A fun, paranormal romp with a ton of queerness.
Thirteen-year-old figure skater Mina has her sights set on the Olympics, though it’s unclear whether the dream is hers or that of her mother. When she falls and breaks her arm at her first big juniors competition, she thinks all her effort has been wasted. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she’s then kidnapped by a group of vampires and recruited (with a little pressure) onto their roller derby team, which is required to have a human “jammer”—a key player who scores points for the team.
Keeping up with a bunch of supernaturally gifted vampires is hard enough—but the stakes mount when Mina learns that losing their next tournament would mean the team gets kicked out of the paranormal community, becoming hunted outcasts. And Mina is developing a crush on the team captain, Val Halla, sparking jealousy in Val’s ex, vice-captain Bella Ghostly. Yet as Mina trains with the team in the abandoned shopping mall where they live, she begins to develop confidence in her own goals, and starts to feel part of something—a team—that she has never felt before.
The book leans hard into its humor and age-appropriate creepiness, but also offers clear (but not pedantic) messages about self-confidence and discovering one’s place with a found family. Roller derby fans should also love that both author V. P. Anderson and illustrator Tatiana Hill are derby skaters themselves, so the derby details are plentiful and accurate (give or take a supernatural addition or two). The limited-palette images, heavy on red, pink, purple, and glowing teal, add an appropriate eerie vibe.
There’s also a ton of queerness, not only in Mina’s crush, but also in the gender identities of the skaters. Nearly half of the ones we’re introduced to use she/they or they/them pronouns, and no big deal is made about this.
The story ends with a clear hook for a sequel, but I’m looking forward to taking another lap with Mina and the team. Highly recommended.
Mina and her family are White; other characters reflect a variety of racial/ethnic identities.
