HeartTheft, by Rukis – book review by Kacey Pink
by Dogpatch Press Staff
Welcome to Kacey Pink, a trans lesbian writer of adult stories about transbodies and people overcoming adversity, trauma, and love finding a way. You can check out her novels here: pinkkacey.itch.io. Thanks to Kacey for her guest review of “a thoughtful story about love overcoming the programming of self hate”. The work of Rukis can be found here.
Spoiler Free HeartTheft Review
Rukis’s HeartTheft is two books: Covenant and Apocrypha, however when I heard about an 800 page hard cover of both books combined I felt an overwhelming urge to pick it up for myself. I am not terribly versed in Rukis’s work, besides having read one of the Red Lantern comics and having ogled their art for as long as I’ve considered myself “in the fandom”. However, this stands out to me as a very strong novel in its own right. My desire to grab up the book was solely because I knew that if it fell from a high shelf it might break a toe or two. I would like to see more of these long form books, unashamed to be dense and worthy of analysis as HeartTheft is. Did the story of HeartTheft require 806 pages to be effectively told? I am not confident in that. Am I endlessly grateful, however, that we get to spend so much time in this world and with these well constructed and lived in characters.
If part of your experience growing up was learning how you were lied to by people who wanted “better for you”, you’ll probably enjoy this book. If you can relate to a story about religious deconstruction that doesn’t condemn belief and earnestly tackles the pain and suffering organized religion has brought onto people, oftentimes those that are forced by the abuse they’ve suffered to cling to it, this is a good book for you. If you are fond of thought out world building and well measured applications of stakes and tension, this is a good book for you. If you are a fan of gender go third, sex go [redacted], you’ll probably also enjoy this.
Mystery and investigation don’t take a back seat, but the core of this novel is finding answers for yourself about what you believe in. Even if, but especially if, that’s hard to accept.
Family and love face long odds, but fighting for what’s right, fighting for who is right for you, is the only answer.