Book Review: Bang Bang Bodhisattva, by Aubrey Wood

Bang Bang Bodhisattva is brisk, fun, and queer as fuck. Trans protagonist Kiera pinballs from one (generally disastrous) event to another, in a noir plot set in a cyberpunk near-future of parties and nightclubs, drugs, hacking, VR, and artificial intelligence, peppered with satire of current issues: social media, the gig economy, social credit. Kiera and trenchcoated private investigator Angel Herrera  pursue a serial killer who has murdered their mutual friend.

Central to the novel are Kiera's relationships: her polycule, her new lover Nile, and most importantly, her developing relationship with Angel, who becomes a surrogate father to her. Kiera calls him "her weird-dad-friend-partner-in-crime". Herrera is forty-seven, Kiera is thirty, but she often reads much younger; "She's like a teenager around you," her lover Sky tells Herrera. (I can't help wondering if the author increased Kiera's age in order to get more contemporary references into the narrative.)

The novel is also about transformations: disguises and racial drag, Kiera's progressing transition, the SPOILER that makes everything make sense. These changes are enabled by futuristic medicine and technology, but are driven by human need.

The police are a constant hostile presence throughout the novel. Detective Flynn insists on deadnaming Kiera, but explodes into violence when Herrera persistently uses Flynn's nickname. Kiera has a good idea of what will happen to her if she is ever arrested. When it finally happens, in the book's least SFnal and most powerful chapters, she is gripped by absolute panic. The torture comes in the form of the indifferent neglect of Kiera's most basic needs for dignity and safety. As torture often does, it only strengthens her resolve.

I felt the weakest parts of the novel were the gaming chapters -- without real stakes, it's hard to take the action seriously -- and the resolution, which is a bit deus-ex-machina-y.

The ending sets things up for a sequel; I'd read it.