The Bookish Mindset

Overview:

Title: Stag Dance
Author: Torrey Peters
Published: March 2025
Genre: Dystopian Short Stories
Themes: Found Family, Trans Lives

One sentence summary: Split between four stories, Stag Dance explores trans lives from the dystopian to modern day.

One sentence review: Peters writing will be read for years to come, this is a brilliant follow up to their debut Detransition, Baby.

Review:

Split over four shorter stories, Stag Dance explores a variety of trans lives. We have a dystopian tale in which all genders have to inject hormones, an intense boarding school relationship and more. 

This book is testament to Torrey’s writing and is a whole world away from Detransition, Baby. And while I absolutely enjoyed her debut, Stag Dance is my preferred of hers. 

These stories are intense and in places, manic, and they make for such a brilliant read. Original and compelling, I could read another four and more. 

It’s been a while since I’ve read short stories that are this long that aren’t interconnected and I really appreciated that. They’re each structured differently it worked well. 

If reading more is something that you’re looking at doing this year then should check my reading challenge out here! Read nine books from nine prompts over the first six months of the year and be entered into a draw to win a bundle of bookish goodies.

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And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 23/05/2025