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The Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace's enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete--all except yokai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yokai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari's fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yokai outcast. Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA...
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No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll

No Man of Woman Born by is a fantastic and much needed collection of short stories about prophecies, expectations, and societal assumptions. 

My absolute favorite is "Early To Rise", it was a refreshing retelling of a story I already know and yet I was blown away. The author did a fantastic job with that one in particular. I also love the titular story, "No Man of Woman Born". I love how it's more about the character's self-reflection in reference to the prophecy, making it feel like that story in particular continues after this snippet is over. A few of the stories had predictable twists, but I still loved them even when I wasn't surprised. I spend a lot of time thinking about pronouns, presentation, and gender expectations, so your mileage may vary on whether you see the endings coming. Just seeing this many subversive ways for gender-based prophecies to be fulfilled was a treat. The collection feels cohesive, and even though all the stories are about different ideas of gender no two solutions were alike. There's quite a bit of darkness there but it's handled with care in everything from the phrasing to the perspectives to putting CWs for individual chapters.

Definitely check this one out, it's a great collection of much-needed stories; may there be many more like it.

The index has CWs for each story individually (which is such a great move for a short story collection), but here are the CWs for all the stories combined: violence, sexualized violence, bloodshed, community ableism, sacrificial victims, self-sacrifice, border walls, population purges, mention of self-harm, death of family, death of child, misgendering, parental bigotry, magical curses, non-consensual kissing, governmental oppression, mention of emergency cesarean births, mention of rape.

Clear Your Shit Readathon 2020 prompt: Shortest Book

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A person with flowing pink hair in a white dress holds a sword in front of them.


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