Trans-Scribe-Paige

As someone who loves the Avatar series but was kinda disappointed by F.C. Yee's previous two installments to the franchise- The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi - let me say I loved the turn-around here with the Yangchen duology.

In the Yangchen novels, F.C. Yee really took the premise of writing a character who was already somewhat fleshed out by the original series and expanded upon her greatly using unique little story tricks and writing details we haven't seen from the series yet.

The Yangchen novels manage to steer away from a lot of what I found to be the failings of the Kyoshi novels, like choppy pacing, writing cliches, and too large of a cast of characters for everyone to really feel fleshed out. The pacing is much smoother, I wasn't able to call every shot the plot was taking, and rather than having a massive ensemble, the story really focuses on two characters- The Avatar, and her her newest companion- and really fleshes out both of them to be fully believable, lovable characters despite their flaws and horrible decisions.

This is played into the fact that a large theme of this story is trust, and trying to learn to rely on other people amidst the chaos of grand political strategy where allies are just as easily offed as enemies in the name of self-gain.

That isn't to say the story doesn't have its flaws- where the Kyoshi novels felt like too much foreshadowing, there were moments and details in the Yangchen novels that felt like they had been forgotten, something being repeatedly introduced and brought up but never really paying off in the story.

Thus I'd rate this novel;

★★★★☆ (4/5 Stars - I'd recommend this novel to anyone who is a fan of the Avatar series, and while maybe Avatar: The Last Airbender is the better place to start for the series as a whole, this is still a strong standalone. If The Last Airbender wasn't your thing, you might enjoy this airbender instead.)

I'm going to attach a rebug of this post with a Spoiler, because everything beyond this point is going to be a much more of a deep dive into the plot that may be filled with actual spoilers, so read on only if you don't mind learning more coherent details about the story.

Just finished F.C. Yee's Yangchen novels... after being kind of disappointed by the Kyoshi novels, I really liked the Yangchen stories. Will do a proper talk about them later when I have more time and energy. For now its FFXIV for me

"There are many things we are uncertain of on this planet, like what happens after death, the possibility of life outside our solar system, and the existence of lesbian sheep."

—Bianca Torre Is Afraid Of Everything, by Justine Pucella Winans

^Literally the first sentence in this book. And somehow nowhere near the funniest part, even of that monologue.

This is my very first book talk here on Cohost! This is something I've been wanting to do for a while but didn't have the time or energy to start. I'm tagging it #Paige By Page because I I can't resist a good pun :3

I chose this book first partially because it's one of my absolute favorites I read last year, but also because I think the general userbase of Cohost would enjoy the Non-Binary-Lesbian-Anxiety-Spiral and also Bird-Themed-Murder-Mystery that is Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything. I apologize if my abuse of the dash-between-words has hurt you in anyway. I will not be giving financial compensation for it.

I want to be clear that this is not a professional or objective review, but just my personal feelings, thoughts, and ideas on the book and whether I would recommend this book to most others. Hence why I called it a talk instead of a review. I mostly just want somewhere to subject my ADHD ramblings about books I love to anyone willing to listen, if you'd let this girl sing for you.

So without further ado, the talk itself;

Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything is a novel about a questioning non-binary lesbian and avid birder with severe anxiety caught in one of the worst places they could have found themself; a murder mystery novel.

Anxiety spirals, anime kids, theater kids, useless lesbians, birds, and more. I cannot stress enough just how entertaining and unique the writing in this book is. The closest thing I can relate it to is Bocchi the Rock in a non-visual format, and if you replaced music with birds. Oh, and murder.

It's honestly surprising how the mystery- the plot itself- almost takes the background in this story. Not because it isn't interesting, but because the characters are so, so lovable that I just wanted more of them, independent of what happened.

It's funny that I started with a first-person, non-fantasy novel, because it's very much not indicative of what I usually read, but that should just go to show how much I loved this book. First person perspectives can be very restrictive to prose and make writing sound cheesy, but done well it can give a strong understanding of your POV character's mind and give a unique writing style. This perspective lets us see just how anxious poor Bianca gets about the littlest things, and the beauty of the prose is seeing Bianca spiral into a panic about nothing at all while things continue to happen around them. This book wouldn't be half as entertaining from any other protagonist's POV, which is part of what makes it so special.

Oh, and if you're worried, the book does a good job of not making Bianca's anxiety infectious, and makes it comedic and entertaining without coming off as belittling or degrading to their problems. It strikes a fine line between vulnerable and relatable and downright absurd.

The writing here is so entertaining, the characters are lovable and goofy, there are several touching, vulnerable, meaningful moments in this story both about overcoming anxiety and realizing/coming out as trans, and the plot is very fun. The mystery aspect is rather light- it's not a masterpiece of the mystery genre- but let’s be honest, master detective work is not what you're here for. This is not a who-dunnit story. We’re here for non-binary-disaster-lesbian Bianca Torre and their wild social anxiety. This book is like if Bocchi The Rock was even gayer and more trans (hard to believe, I know, but trust me) and had a bird-themed murder mystery hiding behind it. And all of that isn't to say that the book doesn't have moments of tension and dread, or fear and exhilarating action (Okay, "action" should maybe be in air quotes, but still,) I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who watched Bocchi, or likes queer-coming-out stories or knows what it's like to feel paralyzed in all aspects of their life by social anxiety.

I seriously cannot recommend this book enough. Especially if you relate to the concept at all, you lesbian sheep you.

So, the obvious rating;
✭✭✭✭✭ (5 stars- I'd recommend this book to almost anyone.)