Review: This is a very told, heartbreak and sexual story. Be sure to check the triggers. The author isn’t shy. I enjoyed the emotional parts and the parts about how the author and those she knows approached life as a transgender person. The sex scene sure were interesting but they soon took over the book and there were just too many.
Recommended For: Those who want a sex kink filled memoir.

Where to start? This is a compelling and unflinching memoir, a powerful clarion call to queer identity, a call out of misogyny, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia, and very definitely not for the vanilla community.
Beautifully written and performed with emotion and humour by the voice actor, it's a book that swept me up and forced me to experience the memories being narrated.
It's told in non-linear fashion, with specific kinks and fetishes used as jumping off points to explore parts of Sly's life - past, present and future. The (kink) scenes are described with unflinching attention to detail, delving not only into the sexual feelings they produce, but emotional and spiritual, too. In particular, Sly's love of shibari rope bondage and being a rope bottom is told with an almost transcendent joy, yet at the same time Transland doesn't flinch from describing and addressing the cis privilege at play in many kink communities, and the persistent prejudices that even these spaces can hold towards gender non-comforming folks.
Powerful, beautiful, raw and provoking, Transland is a brilliant memoir that will stay with me for many years to come.

It was a beautifully written and tender exploration of queer sex, kink culture, and queer identity. It was not only great to read about queer sex but also an eye-opening read in terms of self exploration as a queer trans person myself. Mx. Sly opens up about their most intimate expereinces described in very personal and enchantingly beautiful ways. I've had my prejudices about some kinks before, but reading about their expereinces and thoughts about it did make me reconsider many things and come to better conclusions.

Please check the trigger warnings before reading this book as it goes into detail about many things. I would very much advise reading it if you would like to see conversations around kink, pleasure, consent, and queerness.

I'm not the biggest fan of applying star ratings to memoirs; so just know that. Also I have incredibly low libido so the significance of some parts were probably lost on me...ANYWAY-

While I believe all stories have a right to be told, I am not sure if this memoir was told in a way that makes it tangible to as many people as it otherwise would have been had it had some editing to exclude certain scenes - though maybe me with my disinterest in other people's sexual experiences just means I'm not the ideal audience for this book. Which is FINE. That being said I definitely saw the purpose of most moments included so don't assume I'm just being prudish here.

Both outside of and during these sexual retellings there was a lot of solid commentary on questionable allyship, the importance of consent, and having to compromise for others due to inexperience and trauma that may arise in even consensual spaces.

It was sad how overall taxing their dating and sex life were/are as a result of existing as both a nonbinary individual and someone reliant on kink (instead of vanilla sex) for proper stimulation; at least, that is how I read it, but they had such patience when it came to these moments that it did keep me engaged in their story instead of completely burned out showing true perseverance despite it all.

Overall an interesting enough first hand account of how one can work through various things through controlled spaces where control can at times appear nonexistent.

thank you to ECW Press Audio and netgalley for a copy of Transland by Mx. Sly in exchange for my honest opinion. I really enjoyed this memoir and the journey this author took us on.

AHHH! I am so thankful to have been able to read, listen, and review this book before it hits shelves on January 4, 2024. I really enjoy first-person memoirs, especially when they touch upon LGBTQIA+ topics that need representation and awareness.

Using Mx. Sly’s own words: awe and anger, yin and yang. This memoir is poetic and tragic and hopeful and full of sadness and love. A dive into their queer mind- with trauma, desire for community, reality of society, and the escapism and fulfillment found in kink. Sly’s words are absolutely stunning and gut wrenching, and without a doubt will help other queer folks feel a little less alone as they navigate a world that so often invalidates their existence.

Transland provides a very real and raw look into non-binary identity and how that impacts the authors dating and sex life