The Transition / Logan-Ashley Kisner / Book Review

THE TRANSITION

Hunter's life is finally coming together. After years of fighting to transition, he's finally convinced his father to sign off on top surgery. He's one step closer to living in a skin he feels comfortable in.

Except now, just days into his recovery, he's been attacked by some wild animal. When his dog doesn't come back in from a potty break, Hunter goes into the yard to investigate only to be bitten and dragged off into the trees. If his best friend Gabe hadn't been there to chase the beast off, he would have been a goner for sure.

Hunter doesn't like hospitals, and he definitely doesn't like hospital bills. After disinfecting the bite, he decides its best to wait until he absolutely can't anymore. He's still mostly intact. But... something isn't right. Something is, in fact, very very wrong. He's changing... and his other best friend, a horror aficionado named Mars, knows just what this might mean: werewolf.

THOUGHTS

Sometimes you read a book and you know it's a good book and you also know you won't really be able to recommend it to anyone. And that's kind of the boat I'm in here. I think the audience for this book is so niche (and perhaps particularly academic) that it will be hard to find the right audience for it. But it does what it does really well.

PROS

Critical	This book feels very much in conversation with the work of Paul Preciado, particularly his text Can the Monster Speak? It's definitely a book in conversation with critical theory, monster theory and the abject. It's a book that embraces body horror as praxis, and while that might not be a selling point for the general audience, it definitely made me happy.
Grisly	Hunter's transformation is quite gruesome (in a good way; this is horror, after all). The popping of bones realigning within your own skin is... quite visceral. The rapid rotting of a tooth. The burning of an old chain around your neck... Good stuff.
Embodied	This is a trans story. It is very much a trans story, unapologetically so. And I loved that. Logan-Ashley Kisner really lets readers inside Hunter's head, inside his skin, as his story unfolds. His is a story of smalltown homophobia and transphobia, of bullying and the social circles that protect the "normal" kids over those who push social boundaries. It's a story of thinking nobody likes you (or will ever like you) because you don't fall into easy categories, because the world is so binary and you are definitely not. It's a story of a kid who is growing up more alone than not, who is trusted by parents who have other preoccupations. It's a story of transition and gender dysphoria and the fact that transitioning doesn't fix all of your problems (because you're still you, at the end of the day). It's a story of best friends standing beside you but never fully understanding you because they might love you but they aren't going through anything you're going through. It's a story about lack of support and a story about doubting the support you have, about hearing the words and letting them go right back out the other ear because you doubt anyone actually wants to be on your side. It's a story about microaggressions, intentional and otherwise. It's a story about hate crimes with plausible deniability. It's a story about rage, about repression because you can't ever feel that rage if you want to be called "one of the good ones." It's a story rooted in so much, and it's an experience shared by so few. It's lovely (even if the story is quite rough at times) to step into this skin and really experience it.

CONS

As much as I liked some of the body horror descriptions in this book, there were other times that I was left... underwhelmed. Not because what was being described wasn't horrific but because I couldn't quite picture it. More often than not, it was visceral sounds presented on the page instead of other sensory experiences. There was mottling of skin and popping and tearing of various internalities, but none of this seemed to have outward ramifications? Or if they did, I couldn't quite picture it. We could hear, we could feel, but if you are someone who likes to see what's happening, that's not what you'll get here a lot of the time.	Blind
I said it above, and I'll reiterate it here: this is a very niche read. It's a very specific audience, one that deserves to have this type of story. But this isn't the type of book I could or would recommend to just any reader. It's not a universal must-read. It's good, but it's niche.	Niche
The stakes here should be plenty high... but I had a hard time feeling that. I was just missing some crucial element that would have kept that tension high in this book from a reader perspective. Maybe it's because the theory takes centerstage. Maybe it's because the book takes its sweet time unraveling. Maybe tension isn't the point, but even with that in mind, it did feel like it was missing something.	Missing Spark

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10

Fans of Paul B. Preciado's essay Can the Monster Speak? will like diving into this unashamedly queer story. Those who loved Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White will love this new trans body horror experience.

Details Publisher: Delacorte Press Date: September 30. 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.