⭐️ Always Human by Ari North - 3.5 / 5 stars ⭐️
This was a very cute sapphic sci-fi romance graphic novel. For one the colours were great, the drawings too, even if there were occasional awkward panels.
The love interest (Austen) also has a ’sci-fi disability‘ - the story takes place in a society where people use ’mods‘ to change their appearance or enhance certain skills (like getting better memory), but she has an autoimmune disorder that means she cannot use any such mods, which makes her stand out. This is a really good showcasing of the social model of disability; Austen is a normal human like you and me, but because of the social norms of her society she is considrred disabled.
There were also some great parts criticising the notion that disabled people living their lives are ’brave‘ or ’strong‘ for it. I especially liked the following exchange: Austen: ”Are you saying I should be praised for not sitting around at home and doing nothing?“ Sunati: ”Yes? No? I don’t know. It sounds awful when you put it like that. But I don’t think it’s wrong for me to acknowledge the effort you put into getting through each day.“
However, there was also a moment when Austen explains that she doesn’t ask for accommodations, because she doesn’t want special treatment, she wants to pass her courses on her own merit. I wish this had been called out for the internalised ableism that it is. Accommodations are not an unfair advantage, rather they are levelling the playing field for disabled people. Without accommodations, non-disabled people have an unfair advantage over disabled people.
Now, if you’re noticing that I haven’t really mentioned romance so far in this review of a romance graphic novel, well it’s because the romance really didn’t work for me. Theoretically it’s great, there’s a lot of interesting conversations and dynamics throughout, but that’s all it is - theoretically good. Everything about it is telling me that this was a good, thoughtfully written relationship, but that doesn’t change the fact that I felt absolutely nothing at all while reading it. I didn’t care if Sunati and Austen would end up together and that is somewhat of a problem.
So, 3.5 stars maybe I guess, cause I do think the disability rep was done quite well, but not more cause I didn’t feel a single thing while reading this.
