Gender-flipped Sleeping Beauty x Indiana Jones, But Make it Queer
The Bone Spindle
Leslie Vedder
First things first..
I do not even have the words to convey just how much I adore this gender-swapped Sleeping Beauty retelling, with delightful queer rep and found family feelings, treasure hunting babes, dastardly curses and fantastical witches, with not one but two romantic arcs (one m/f, one sapphic!).
Things to know: is it queer?
- Yes! One of the MCs gets a sapphic romantic plot. Also, the MCs are in an adventuring partnership which gave me all the found family, queerplatonic love vibes that my little gay heart desired.
Things I loved
-Shane, the badass warrior queer, her penchant for getting into trouble!
-Fi, and all her Indiana Jones-ish nerdy treasure hunter vibes. She is a book lover after my own heart!
-Surprisingly (because I am consistently underwhelmed by cis-het men) Briar, the “Sleeping Beauty”, with all his exuberance, adorable clumsiness, and sparkly magic! I’m a sucker for an effusive love interest, you know?
-The magic systems! The Curses! The ruins! Menacing evil witches! The Paper Witch! The quips and banter! Shitty exes getting thwarted!
Things I less-than-loved
- NOTHING!
-My sole complaint is that I can’t start reading the sequel TODAY, and I want it bad! (This book wraps up this first adventure nicely, no cliffhangers, but I’m just not ready to leave this world!)
Overall: if “gender-flipped sleeping beauty x Indiana Jones” doesn’t intrigue you just a little bit, you may be on the wrong blog! Go buy this book immediately!
