Review by Booklist Review
Griffon Keming's life has been fraught with pain and trauma, raised under the thumb of his abusive father, who tried to beat the masculine traits out of him. Taken under the protective wings of Etoine and Zaffre, an unabashedly visible trans couple, Griffon sees a future he never thought possible. Upon their deaths, Griffon learns that he did not know much about the lives of his adoptive parents. With access to Etoine's journals (written during his second imprisonment for crimes against the state), Griffon begins to see who Etoine and Zaffre were: starving, young artists, individuals emotionally and physically beaten by their government, failed revolutionaries, and two beings who loved each other and the family they created. Fellman's latest (after The Two Doctors Górski, 2022) is a triumphant and blistering chronicle of found family, love, and resistance. Brimming with wit and queer joy amidst the violence of rebellion, Notes from A Regicide is a multigenerational saga set in a distant (but eerily recognizable) future. Fellman continues to highlight the importance of allowing each person to choose their own past, present, and future. For fans of Catherine Lacey's Biography of X (2023) and Justin Torres' Blackouts (2023).
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Fellman (The Two Doctors Gorski) paints an intimate and vivid portrait of a queer family weathering a dystopian world in this triumphant sci-fi novel. Some thousand years in the future, New York City journalist Griffon Keming mourns his late adoptive parents, Zaffre and Etoine, who took him in when he was a closeted 15-year-old escaping abuse. After he unearths a memoir that Etoine left behind, "Autoportrait, Blessé" ("Self-Portrait, Injured"), written decades earlier from the jail cell where he waited to be hanged for regicide (a hanging which didn't happen), Griffon attempts to reconcile his recollections of his parents with the life he didn't know they lived before they adopted him. Etoine and Zaffre, both trans, were artists, refugees, and revolutionaries from the city-state of Stephensport, now a dictatorship. Alternating perspectives between Griffon and Etoine, the narrative slowly untangles the history of this found family. Throughout, Fellman explores themes of political dissidence and the power and limitations of art, especially as a means of giving voice to the oppressed. Prescient, emotionally nuanced, and remarkably well told, this offers plenty to sink one's teeth into. Agent: Kate McKean, Howard Morhaim Literary. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Griffon's larger-than-life adopted parents, famed artists Zaffre and Etoine, have died, leaving their son to fill the huge holes they left behind as he tries to learn who they were before they became his parents. Griffon's journey through the writings Etoine left behind tell the story of a mythical country, mired in the past but set in the future, where their trans identities were an accepted part of the social order, but their desire to reform the ossified aristocracy ended in a rebellion that shattered the magic holding the kingdom together and left the king dead by Etoine's hand. Reconciling the former revolutionaries with his loving but broken parents brings them back to life for Griffon one last time and also tells the story of chosen family members who nurtured one another despite their demons. VERDICT Fellman (The Two Doctors Górski) writes a literary sci-fi novel about trans identity that will appeal to fans of Charlie Jane Anders or Izzy Wasserstein's These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart and those who were fascinated with the play on histories and identities in T. Kingfisher's "Sworn Soldier" series.--Marlene Harris
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A trans man in future New York considers the legacy of his trans parents. "Who were these two people?" asks Griffon Keming, the protagonist of Fellman's fourth book, set centuries into the future. "Who were these two people? Revolutionaries, or half-revolutionaries. Survivors, or half-survivors. They spoke a language that was half one thing and half another, and they had spent half their lives together." Griffon, a transgender man, is writing about his parents, Etoine and Zaffre Zipporah Keming, who are also transgender, and who took Griffon in when he was younger and fleeing his abusive father. Griffon's parents have died, and he has resolved to discover more about them; the novel switches perspective between Griffon and Etoine, the latter through diary entries that he wrote, partly while in prison for allegedly trying to overthrow the ruler of the city-state of Stephensport, where he and Zaffre lived when they were younger, before moving to New York. Etoine's diary reveals his longtime friendship with Zaffre, and their roles in the city-state's revolution movement, while Griffon reflects on his childhood growing up as closeted and trans: "In fact, through my whole adolescence, I stayed a little girl….Everybody liked me this way, and I proceeded invisibly through the world." Fellman's worldbuilding is subtle but beautifully done; he captures the essence of a future New York that is covered in canals and also brings Stephensport to life. His dialogue sparkles, particularly in sections featuring Etoine and Zaffre bantering and bickering and others where they tenderly reassure a young Griffon. Most notably, though, Fellman paints a tender portrait of Griffon and his journey to coming out as trans, which he handles with real compassion and insight. This beautifully written, self-assured novel is a major accomplishment. Expansive and empathetic, this novel is a stunner. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
