Otts reviewed The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn
In the summer of 1880, the death of Beth Stanley’s husband puts her life’s work …
Birds, bisexuals, and Bahamians, oh my!
2 stars
Really great premise that’s marred by a largely uninterrogated colonialist worldview: Arcane Taxonomy grants a portion of the magic from the thing that’s named. Primarily birds. Vaughn isn’t ignorant of the dynamics this creates for queers, women, and POC (our main characters), or that Western ways of knowing and naming aren’t the end-all, be-all. But the engine driving everything remains the will to conquer.