Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Manifest 
AUTHOR: Alden Lila Reedy
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 31 pages
BLURB:
The very last thing Chris expects when he’s forced to take sewing lessons is to enjoy them. Or for sewing to lead him into the world of cosplay, and a friend with whom he begins to cosplay in earnest—and who convinces him to try dressing up as female characters.
He certainly doesn’t anticipate the realizations that cosplaying stirs—realization that could cost Christ not just his best friend, but his family as well.
REVIEW:
Sewing mostly leads me to the belief that needles are evil and my fingers are really great pincushions. Luckily, though, Chris has a bit more luck with them than I’ve ever had. And when his sewing hobby leads him into in the world of Cosplay (dressing up as characters from movies/tv/and other storytelling mediums) he finds a lot more than luck to help him out. Great friends, an awesome community, and maybe, just maybe, a chance to be himself in a way he never thought possible. If he has the courage to do so…
I really don’t know how to rate this one. On one hand, Cosplay is something that I find incredibly fascinating (and something I wish I had the skills to do) plus I really think that the more stories there are out there with trans MCs the better. But on the other hand…this really didn’t read as a story, instead it was more like a bunch of scenes about sewing/cosplay with occasional identity crisis thrown in.
I had a real hard time connecting with Chris, which is rather unfortunate since he (and later, she) was dealing with something I have a lot of respect and admiration for: being true to yourself even when you are not sure who you are. But the way this was written, the short bursts of scenes that almost exclusively centered on sewing costumes, didn’t do a lot to bring the character to life. And this book covered something like four years, in the course of only 30 pages, meaning we were constantly leapfrogging thru Chris’s life w/o ever really getting the chance to get to know him. While this might have worked to show the course from introduction to cosplay/alternative gender roles all the way to full realization of Clara, it didn’t do much to show who this character was, or why, ultimately, I should care about them.
In the end I was left feeling that this book was more about cosplay than it was about Clara. And while I find find the topic interesting, it had trouble holding my attention, even for such short time. But it was short and I have a weak spot for trans stories, so…I guess, 3 stars?
RATING: 
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