No Man of Woman Born is a wonderful collection of short stories that center trans and nonbinary characters in traditional fantasy-story roles and prophecies in ways that are always true to their gender.

Content warnings can be found at the beginning of the book and at the start of every individual short story.

The book starts with an author's note that already touched me deeply, and it only got better from there on. The short stories feature a wide variety of characters all over the trans spectrum, from trans women and men to genderfluid to nonbinary to questioning. Some of them use neopronouns, all of which are briefly noted at the beginning of each story.

Overall I adored this book and had a great time reading it. I had no idea how much I needed to hear these stories until I actually read them. Especially the story giving the book its title, No Man of Woman Born, will stay with me for a long time and become something to reread again and again.

Individual ratings for and quick thoughts about the short stories:

Tangled Nets: 4 stars
I'm not a big fan of the Evil-Dragon-Needs-Annual-Sacrafice trope, but it was well executed here. It helped that the sacraficial system in this story is pretty reasonable, actually. I was a bit confused by technicalities of the climax, but ultimately it was a nice story.

King's Favor: 4 stars
This one started out slow and had a bit too much retrospection for me, spending most of it's time setting the scene and world and not enough on the actual story. The second half of it was very cool, though, with a great open ending!

His Father's Son: 5 stars
One of my favourites. It made me cry, had very interesting worldbuilding (without dragging like the previous story) and I loved the family dynamics, for lack of a better word.

Daughter of Kings: 5 stars
Another favourite! A great take on the sword-in-the-stone prophecy. I loved the brother and the companion, the interpersonal interactions in this one were the best.

Early to Rise: 4.5 stars
Fun and intriguing retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a genderfluid aromantic protagonist, which I adored!! The ending, while super cool, seemed almost too easy however and didn't entirely convince me.

No Man of Woman Born: 5 stars
This one resonated with me a lot. It's different from the others in that it doesn't actually.... fullfil the prophecy, slay the dragon, etc. Instead it's introspective and soft, with wonderful conversations about identity and knowing who you are, featuring a questioning protagonist. I absolutely loved it.

The Wish-Giver: 5 stars
THE CUTEST 😭😭😭😭😍

Admittedly, I am not actively a fan on fantasy, but I don't mind it either, and I love short stories and trans content. Besides, I knew of Mardoll as an activist on Twitter, so I figured I'd like this. Sadly, I didn't.

Most of the stories aren't so much fantasy as they are set in fantasy worlds - they're more Ronia the Robber's Daughter than Circle of Magic. And in fairness, my not caring for that is just a matter of personal taste. But an additional frustration is that although Mardoll is a trans writer ostensibly writing for a trans audience, the stories still follow the tropes of trans literature too closely for comfort.

"His Father's Son" and "Daughter of Kings" (a take on the sword in the stone myth) are essentially coming-out stories, and I suspect that most trans readers are, like myself, tired of those. "Early to Rise," featuring a genderfluid Sleeping Beauty, is a definite step up in terms of both trans content - the main character's fluidity is critical to the plot, but is presented as a simple fact - and fantasy content. But even that one left me feeling unsatisfied, with an ending that felt rushed and unnatural. I finally had to stop reading when I hit the painfully didactic (and lexically anachronistic) line "Innes hadn't realized it was possible to be a gender other than the one you'd been assigned at birth."

In the end, I feel like this is a case of "better idea than delivery." Hopefully, either Mardoll or someone else will make another attempt that really follows through.

A delightful collection of fantasy and fairytale stories starring transgender, nonbinary and other-gender characters. A fun, fairly quick read that doesn't have a dud story in the bunch, and which gently educates about gender and neopronouns along the way. I'll definitely be reading more by this author.

Simply put, wow. I needed this book and I had no idea until I picked it up on a whim. No Man of Woman Born is a collection of seven short stories, all featuring trans and nonbinary characters in epic fantasy settings. Aside from how overjoyed I was with the representation in this collection, I must take a moment to comment on Mardoll's incredible talent as a writer. In each brief story xie conjures an elaborate, fleshed out world that could support its own collection of tales. Though the world xie creates may be filled with strife and warfare, xer characters persevere. While some protagonists experienced hardship in their past, none suffer gruesome deaths or tragic fates, no characters are deadnamed, and misgendering and bigotry are minimal. Each story elegantly subverts well established tropes in the fantasy genre, and left me smiling each time it did. Mardoll puts the heart of this book best in xer own words: "The heroes and heroines in these pages aren't special because they are trans; they are special and they are trans." I loved this book from cover to cover and I highly recommend it to any lovers of fantasy, retellings, and queer fiction.

I received my copy of No Man of Woman Born from Acacia Moon Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Cover art courtesy of Acacia Moon Publishing.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the different approach to some of the standard fairy tale plots. At times, it felt as though the author was really stretching to make a point about gender, instead of letting the "tell" flow naturally from the story. However, that's a minor quibble about what was a refreshing take on the fairy tale genre.

DNF at %10.
This book is a collection of short stories which are interesting subversions of classic fairy tales. I gave it 2 stars because I think it was Okay. The focus of the stories are on gender-neutral, transgender, and gender-fluid individuals. The author uses gender-neutral pronouns in these stories. Although I appreciate the way the author incorporated less-represented characters in her stories, I'm not a fan of short-stories. I always feel as though they end right when it starts to get interesting.
That's partially a compliment, because these stories were interesting. However, they just aren't for me.

An incredible anthology! Only criticism is that some of the stories felt too short to properly get to know the characters.

I absolutely adored all of the stories in this, although my favorites would have to be Tangled Nets and The Wish-Giver. A definite must-read for anyone interested in fantasy, LGBTQ+ characters, and trope subversion.

Wow! This was such an emotional experience! I think I cried at least once for each story. No Man of Woman Born is a collection of short stories, all with nonbinary or questioning characters, all playing on how oddly specific and gendered prophecies are in fantasy novels. Of all the stories Early to Rise was my favorite because of the antagonist and the unique way the protagonist solved their problems. The writing was lovely and the worlds were rich and creative. A considerable amount of effort and talent went into making each of the short stories and worlds unique. The first three stories had very similar plot beats/resolutions so it felt repetitive. But that might be because all of the stories are based on the prophecy trope (which I am not usually a fan of so maybe it won't bother anyone else.) Individually, the stories were very well done and heartwarming. I honestly teared up a bit every time the character affirmed their genders to themselves. This was so much fun I would highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Acacia Moon Publishing and Ana Mardoll for giving me the opportunity to read this. I received a free arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ever since I saw the cover for this anthology, I was extremely excited to read it. It’s gorgeous and the author is trans ownvoice! Not only that, but xe reworked many fairytale stories and found loopholes or reimagined them entirely to make trans characters the leads.

This is an amazing book and I loved every single one of the stories. They’re short, included many different neopronouns, and all were fantasy-related. The last story was definitely my favorite and was such a nice ending to the anthology. There was even a story where the main character’s father came out as a trans man in his 40s, so I liked that it was understanding that some people do not come out early in life and that’s it’s okay to do so later on when someone feels safe.

The characters were never misgendered by the author and there were content warnings at the beginning of the story if other characters did so. There were also pronunciation guides for the neopronouns as most people are familiar with “they/them/their” pronouns and may not be with the others.

These stories really meant a lot to me. I didn’t start calling myself nonbinary until very recently and I rarely saw myself in anything I read. Overall, I think these stories are something everyone should read.

This is a short story collection full of magic, myths and dragons, but also full of character with diverse gender identities.

The stories made me realize how much traditional fairy tales and heroic legends really rely in some ways on the traditional constructions of gender. So what this collection does with the usual patterns is a pretty smart move: It doesn’t just have characters outside of the cis gender-binary, but also uses their gender identities as a twist to the tales’ expectations.

I love this concept and I think it is important to write and read these stories to help people get used to the idea of different genders, see how one can talk about them and learn to use the pronouns (so one on complains that 'uh there were mistakes all over I want my money back' like I have seen it before in a review for a book with a non-binary character).

But what made me not rate this higher in the end was that the plots of the stories itself didn’t feel that special to me (with exceptions) and that after a while I didn’t enjoy them anymore because it felt all very repetitive.
The play with myth and gender was cool, but it was kind of the same twist over and over again in most of the stories.

'A man and a women will kill him' – oh, but I am both in one person
'She will sleep' – oh, but I am not always a she
'A son will kill him' – oh, but he just didn't know I was his son instead of daughter
'No man of women born can kill the King' - oh, but the person who gave birth to me realizes he's a man so I’m not born of a women

The stories in this collection are still very much worth reading, but reading them all together took some of my fun with it away in the end, sadly.

No Man of Woman Born is a collection of seven short stories by nonbinary author Ana Mardoll, each exploring the concept of fantastical prophecies fulfilled by unlikely heroes, all trans, nonbinary, or questioning. A fisher whose village is at the mercy of a man-eating dragon, a hedgewitch sent to save the land from a tyrannical queen, a warrior who seeks to avenge his family. Each story is a clever spin on a classic fairytale, and though some of the endings may be predictable, the journey there is full of heart.
I will preface this review by saying that I am a cis woman, and so I cannot speak to the quality of the representation. However, I have to say that the author manages, in very few pages, to establish her/xer protagonists as well-rounded people with fears and aspirations. They have lives outside of their gender identities and feel like tangible people whom I might meet in real life. Trans and nonbinary characters have certainly started to make their way into contemporary media, but it is still rare to find them in fantasy, so I hope that this author continues to publish more work in this vein.
If I have any criticisms, it would be that at times the stories felt a little slow. It’s a very character-driven book, which focuses a lot on establishing the humanity of its heroes. Given the length of each story, I understand that Mardoll had to choose between story and character. Still, after reading No Man of Woman Born, I’m definitely interested to take a look at Mardoll’s novel-length works. I urge everyone to give this book a shot, because though its characters go through grief and heartache, at its core the collection is about triumph and self-acceptance. No matter your identity, these are two themes that should resonate with us all.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was a bit tough for me to read. Originally I was super excited for it's focus on non-binary and trans-gendered characters however I was vastly overwhelmed almost immediately with the pronouns, I wish there had been a description/chart on the terms and their usage before beginning the short story collection. I felt like I needed to do research before I could enjoy a diverse book and that was a bit off-putting for me. Because of how important the need for books like this and because I feel like this will appeal to many young new readers just discovering who they are, I give this a 3/5. The stories themselves fell a little flat for me and I can't quite put my finger on why. I did feel like they were a little boring and that there was too much description to fit into a short story whereas I would have loved to get more thrown into some action with descriptions here and there, not an entire history lesson then a story.

This is a collection of stories that all feature trans, nonbinary or gender fluid characters in a fantasy world where we don’t usually find them.
What was particularly great about it is that these stories take place in the typical medieval setting, devoid of hormone therapy or anything that would help someone pass, yet there is never anyone purposely misgendering anyone else.

As with any short story collection, I liked some of the stories more than others, but my favorites are the ones that feature someone fulfilling a prophecy that no one suspects they are the chosen one of, due to the prophecy specifying a gender that no one knows this character is.

Unique writing and story that kept me interested. A story that had me wanting to read more. Relatable characters and a good flow. Would recommend!

i want to be careful in my review of this book, because i know it wasn't meant for me, and that's alright. that's wonderful, actually. this book is lovingly crafted for trans readers, and that's incredibly important. it's one of those books that's deeply needed, and i can only hope it finds it's way into the hands on someone who's been longing for just this: an anthology of fantasy stories with wonderful writing, interesting characters, and most importantly, one that's centered around trans folks. 'no man of woman born' is about prophecies, long lambasted for often being so cisnormative in stories, and the ways they can be written to celebrate diversity instead of stifle it.

honestly, my biggest complaint was that i wished the stories were longer — that i could spend more time with these characters and their worlds. leaving a novel wanting more is a wonderful problem to have though, and i'm grateful i had the opportunity to read and review this one. i don't want to go too in depth and ruin the next reader for the delight of discovering each story contained within this anthology, all the clever ways ana mardoll subverts and rebuilds the familiar fantasy tropes to suit these heroes, so i'll leave you with this: this is definitely one i'll be recommending to my friends, and it's one you should read too.

I just skimmed through this one. I don't care for the content. It's not for me. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Like with every anthology, I loved some of the stories and didn't care much about others. All in all is an original take of classic fantasy stories with some great worldbuilding, and my main problem was that the rythm felt a bit off sometimes.

The concept of this book held incredible promise it did not deliver as much as i wanted it to. The use of neopronouns and having these characters in the spotlight was great but their arcs and stories were too predictable for me to properly enjoy it. The writing was simple and reinforced the tone of the story. These stories would do well with a middle grade audience as these are essentially classic stories with a twist in characters rather than plot. For older audiences who have already read similar stories it does disappoint in that regard although it is important for those who can identify with the characters in these stories.
That's not to say that i hated the book. Two of the stories were extremely good and i'm hoping to see similar characters in more books.

Tangled Nets : This was the first story and one of my favorites. The pacing and revelations were well done and Wren was a good protagonist. My only criticism is that the entire witch aspect of the story was rushed into the end.

King's Favor : I feel like this would have worked far better as a novel rather than a short story. The world building aspects were nicely done and i really wanted a portion of the story from Janeida's point of view. Again the plot was too predictable for me to really like it.

His Father's Son : This was one of my least favorite to be honest. I had to force myself to get through it. Nothing about it was unique enough to act as a ho

Daughter of Kings. : Again, interesting enough characters and world building but entirely predictable.

Early to Rise : This one i really liked. It's a Sleeping Beauty retelling far better than the original. I was grinning throughout and it was enjoyable to read.

No Man Of Woman Born : While the concept was interesting the story felt very incomplete.

The Wish-Giver : This one was cute, really although the outcome was obvious.

*I Received this book by NetGalley for an honest Review*

Before we even start can we all take a second to swoon over this cover, seriously it drew me in right away. After reading the synopsis I was very interested. I can honestly say I had never read a book anything like it, and I'm trying very hard to expand my reading horizons with new books, genres and important topics. That being said I definitely only read this book for the cover and the fact it was LGBT, I'm still new to this world and know that I need to venture into with open eyes and heart so that I can have more of a perspective and opinion about the genre.

I know so far this reads as a disclaimer and it sort of is, because I definitely enjoyed this book, but it wasn't one of my top books of the new year, or ever. I enjoyed the writing format and the stories very much. I especially enjoyed the fairytales and loved how they have changes and alterations that don't take from the novelty of the original but still mold into the amazingness the author was going for. The world building and flow of he writing was wonderful, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants something new and exciting.

Now for the subtle things I didn't quite like, some things felt forced and bland at times. Not so bad that I didn't enjoy the book overall, but enough that sometimes I had to put it down and come back to it. I found some of it a hollow, and made it hard to really connect. A little more depth and I would say this was a 5 star. This is my personal preference and has nothing to do with the subjects of the read.

Honestly this is a great read and I do recommend it, I'm not at all sorry for reading it and look forward to seeing more work by the author. She's very talented.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!