TWs: attempted sexual assault, the Bury Your Gays trope
I buddy-read this book with the amazing Azia-Minor! (I honestly can’t believe she put up with me, she must be superhuman.)
Now to the review.
I remain largely unimpressed with this book, and honestly, also kind of pissed. The beginning was so intriguing, filling me with questions. And while it took me a little bit of time to warm up to the characters, I eventually did. (Some of them anyway.) Also, the world-building was really good.
But there were also a number of things I found issue with, one of which makes me particularly angry, and I need to discuss them too. So get prepared for a rant-ish review.I didn’t really like Camellia (Camille), which was kind of a problem, because she’s the main character. I…actually did like her in the beginning. But then when it became apparent that she was dissolving into a specialest-girl-of-them-all case, I just kind of sighed. It’s kind of unavoidable in YA fiction though, so I just continued flipping pages. But some of her latter actions just…we’ll get to them later.
I loved her relationship with her sisters though. Not Amber, she can rot in the fiery pits of hell. But there were a few of her sisters I particularly liked, especially Edel.
…And then Edel disappeared of the majority of the book. So.
Also, the LOVE INTEREST? His name is Auguste and he’s not as funny as he thinks. Was their banter supposed to be funny? Because it really wasn’t. It was also kind of insta-lovey. UGh.
It didn’t help that the plot moved slowly too. If it was fast-paced, the book might have been salvageable, but we got treated to a lot of descriptions of Camille doing beauty treatments for people (by the end of the book I was getting so tired of them that if I heard ONE MORE I was going to scream) and her trying to navigate her new life while being innovative and “not like her sisters”. This was literally the book up until the like last ten chapters, where my interest started getting piqued.
But Stuff Happened. I will mentioning spoilers below, just to be clear.
First of all, before I really dive into it, here’s what I found (<– this part is very important) the Bury Your Gays trope to mean. I’ll admit, this is my first time encountering the trope firsthand, but I’ve read various news articles about it so I’ve always understood what the trope referred to. However, since there’s so many mixed reviews regarding the trope around this book, I wanted to put a firm definition of it into words and analyze whether or not the book has it in it.
I looked at a lot of sources to be able to articulate it, including TV Tropes, LGBT Fans Deserve Better, and Fanlore, and I’ve linked back to the articles so anyone can check them out.
What is Bury Your Gays?
Bury Your Gays is a trope found a lot in fiction across various medias. It is homophobic and refers to when LGBTQIAP+ characters meet an unhappy ending – most often death – more than their straight counterparts. This is most often because they’re thought of as more expendable.
The keyword being “more”. People die, yeah. And sometimes an LGBTQIAP+ character dying is because of just that: because people die. But this trope refers to when LGBTQIAP+ characters die more often than their straight counterparts.
Why is it harmful?
This is homophobic for how it reinforces the harmful and untrue idea that LGBTQIAP+ characters don’t get happy endings. And it also reveals an underlying attitude among people that LGBTQIAP+ people are more expendable, which is why they are killed off more than their straight counterparts.
–> My opinion: This is wrong. Again, I’m not saying no LGBTQIAP+ character should die ever. But them dying because their sexual orientation makes them more expendable…in what world is that okay?
So does this book have the Bury Your Gays trope in it?
I mean, if you read my trigger warnings it’s obvious where I stand on that. But here’s my thought process on it.
I counted a total of 3 sapphic characters in this book: the queen, Claudine, and Lady Zurie (the queen’s lover). I’ve seen some reviews that mention that the villain was also sapphic. I didn’t catch that, but if that’s true that’s honestly worse.
But anyway. Continuing. Throughout the course of this book, out of the three sapphic characters I mentioned above, two of them die.
And a not a single straight character does.
So by the very definition of the trope, this is Bury Your Gays making an appearance.
Also, I just…I hate how Claudine’s death happened. And it was really Camille and Amber’s fault. When the princess ordered them to alter Claudine’s body, I was horrified. And I also had a terrible feeling about where this was going. Both Amber and Camille knew they were pushing Claudine too far and they kept altering her anyway. And it was just to further the bad blood between them?
Seriously? Is it really a wonder I hate these characters? I mean, I was iffy on them in the beginning, but this cemented my dislike for them.
You can take what you will from this post. And I’d look at other people’s reviews too. I know this is a really controversial issue, and I’m trying to give it the respect and attention it deserves. And I’m not trying to say that anyone’s feelings about this book are invalid! I think (think) I can see both sides of the issue. But I also know where I stand on it, quite firmly.
That’s all, I guess. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
I buddy-read this book with the amazing Azia-Minor! (I honestly can’t believe she put up with me, she must be superhuman.)
Now to the review.
I remain largely unimpressed with this book, and honestly, also kind of pissed. The beginning was so intriguing, filling me with questions. And while it took me a little bit of time to warm up to the characters, I eventually did. (Some of them anyway.) Also, the world-building was really good.
But there were also a number of things I found issue with, one of which makes me particularly angry, and I need to discuss them too. So get prepared for a rant-ish review.I didn’t really like Camellia (Camille), which was kind of a problem, because she’s the main character. I…actually did like her in the beginning. But then when it became apparent that she was dissolving into a specialest-girl-of-them-all case, I just kind of sighed. It’s kind of unavoidable in YA fiction though, so I just continued flipping pages. But some of her latter actions just…we’ll get to them later.
I loved her relationship with her sisters though. Not Amber, she can rot in the fiery pits of hell. But there were a few of her sisters I particularly liked, especially Edel.
…And then Edel disappeared of the majority of the book. So.
Also, the LOVE INTEREST? His name is Auguste and he’s not as funny as he thinks. Was their banter supposed to be funny? Because it really wasn’t. It was also kind of insta-lovey. UGh.
It didn’t help that the plot moved slowly too. If it was fast-paced, the book might have been salvageable, but we got treated to a lot of descriptions of Camille doing beauty treatments for people (by the end of the book I was getting so tired of them that if I heard ONE MORE I was going to scream) and her trying to navigate her new life while being innovative and “not like her sisters”. This was literally the book up until the like last ten chapters, where my interest started getting piqued.
But Stuff Happened. I will mentioning spoilers below, just to be clear.
First of all, before I really dive into it, here’s what I found (<– this part is very important) the Bury Your Gays trope to mean. I’ll admit, this is my first time encountering the trope firsthand, but I’ve read various news articles about it so I’ve always understood what the trope referred to. However, since there’s so many mixed reviews regarding the trope around this book, I wanted to put a firm definition of it into words and analyze whether or not the book has it in it.
I looked at a lot of sources to be able to articulate it, including TV Tropes, LGBT Fans Deserve Better, and Fanlore, and I’ve linked back to the articles so anyone can check them out.
What is Bury Your Gays?
Bury Your Gays is a trope found a lot in fiction across various medias. It is homophobic and refers to when LGBTQIAP+ characters meet an unhappy ending – most often death – more than their straight counterparts. This is most often because they’re thought of as more expendable.
The keyword being “more”. People die, yeah. And sometimes an LGBTQIAP+ character dying is because of just that: because people die. But this trope refers to when LGBTQIAP+ characters die more often than their straight counterparts.
Why is it harmful?
This is homophobic for how it reinforces the harmful and untrue idea that LGBTQIAP+ characters don’t get happy endings. And it also reveals an underlying attitude among people that LGBTQIAP+ people are more expendable, which is why they are killed off more than their straight counterparts.
–> My opinion: This is wrong. Again, I’m not saying no LGBTQIAP+ character should die ever. But them dying because their sexual orientation makes them more expendable…in what world is that okay?
So does this book have the Bury Your Gays trope in it?
I mean, if you read my trigger warnings it’s obvious where I stand on that. But here’s my thought process on it.
I counted a total of 3 sapphic characters in this book: the queen, Claudine, and Lady Zurie (the queen’s lover). I’ve seen some reviews that mention that the villain was also sapphic. I didn’t catch that, but if that’s true that’s honestly worse.
But anyway. Continuing. Throughout the course of this book, out of the three sapphic characters I mentioned above, two of them die.
And a not a single straight character does.
So by the very definition of the trope, this is Bury Your Gays making an appearance.
Also, I just…I hate how Claudine’s death happened. And it was really Camille and Amber’s fault. When the princess ordered them to alter Claudine’s body, I was horrified. And I also had a terrible feeling about where this was going. Both Amber and Camille knew they were pushing Claudine too far and they kept altering her anyway. And it was just to further the bad blood between them?
Seriously? Is it really a wonder I hate these characters? I mean, I was iffy on them in the beginning, but this cemented my dislike for them.
You can take what you will from this post. And I’d look at other people’s reviews too. I know this is a really controversial issue, and I’m trying to give it the respect and attention it deserves. And I’m not trying to say that anyone’s feelings about this book are invalid! I think (think) I can see both sides of the issue. But I also know where I stand on it, quite firmly.
That’s all, I guess. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.