Crosshairs is a startling, breathtaking dystopian novel that exposes just how close our world aligns with the story's terrifying fascist Canada. The story follows Kay, a queer Black performer, and his allies Bahadur and Firuzeh, as they fight against an oppressive regime that is actively imprisoning marginalized communities in concentration camps and explicitly enacting a fascist, white supremacist program under the guise of "renovation."

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and found the story riveting, heart-pounding, and compelling throughout. Hernandez seamlessly transitions between present and past, telling the stories of multiple characters in the form of a Whisper Letter written to Kay's love, Evan. Some elements of the narrative felt heavy-handed and made some of the dialogue between characters seem stop-and-start. However, these parts of the book were extremely informative and I learned from them. I also found the ending to be a bit abrupt, but still inspiring. Overall this is a thrilling dystopian novel that carries an important message that must be heard.

CW for: transphobia, racial and lgbtq+ slurs, systemic violence and oppression, hate crimes, genocide, deadnaming, sterilization, pedophilia, torture, loss of loved ones, and depictions of grief. Crosshairs is a very worthwhile read, but tread carefully if you have experiences similar to the characters because Hernandez does not hold back.

CW: transphobia, homophobia, assault.

CROSSHAIRS floored me. Catherine Hernandez is a brilliant and powerful writer who brings this dystopian society to life. It follows Kay, a Black drag queen who’s on the run after the extremist faction of government in the lands currently known as Toronto and Canada have put their racist, discriminatory, fascist beliefs into law. Kay has been on the run for months, hiding out with his friend, Liv, who’s part of the Resistance. Kay eventually has to run again, after Liv informs him that Toronto isn’t safe, and he gets picked up by a white Resistance member named Beck. Along the way, we also meet Bahadur and countless other Brown, Black, and queer folks who have been on the run and are fighting back against this oppressive regime taking over taking over the world.

There are some hefty trigger warnings for this, but Hernandez is an important voice and tells these stories respectfully and with the fire that they deserve. She addresses labor issues, capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, the hatred of “Others” that we are all too familiar with in 2020. She brings up Indigenous identity alongside Black and queer characters, and the true intersectionality of this book is a work of art in and of itself. I suppose sometimes it’s a bit obvious that she’s trying to be intentionally inclusive and diverse, but to be honest I think that’s what it takes in literature. We need to be blatant and intentional with who’s getting portrayed in texts so we normalize inclusivity and intersectionality, so I not only understand why Hernandez does this, I think it works and illustrates her message perfectly.

Now, plot wise, I wouldn’t say there’s anything completely unexpected. The dystopian world Hernandez creates has workhouses (read: concentration camps), a segment of extremists who are limiting the rights and ending lives of “Others,” another segment of the population - comprised of Others and allies - who’s revolting against the oppression. It doesn’t necessarily have any characteristics we haven’t seen before in other dystopian novels, with the glaring and fundamental exception of the truly inclusive nature of this story and its characters. But the fact that this world doesn’t feel surprising is actually one of the most remarkable things about Hernandez’ skill as a writer: she has successfully extrapolated our current situations - human rights abuses, political power and greed of the wealthy and corporations, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic policies and people - to dystopian Toronto, and it feels eerily close to what we could all imagine happening if we don’t do something.

CROSSHAIRS compels us to sit in whatever privilege we might have, listen to other voices, reflect on our role in perpetuating oppressive systems and what people not from our own communities are saying and experiencing, and then act. Avoiding the realities portrayed in CROSSHAIRS will take an act of revolution, and Hernandez doesn’t just bring that revolution to life for us - it feels like she’s making a prediction for us.

Crosshairs is set in dystopian Toronto, Canada. The LGBTQ2S and Black community are experiencing racial injustices that are too heartbreaking to be true. Hernandez’s novel is classified as a dystopian and much of the racial violence, protests, and police are far from “imagined” and eerily mirrors our present day political climate.

The read was beautiful, comforting, and unique. I enjoyed Bahadur, Firuzeh, Liv, and Kay. Hernandez did a fabulous job creating characters that will stick with me forever.

Although the ending was short, I didn’t feel rushed through it at all and I closed feeling powerful and inspired.
Things I Loved:
• Kay’s coming out journey and how that relates to his racial identity as a half black, half Filipino man.
• The struggles, strength, and resilience behind how Kay navigated the harsh Toronto streets with no help from family.
• The power behind the “Others” coming together to protect their own human rights.
• The progression of the story and how Hernandez vividly flashes back to experiences prior to the success of “The Renovation”

I'm literally scrambling to read her previous work and I'm excited for anything else she will release in the future. So talented!

Set in dystopian Canada, we follow a queer femme drag performer who is Jamaican Filipino. Massive floods brought upon by environmental degradation left the majority of the population homeless, jobless, and starving. And some powerful white man seizes the opportunity to herald an oppressive regime where "Others" (i.e. marginalized groups) are sent to labor camps in the service of "True Canadians."

While this book dauntlessly takes on the oppression faced by many marginalized groups (e.g. POC and Indigenous, Muslims, queers, people with disabilities), there is definitely a heavy concentration on race, and specifically, Blackness. And I'll admit that I felt uncomfortable about the intense exploration of Blackness when the author is a non-Black person of color. I truly, wholeheartedly believe that this is outside of her lane and that the author should have written a main character who is more reflective of her identity.

At the same time, however, I don't want to completely dismiss the merits of this book. I *do* think that Crosshairs is a good book and that the story it tells is timely, important, and above all, frightening because of the many parallels between this dystopian society and the world we currently live in. Considering the state of politics in my own country and in many countries around the world, it isn't too hard to imagine a world where labor camps are reintroduced, people below the poverty line are killed without much thought, and people of color suffer the brunt of the discrimination.

Here are the things that I liked about this book:

📌 The exploration of culture and dynamics within Filipino communities is limited, but I did really appreciate the acknowledgment of anti-Blackness within our culture and among our people. There is a lot of anti-Black sentiments within many Asian cultures, and Filipinos are not an exception to this wrongness.

📌 The way unlearning and true allyship are portrayed in this book is at times heavy-handed, but ultimately, brutally frank and realistic. I particularly appreciated the emphasis of needing to unlearn every single day.

📌 The drag scenes! And the friendships between and among the drag performers.

📌 I liked that this was not set in the United States because that seems to be the go-to setting of most dystopian civilizations (although the United States is also involved in introducing and maintaining this fascist regime).

📌 In line with this, this book challenges the popular notion of Canada being a paradise that's free of discrimination and prejudice. I particularly liked how it brought attention to the issues faced by Indigenous peoples.

📌 The use of sensitivity readers.* According to the author's acknowledgments, she "assembled a team of artist colleagues who represent various community including Disabled, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Muslim, Queer, Trans, and Deaf-identified folks."

* While this does not necessarily guarantee authentic representation, it does alleviate some of my discomforts. However, it is not my place to discern whether these measures are enough or whether the final outcome is respectful to other marginalized groups, especially to the Black community. Although the main character is part-Filipino, I do not consider myself an #ownvoices reviewer for Crosshairs because Kay makes it clear that she considers herself to be more Black than Filipino. I will, in turn, contact the publisher and request that they give advanced reading copies into the hands of #ownvoices Black reviewers. (I'll definitely link #ownvoices reviews here once I find any.)

If you do consider giving this novel a try, I highly encourage you to check out the content and trigger warnings (see below) and to ensure that you're in the right headspace before diving in.

Content warnings: prejudice, violence, systemic oppression, and microaggressions targeted towards all marginalized groups; labor camps; deadnaming; use of racial and lgbtq+ slurs (including references to the N word without spelling it out); forced sterilization (off-page); pedophilia and sexual exploitation of a child; loss of loved ones; torture; depictions of grief