Day 1+2 Wrap Up – #TransRightsReadathon

Hi everyone! Welcome to Nox Reads, I’m Nox, and today’s post is an update on the first two days of #TransRightsReadathon.

#TransRightsReadathon was started by Sim Kern and is running from March 20th to March 27th. It’s a decentralized fundraising readathon created as a reaction to the increasing amount of anti-trans legislature in the United States, and multiple content creators are reading to fundraise for trans organizations and individuals.

I’m participating this week to raise money for my friends Tess and Lilya, who are a trans couple living in an abusive home situation in the Deep South, where it is becoming increasingly dangerous for trans individuals. Lilya is also Indigenous and disabled, and Tess’ family is racist and has destroyed Lilya’s medical equipment. Their goal is to fundraise at least $15,000 so they can move, and my first goal for the readathon is to get them to $1000. Currently, they’re at $396, which is about $280 more than before the readathon and announcements started! You can donate to their GoFundMe here, and comment below if you’d like to pledge an amount for each book I read.

Since the readathon started on the 20th, I’ve read two books, and I wanted to give a brief review of each of them!

SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN (affiliate link!) is about Zhu, who takes on her brother’s identity in order to survive and decides to pursue the great fate that was promised to him instead of the nothing one that was promised to her. This is a fantasy historical reimagining of the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and it’s a fascinating story.

Zhu definitely is a morally gray character. She does show remorse throughout the story, but she still commits ruthless and heinous acts in order to pursue what she feels is hers. Despite the lengths that she went to, I was cheering for her the entire time.

Other characters include Ouyang, the opposing general who hates Zhu but is working on avenging his family, who was killed by the family he is now forced to serve. Ouyang struggles with his own inner conflict because in order ro avenge his family, he’ll have to betray someone he loves. A lot of Ouyang’s conflict revolves around the way he is treated as “the eunuch general” – when he was a boy, the Prince of Henan spared his life but castrated him. Ouyang is often treated as less than by everyone around him, with people often saying that he’s more woman than man.

Another main character is Ma. She starts the book not daring to hope for her own future, but after meeting Zhu starts realizing what she can do to have some power for herself. I really can’t wait to see how her relationship with herself and her relationship with Zhu evolve in the next book!

WAITING ON A BRIGHT MOON (free on Tor.com!) is a novella about Xin, an ansible on a star station that joins a rebellion. She starts a relationship with a starmage, Officer Ouyang, and the story is really about how Xin was forced to be an ansible, her relationship with Ouyang, and her journey as she joins the rebellion. I don’t want to say too much about it because it’s so short and I don’t want to spoil it, but I could go for an entire series set in this universe. We learn so much about the Imperial Authority and despite its length, there’s so much included.

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Thanks for reading my update! I’m excited to keep reading, and I’ll have an update for Days 3 and 4 on Day 5! Please donate to Tess and Lilya’s fundraiser here, and I’ll see you all soon!

Sincerely,
Nox