Review by KayAsia11 -- My Ladybird Story by Magus Tor

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KayAsia11
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Latest Review: My Ladybird Story by Magus Tor

Review by KayAsia11 -- My Ladybird Story by Magus Tor

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[Following is a volunteer review of "My Ladybird Story" by Magus Tor.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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My Ladybird Story

A captivating novel was written by Magnus Tor in the year 2015 about a young boy who had grown up with nothing but struggle; to fit it, to be himself. This novel shows the main character, John Bird, and his struggle between his true self and the man he was supposed to be. John had not confided in a soul when he was younger and had kept his inner self boxed up away from anyone who might stumble upon the truth. No one had understood him but one.. One very special person to him indeed was Aureus who he had met during an incident at the high school they shared, Sandton High School, and their friendship was the only thing that mattered to John in the entire world. Her loyalty blinded her inability to perceive of anything tangible at the time; which, to John's luck, had been for the best for them both.

When John was at Sandton High School, he had been oppressed and filled with regret being someone he had no clue how to be. Which made matters worse when J.P had stumbled upon his unconventional behaviour and had bullied him for it. Only to be saved by his soon-to-be best friend, Aureus Connor who had helped him up from the ground and gradually prevented J.P from bullying John as he usually would. She was the new girl and a seemingly different breed to the rest of what John had already known as the norm. John found she was brave and bright, and still had no clue why she wanted to be his friend.

John's life had been hard. In fact, “hard” was an understatement. It had been a long time until John himself had known what or who he truly was. Throughout High School, he had his best friend and trusted her to a certain extent and even this was the furthest he had gone with trusting anyone. I could only imagine how lonely and ashamed he must have been; leaving home for school every day, walking amongst other learners and sitting in those same benches as other kids whose lives always seemed so easy to John's eyes. The certainty in their behaviour was a skill he had wished he mastered; the certainty of who they were and the comfortability of being themselves.

When High School passed and they had moved on to College; Aureus and John were like each other's halves and never left each other's side. The trust he had in her was of an immaculate sort that was unmistakable and could not be ignored. Their blind loyalty never led them astray and they were ultimately and immensely grateful for having met each other back at John's hell, Sandton High School. She had been there through John's worst times and helped change his life forever. She helped him be who he truly was. I am certainly glad she had come at the time she had before John thought of the rest of his life in distaste.

Although John's brother, Devon, had tried helping him in Part One, this did not help John and he was too afraid to admit it to Devon, and to himself, that perhaps what he had thought of himself was true all along - he was a freak. But after discovering himself with the help of Aureus, John needed to come clean. Afraid of the response, he had little good to expect. To his surprise, Devon had handled the news better than Aureus had.

The parents, however, were not in favour of the sudden change, nor had anyone expected them to be. But the mother, as all mothers usually did, had kept her composure and ultimately kept the family together.

What I loved about this book was that John's inner-self had not been temporary, or how the public would say “a phase”. If anything, his situation had only gotten worse over time. And the use of the mirror was a clever depiction of John not truly knowing himself but he knew for certain it was not that boy staring back at him in the mirror.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It had occasional errors and typos but nothing discrediting the value of the style the writer has created. It is a fairly unique storyline and the ending was indeed a twist I had not seen coming. Having not known about transgender before, reading My Ladybird Story had certainly grabbed my attention and I simply did not want to stop reading. I recommend this book to all those individuals with a keen and open mind. Be prepared to be amazed.

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My Ladybird Story
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