'When seventh-grader Ash, his crush Eleanor, and their friends are transported to a girls-only imaginary world, Ash must come to terms with the fact that he may actually be a transgender girl. Full of wonder, humor, and heart, Girl Haven is the newest original story from the author of Lumberjanes.
'Three years ago, Ash's mom, Kristin, left home and never came back. Now, Ash lives in the house where Kristin grew up. All of her things are there. Her old room, her old clothes, and the shed, where she spent her childhood creating a fantasy world called Koretris.
'Ash knows all about Koretris: how it's a haven for girls, with no men or boys allowed, and filled with fanciful landscapes and creatures. When Ash's friends decide to try going to Koretris, using one of Kristin's spellbooks, Ash doesn't think anything will happen. But the spell works, and Ash discovers that the world Kristin created is actually a real place, with real inhabitants and very real danger.
'But if Koretris is real, why is Ash there? Everyone has always called Ash a boy. Ash uses he/him pronouns. Shouldn't the spell have kept Ash out? And what does it mean if it let Ash in? '
Lumberjanes has long been on my list of things to read, as I'd heard nothing but great things about it, but trying to find time to get caught up on a series that has been going on for a while can be a bit of a challenge, so when I saw that this book was coming out I jumped at the chance to read some of Lilah Sturges' work.
Girl Haven tells the story of four teens who go to the Marsha P. Johnson Middle School (which should tell you a little bit about the type of subject matter the book will be dealing with). There's Ash, Eleanor, Chloe, and Junebug. Eleanor, Chloe, and Junebug are all friends, and part of the schools Pride Club, and after attracting the attention of Ash one lunchtime they invite him to come along and see what the club is all about.
Ash doesn't seem to have many friends, and jumps at the opportunity to make three new ones, especially as they have a bit of a crush on Eleanor. After the club Ash invites the three of them to their house, where he shows them the shed where their mother used to pain pictures and write books about the fantasy land of Koretris before she left several years before. The girls love the things that Ash's mother left behind, and instantly want to dress up as adventurers and pretend that they're in Koretris. But there's a problem, Ash doesn't think that he can play, because only girls can go to Koretris. Eleanor tells him it's only make believe, and that he can put on one of the dresses and just pretend if he wants.
It's then that Chloe reads one of the spells from a book of magic that's supposed to take you to Koretris, and the four of them find themselves in this amazing fantasy world. Not only is it real, but this world might hold the secret as to what happened to Ash's mother. However, it also presents an important question, if only girls can be in Koretris, how was Ash allowed in. Not only is Ash having to grapple with the idea that this fantasy world is real, and that his mother might still be alive, but he's also forced to take a look at his own gender identity, and what ultimately makes him happiest.
I have to be honest, I had no idea that Lilah Sturges was trans before reading this book, and didn't even realise until after I was done reading it and looked her up online. I was worried at the start of the book that perhaps this was going to be a book about the trans experience that was going to be written by a cis person, someone who sympathised with the difficulty of having to examine your own gender identity and wanted to make a story about it, but had never experienced it themselves. But because Sturges herself has been through that, has had to look at their own gender and how they fit into the world she's able to pour a lot of that emotional journey into the pages of Girl Haven.
There are a few early scenes where Ash seems uncomfortable with who they are, like when they're given the dress to wear that touch upon this. You can see the look on their face and you could hand wave that away as 'a boy's been told to wear a dress and doesn't really want to', but it's more than that, that hesitation Ash shows is a longing, its them wanting to do that, but being afraid to. This is something that I'm sure a lot of trans women will be familiar with, that closely held desire to be like other girls, the want you feel to just be like them and to be treated like a girl, but the fear that if you tried you'd face ridicule or disgust; or even knowing that if you were surrounded by friends like Eleanor, who accepted it and didn't make you feel bad you know that you'd still have to take the dress off and go back to being a boy, and knowing that it's not forever hurts.
The moments where Ash is encouraged to just be herself, to put on the dress and be the person she wants to be are weighed down by these fears, these self doubts, and you can see the character struggling with this. For readers who have never been through this themselves they might feel frustrated that Ash isn't jumping at the chance to just be a girl, but that struggle, the fear of taking that step is something so real and so genuinely debilitating that it can be a hard choice to make.
Sturges gives these moments the weight and time that they need, she makes it so that readers have to follow Ash on a journey not just to adventure and fantasy realms, but of self acceptance too. Ash has to learn to accept herself for who she is, even if others already do, even if the reader does. This is a story that anyone could write, but its a story that I think only really works this well if the person writing it knows how hard it is, if they're able to channel some of that emotion into the work.
I think I might have painted too dour a picture of this book, because it's not all about Ash and her gender, or her pain, there's a lot more to the book too. The world of Koretris is bright and colourful, and has some really awesome stuff in it, some which only makes brief appearances but makes a big impact. The Rabbits of the Reeds are a group of warrior bunnies who I instantly fell in love with. Okay, this might have had a little bit to do with the fact that I've got four bunnies running around my house, but they're so cool. I would have been happy for a book all about them because fantasy adventures with rabbit people is something that I didn't even realise I wanted until I read this book, and now it's something that I'm going to be hoping for in everything I read.
There's so much about Koretris that is only touched upon briefly here that I want to know more about, there's the slightly creepy Scarionettes, which are giant living marionettes that look like Dracula, the wolf-man, a mummy, and the Bride of Frankenstein. I don't know what these things are, but I really want to because they're one of the most unique fantasy creations I've ever seen. Then there's also the moral implications of the Sweet Deliveries, little baby like creatures made of candy, who eat candy. Chloe tries to talk to them about this, asking if that makes them cannibals, but this isn't really put to bed and I feel a more in depth discussion on that subject is in order.
Koretris is a strange world, one that has some cool and interesting inhabitants, and one that I want to spend more time in. Whilst the book ends with the idea that Ash and her friends aren't finished with this magical world I don't know if there's more planned for the series, but I certainly hope so.
Girl Haven is a fun and engaging adventure story that has some important things to say about gender identity and the journey to accepting and embracing who you are. It will appeal to readers of all ages, and I think that because of that it's going to be a hell of a popular book.
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