Review: The Hum and the Shiver, Tufa Novels Book 1

The Specs:

• Series 
  • Series Name: Tufa Novels
  • Book Number: 1 of 6
• Genre
  • Technical Genre: Contemporary Fantasy Fiction, Small Town and Rural Fiction, Fairy Tale Fantasy
  • Theo Genre: Rural Fantasy, New Faerie Tales, Feminist Fiction
• Page count: 353 pages in paperback
• POV: Limited 3rd
• Publication information:
  • Publisher: Tor Books
  • Language:  English
  • ISBN-13: 9780765327444
  • ASIN: B004WJR7M4

Other Fun Stuff:

To Read or Not To Read (Again): On the bookshelf and going to buy the rest of the series.

Rating out of five: 4.5 out of 5

Representation, Morality, and Sexism Tests:

• Bechdel–Wallace Test: 
  • Purpose: to establish actual female characters that act independently of male characters in a story.
    • Do two female characters talk about something other than a male character? Yes
  • Pass or Fail: Pass
• DuVernay Test:
  • Purpose: to establish characters of color in a story.
    • Are there fully actualized characters of color? Yes
  • Pass or Fail: Pass
• Ellen Willis Test:
  • Purpose: to show balance in characters regardless of gender.
    • Would two related characters still work to carry the story if their genders were reversed? Yes
  • Pass or Fail: Pass
• Hays Code Test:
  • Purpose: to ignore outdated and queer-degrading/punishing standards that once were the standard for produced mass media.
  • Part One: outdated moral guidelines
    • Are there any outdated “moral content” rules gloriously kicked in the teeth by this story? Yes
    • Are there people of color allowed a happy ending? No.
    • Is there an interracial couple? Yes
    • Is there profanity used at all? Yes
    • Is there one or more homicidal acts and/or murder? Yes
  • Part Two: queer representation
    • Are there queer characters that get a happy ending? No.
    • Is there an illegal or otherwise distasteful age gap between characters, queer or otherwise? No.
    • Do the queer characters die tragically, violently, or at all? No.
  • Pass or Fail: Fail.
• Mako Mori Test:
  • Purpose: to assure that in the story there is at least one female character independent of a male character’s story.
    • Is there a female character? Yes
    • Does she get her own arc? Yes
    • Does it do anything other than serve to support a man’s story? Yes
  • Pass or Fail: Pass
• Sexy Lamp Test:
  • Purpose: to assure that a female character in the story serves as an active protagonist, not just a device to be used by the male main character.
    • Would the plot fall apart if the female character was replaced by a sexy looking lamp? Yes
  • Post-It Note Caveat:
    • Would the character be able to be replaced by a Sexy Lamp with a sticky note on it for information conveyance? Absolutely not.
  • Pass or Fail: Pass
• Tauriel Test:
  • Purpose: to help support the existence of competent, independent female characters regardless of a romantic sub-plot.
    • Is there at least one woman in the story? Yes
    • Is this woman competent in her chosen occupation and not immediately shown up by a newcomer male character? Yes
    • If she has or develops a love interest during the story, either implied or explicitly stated, does she suddenly abandon her job and/or chosen path to support or pursue said love interest?  Not at all.
  • Pass or Fail: Pass
• Vito Russo Test:
  • Purpose: to establish more characters that are on the SAGA (Sexuality And Gender Acceptance), QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color) or LGBTQIAP+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/Biromantic/Bigender, Transgender, Queer/Genderqueer, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic/Agender, Pansexual/Panromantic, and others not listed here) spectrum.
    • Is there a character on the queer spectrum? No.
    • Are they a character beyond their orientation? No.
    • Do they actually affect the plot? No.
    • Is the character something beyond a punchline? No.
  • Pass or Fail: Fail

Overall review:

Thoughts: I literally added the rest of the series to my wishlist as soon as I finished reading it. I literally thought that the female characters were written so well, I was shocked that they were written by a man. And I devoured this book. It wasn’t something I thought I was looking for, but this particular universe is amazing. Magic and mundane run side by side, like oil and rain down the street in a storm.

There are some uncomfortable topics discussed. Loss, mortality, war, and one sexist asshole in a truck. There’s an honest to god decent representation of PTSD in here. I would highly recommend this book.

Was it engaging?

Yes.

Favorite Character:

Bronwyn, most certainly.

Review format updated 5 March 2019