ohg ab, gurer ner ab pbafrdhraprf sbe Enmvn ng nyy sbe Xnevz'f qryvorengr fybccvarff naq Xnevz fbzrubj trgf njnl jvgu n unccl raqvat...naq juvyr ur npprcgf Enmvn nf jbegul ol gur raq, ur nyfb trgf gur erfcrpg bs Enmvn'f 11 lrne byq Uvwen fvfgre....juvpu tvira jung ur qvq gb Enmvn ng ntr 11 vf XVAQ BS QVFGHEOVAT.

Gura gurer'f Enmvn'f theh Inefun, jub vf hfvat ure gb fgrny zber naq zber inyhnoyr vgrzf sbe jung Enmvn ernyvmrf vf bayl ure bja terrq naq arire vagraqf gb yrg Enmvn fgbc.  Enmvn evtugshyyl srnef nyfb gung Inefun jvyy oynpxznvy ure nobhg gur gursgf naq ure vqragvgl vs fur yrnirf, juvpu vf jul Enmvn pbasrffrf gur gursgf gb Newha, ertneqyrff bs jung Newha znl qb gb ure (ur qbrfa'g qb nalguvat orpnhfr ur'f gbb tbbq gb or nalguvat ohg nznmrq ol ure pncnovyvgvrf).  Gur raq erfhyg vf gung nyy gurfr srnef, naq gur gebcr bs gur nohfvir (abg culfvpnyyl ohg fgvyy nohfvir) zragbe, tbrf nofbyhgryl abjurer naq arire fubjf hc ntnva.  Vg'f whfg onssyvat.

Overall though, Stealing Thunder is an absolutely strong debut, with great characters from a world setting that is less familiar than usual, featuring individuals out of the standard White Cis archtype at their heart, and doing it in lovely and enjoyable fashion.  As I noted above, the acknowledgements mention that a sequel has been written and while this ending is more than satisfying, I'd be totally happy to read more of this world and the characters.
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