Kediil wants only to remain neuter and learn the secrets of herbs from its beloved Mardin... but at its second puberty, it turns female, and is forced to decide between accepting its new roles among the family... or something unspeakable.
ReviewSet on an alien world, this poignant coming of age tale doesn’t fail to impress. We follow Kediil, a Jokka, as it has to endure puberty not once but twice. While this story is very short and reads more like epic poetry; the two main characters and their dilemmas are thoroughly developed. There are no moments of wasted words or scenes. You can feel the anguish born of Kediil's impending decision from the start of the story straight to its bittersweet ending. There were moments when I was cheering for Kediil and others when I felt that it should be chastised for its selfishness.
As a female, I can relate to the anxiety that all girls feel as they are about to embark on womanhood. The fear of not fully understanding the changes you will go through both physically and mentally; and the knowledge that once through this passage you will be relegated to mundane societal roles and responsibilities is enough to send anyone running. Having to experience this event twice, without an idea as to who you’ll be after the change, is unconscionable.
This is another of my ‘stash buster’ books that has been loitering my Kindle library for over a year. All-in-all I am very happy I made the decision to read it and would recommend it to anyone as “snack reading”. It totally fills a gap, but is too short to be considered a full meal. Unfortunately, as this was the first of the Jokka stories that I’ve read, I could only give it a 4/5 hearts rating.
Freedom, Spiced and Drunk is well written and edited. Although it is about an alien culture with 3 unique genders, the story is still both believable and relatable. The cover art on my edition was beautiful. It’s light, watercolor-like graphic shows an otherworldly scene that is still familiar; while clearly depicting the solitude of the decision (or lack thereof) faced by the main character. The biggest problem in this book is that there is a white elephant that is left unaddressed. This could be because it was covered in one of this story’s predecessors; however, it feels like the reader is supposed to just chalk it up to “this is ok because it’s an alien race.” I definitely plan to seek out other books about the Jokka and learn more about their otherwise simplistic society.
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