Kate's Reviews > Stag Dance

4.5 stars

I think one of the beautiful things about Torrey Peters’ writing is that she puts her characters into these sort of strange or unusual situations (I mean what would you do if you were patient zero for a virus that removes people’s ability to produce sex hormones?) and then just mines that in a sort of character study with a significant focus on gender and gender identity. I found this with Detransition, Baby, and thought she managed it even better in the stories that make up this collection. Stag Dance also feels like you’re really watching Peters flex her writing muscles. The stories range from a dystopian sci-fi, to contemporary literary fiction that almost reads as horror at times, to historical fiction, and she manages to pull off each of these seamlessly while still making sure it feels like a cohesive collection exploring gender and identity and self-discovery. Each character feels distinct from each other across the stories, which isn’t something I always find in short story/novella collections, and the way their internal conflicts are explored are so interesting and compelling (it’s been over a week since I finished this and I’m still thinking about The Chaser and Stag Dance in particular). Bottom line: I really liked Detransition, Baby, I loved this, and I can’t wait to see what Torrey peters writes next.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc!