Book Review: Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman

I almost chose not to use this for a book bingo square, because I didn’t want to have to figure out how to describe it. Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman is such an unusual book. It’s tagged as “science fiction” in Libby, and it does take place in a far future Earth, but a long-ago disaster has rendered New York a place that feels more historical or fantastical than futuristic. It also feels almost wholly uninterested in its own setting, as it is told from the POV of characters who take their surroundings mostly for granted. This is a slow, meditative, character-driven story, a look back at things that happened in the past rather than an accounting of things as the characters experience them.

The conceit of this book is that Griffon is telling the story of his parents after they have passed, working primarily from his father’s unpublished autobiography, written during his father’s second imprisonment (the title provides a pretty big clue about why he’s in prison). There are a few salient facts about Griffon’s family:

1. Griffon, his father Etoine, and his mother Zaffre are all trans.
2. Griffon came to live with Etoine and Zaffre when they were somewhat older (in their 50s or 60s) after running away from his abusive bio dad in his teens.
3. Etoine and Zaffre came to New York after participating in an uprising in their home city-state of Stephensport.

I think what is most interesting about this book is who it chooses to frame as the main characters. Our chapters are told either from the point of view of Griffon, relating mostly stories from his time with Etoine and Zaffre, or from Etoine’s POV via his writing, which Griffon has already edited and condensed for us.

The thing is, Zaffre was the one who was most involved in the uprising, and her actions remain an almost entire mystery.

In most situations, I would be annoyed at centering two men who aren’t doing much, at the expense of a woman who is clearly the more active, and I would argue more interesting, character. But in this current place and time where most of us are going through the motions of our normal day-to-day lives while Trump and his cronies try to destroy the country, it is kind of interesting to read about someone going through his day-to-day life while other people try to depose the prince who was put in place by a council of undead electors (I told you it read more like fantasy).

By the way, I wrote part of this review in one tab while another tab had my Bluesky feed full of news about the National Guard being sent in against anti-ICE protestors in LA, and the aid boat with Greta Thunberg being seized by Israel, and then I just had to sign in to work the next day like everything was normal.

While Notes from a Regicide is not a book about intricately plotting and implementing an uprising, it is a book about a lot of other things. It is, perhaps not surprisingly, a book about gender and figuring yourself out. It is of course a book about family, and how even our chosen family can be messy. It’s a book about love and grief and addiction and art. And it’s a book about the aftermath of revolution.

I have a fondness for books that don’t feel like anything I’ve read before. It was one of the things I liked about Welcome to Dorley Hall, too. Notes from a Regicide feels like the sort of book that will cross my mind at random times for the rest of the year.

CWs and TWs: This book includes transphobia and homophobia (internalized and external), child abuse, alcoholism, mild sexual content, and strong language.

Source and Format: I borrowed the ebook from Pierce County Library System.

Reading Challenge Prompts

SAL/SPL/KCLS: Grief. To me, this felt like a story that was exploring grief from several angles. There is the grief Griffon feels for his late parents. There is the grief Etoine feels during the period between Zaffre’s death and his. There is the grief of knowing that the place you once called home (whether a childhood house or a nation-state) is no longer safe for you. Grief over not transitioning sooner, or what options you had available for your transition, or how you transitioned. It is a book absolutely saturated with grief, but of course, the grief is underpinned by love.

Reading Challenge Progress

Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 10 of 25, no bingos.

Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 13 of 25, 1 bingo.

Book Riot: 12 of 25.

Physical TBR: 6 of 12.

World of Whimm: 14 of 24, no bingos.

SAL/SPL/KCLS: 2 of 23, no bingos.