What a character story. What character, full stop. I loved Vida-Vince.
What a horrible, unwelcoming world to have to live in and what a glimpse into the hell such a life could frequently be. Without the Brothers as an extended family, Vida-Vince's gender fluid identity might not have survived a world that is not quite so fluid in its desire to understand.
Having said that, I was disturbed by some of the dynamic with his brother, Dane. I recognize that I don't understand, and never truly will, some of the experiences people in this world have, And I recognize that I can't compare the meaning of those experiences for others, to the meaning they have to me. But I feel the more advantaged, stable brother (who admittedly had reasons for his own insecurities) mislabeled his protection. And I'm not down with that.
I also felt the middle of the book was a nice catch-up in the goings-on of the Brothers' world itself as well as setting the stage for future books, but this mid portion seemed not to relate as seamlessly as I might have liked to the main point of this particular book.
The conclusion of the book was back to a fine character story, and though Pavel himself was a bit of a disappointment as a human being at intervals, he did come through in the end to be the man I wanted to see him be for Vince. In the end, this was Vince's book. His story. His life and his victory.