A Lake of Feathers and Moonbeams by Dax Murray
A queer, polyamorous retelling of Swan Lake
Read this book if you…
- Are a fan of the source material.
- Might be a fan of the source material if it was less depressing.
- Might be a fan if there were fewer straight people in it.
- Enjoy a bit of magic with your romance. Or a bit of romance with your magic.
- Are happy to see people get out of bad relationships.
- Are thrilled when “You’re in love with someone else as well as me?” is followed by “Cool! When can I meet them? Gosh, I hope they like me…”
- Take pleasure from seeing villains lose.
- Wish to support independent LGBTQ+ fiction.
Representation
This book contains healthy polyamorous representation as well as bi/pan leads and a nonbinary lead.
Swan Lake
So, mild spoilers in this section. But I already told you it was a retelling of Swan Lake and implied it’s less tragic than the original, so you may know a lot about the plot already.
Even if you aren’t a fan of ballet, you may have a vague idea what Swan Lake is about. To summarize for you if you don’t: a princess is enchanted by an evil mage to be a swan during the day but a human at night, a prince falls in love with her when she transforms in front of him and he realizes she’s hot, the prince is duped into making vows to the mage’s daughter, and tragedy ensues. Except in the Barbie version, where it all works out okay in the end for everyone except the evil mage.
Dax Murray makes a few big changes. First, the mage’s daughter becomes his unrelated romantic partner. Although he’s still a father-like figure in her life and she’s basically his student. Honestly, the relationship is rather disturbing, but you’re not supposed to like the evil mage. He’s evil. So, yes, it’s an unbalanced relationship where he’s taking advantage of her. As established, he’s evil.
Second, the no-longer-the-mage’s-daughter and the princess are both bi/pansexual.
Third, the prince is nonbinary. (So not a prince, but a princen.)
And, fourth, the princess and the princen are engaged before the start of the story. Although they’ve only exchanged letters, there’s a reasonably solid relationship there considering they’re heading into a political marriage.
What if the princess and the evil mage’s daughter fell in love?
Okay, she’s not the evil mage’s daughter in this one. But she’s still helping him at the start of everything and has no reason not to trust him when he tells her this princess he’s captured is a threat to their home. Then she’s enchanted, without warning, along with the princess and told to act as a spy. Unfortunately for the evil mage, in getting answers to the questions he’s instructed to her to ask, she forms a deep and romantic connection to his prisoner and starts to question her relationship with him.
Content Warnings
The big ones are an unhealthy mentor/mentee relationship and involuntary confinement, but there’s a mild amount of physical violence and death during the princess’s capture and the evil mage’s defeat.
Sold?
If you’d like to purchase a copy, the author has links to places to do that on her website!