The Witch Boy

This was cute. It reminds me of [b:Mooncakes 44774415 Mooncakes Suzanne Walker https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565183719l/44774415.SY75.jpg 57982519], with a dash of [b:The Prince and the Dressmaker 34506912 The Prince and the Dressmaker Jen Wang https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1494400495l/34506912.SX50.jpg 46116413]. I am a bit tripped up by the villain. I'm on board with “reinforcing gender as binary stifles everyone, deterring passion and talent.” But that's a broad point, and I don't think you need to trot out a specific antagonist to make it. I get that Mikasi is a foil to Aster, but it's depressing to reduce a genderbending ancestor to a cautionary tale (and threat to children). Like, “it's too late for him, he's been ostracized into misogynistic resentment.” Does this play into problematic tropes about sexually “devious” characters turning predatory and violent? I'll be interested to see how/if this is addressed in the rest of the series. Which (witch! lol), I suppose means I'm continuing the series.