This is the kind of book that sticks with you long after you close it. Emezi has crafted something genuinely special: a fantasy that's really about the monsters we refuse to see in our own communities.

The trans representation is chef's kiss—Jam is trans, her parents are artists who love her fiercely, and the world she lives in has already done the work of acceptance. Her gender isn't the conflict; the conflict is about truth and protection and what happens when a society decides it's 'fixed' all its problems without actually looking.

It's not an easy read emotionally. The monster Pet hunts is child abuse, and while nothing graphic happens on the page, the implications are clear and heavy. But this is exactly the kind of book mature middle-grade and YA readers need—one that trusts them to grapple with hard truths and doesn't offer false comfort.

The writing is beautiful, the premise is wildly original, and the questions it raises about justice and denial are uncomfortably relevant. Not every kid is ready for this at 12, but the ones who are will find something powerful.