Matthew's Journal

The main characters of this are a young trans runaway, the captain of a donut shop, and the Queen of Hell. For the first half or so I was wondering if their seemingly-disparate stories (which you know are going to cross at some point) were going to turn into a coherent whole or a mess. I think the author did manage to stick the landing in this case, and the ending was satisfying to me.

As a musician, I loved the sections about music, and how we can communicate through it; and how that was also a mirror of what was going on in the story. There's quite a range of music discussed, too, from the classics through anime tunes and on to Bartók. And, of course, there's a lot said about the sacrifices women make for the people round them. It's a fundamentally optimistic tale, I think, despite all the demons and darkness.