A beautiful, lyrical story starring a protagonist who's both non-binary and on the autism spectrum. I loved the world, the writing, the characters, and the resistance to providing easy answers. I'd love to live there one day.

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

I reviewed this book as part of GeekDis 2022 an event discussing disability representation in pop culture from the perspective of the disabled and neurodivergent community.


Content warnings:

Spoiler

This book contains scenes of a catastrophic event which causes mass casualties and deaths of all ages on page. There are scenes of emotional abuse from a parent and flash back memories of parental neglect.

The Unbalancing by R.B. Lemberg is quite simply like nothing I have ever read before. It’s listed as a “Birdverse novel” and is the first full length novel set in this universe Lemberg has created. Prior to this book, Birdverse existed in the form of poems, short stories and a novella. As the name suggests, the Birdverse is a universe based around a bird deity and the world building is brilliantly crafted. This is an author at the top of their craft, with every aspect of the world expertly crafted right down to the language used for cursing. I have a fondness for curse words created for fantasy and science fiction and I love how changing a few letters has such an affect.

There are so many layers to society of islands of Gelle-Geu and at first glance their society appears to be a utopia. It’s a society where people are accepted for who they are, and is built on people doing what they want to do based on their desires, and skills. One where there are multiple non-binary identities and traditions built into their society to display their identity with hair tokens. As well find out not everything is as perfect as it appears, with identities not recognised even though there appears to be more awareness and understanding, with the healer-keepers offering free health care to everyone yet failing to help those with mental health.

This is one of the most beautifully crafted novels I have ever read with lyrical prose and characters that captivated me. Lilun and Ranra have two very different temperaments, but are also quite similar in many ways. Lilun is neurodivergent, although that exact wording is not used anywhere in the novel. Instead, Lemberg describes Lilun as needing “the world to be quieter, and less bright”, advice that is given to their fathers by the healer-keepers when they are a child. When the world becomes too much for them, they have to stop and rest. They have an outdoor pool that their fathers built for in the garden for them, and throughout the novel they have to ask Ranra to slow down.

While Ranra runs at a much faster pace than Lilun is used to and can manage, it’s fuelled by the trauma she has suffered from ongoing emotional abuse from her mother. Despite reaching the highest position in their society, Ranra still struggles with self-confidence, with the feeling that she can do the job of starkeeper. While she was given help and support to leave her mother’s home and live on her own, the healer-keepers did nothing to heal her mother, just letting her mental health deteriorate. Her behaviour towards Ranra is seen as quirks, as just how she is, and Ranra should just shrug it off.

These two people find each other in the middle of a catastrophe and as they work to try to save their island home, they grow closer to each other. Lemberg has written a wonderfully compelling book about real people with LGBTQIA+ representation, disability and neurodivergent representation. This is my first introduction to Lemberg’s Birdverse and I look forward to spending more time in the gorgeous world they have created.

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