"The book is fascinating , despite a somewhat too ordinary beginning.
However I'm a bit disappointed at the English Translation by Alexander O. Smith. It seems that he constantly removes Yoko's thinking voice , marked by the italic font, as he wants.

let's take a few paragraphs from "Sea of shadow" and compare it with the French translation:

La pluie tombait comme de fins filaments qu'une main géante aurait semés du ciel. Y?ko restait étendue, la joue posée dans la flaque, incapable due moindre mouvement, incapable même de pleurer. Elle entendit soudain derrière elle un bruit d'herbes froissées.
Il faudrait que je me mette à l'abri...
Mais soulever sa tête était au-dessus de ses forces. Quelqu'un approchait. Un habitant d'un village avoisinant? Un fauve? Un démon-y?ma?
...bah, ?a n'a pas d'importance...Qui que ce soit, qu'est-ce que ?a change? ...qu'un humain m'arrête, qu'une bête féroce ou un y?ma me saute dessus et m'égorge, ou que je reste affalée dans la boue, cela ne changera rien au résultat...

which can be roughly translated to

The rain fell down like thin threads that a giant hand sowed from the sky. Yoko stayed sprawling, cheek on a puddle, incapable of smallest movements, incapable of even cry. She suddenly heard a noise behind her from the creased grass.
I must seek cover...
But raising her head was beyond/above her strength. Someone was approaching. A habitant of a neighboring village? A fauve? A demon?
pfff, it's of no importance ( it doesn't matter)... whoever it is, what does it change? ... a human arrests me, a wild beast or démon will jump on me and slit my throat, or I stay sprawling in the mud, that won't change anything to the end result


The English translation is :
The rain fell endlessly, like thin silken threads cast streaming from the sky.

Yoko was lying on her side, cheek in a puddle, unable to get up, unable even to cry - when she heard a rustling in the underbrush behind her. Her instincts screamed at her to seek cover, but she could barely raise her head to see what was coming
A villager? A wild animal? A demon?
Of course, she thought, no matter what it was, the end result would be the same. Whether she was captured, attacked, or simply left to lie here in the mud, she would wind up in the same place
Dead

I don't have the original Japanese version here so I can't conclude anything, but it's quite obvious that the English version is a summarized/synthesized and worse one, while the French one retains much of the original material. When you consider that the French version was translated by Fumihiko Suzuki and Patrick Honnoré, whilst there was only one English translater, who was non-japanese, you would clearly see why. therefore, I suggest getting the French version, or any other version if possible, but if you can't get those, or can't understand any other language, you should understood that what you read may not be as good as the original.
"

"4.25/5

I get that some people dismiss these kinds of books as transphobic right off the bat without actually reading them. I did too. I was on the “J. K. Rowling is a TERF” bandwagon only a year ago, I mean, I wrote a whole essay about how problematic she is. I agreed wholeheartedly with the idea that gender is something invisible “inside” a person and that there’s no such thing as “biological sex”. I couldn’t answer questions like “what is a woman” or “what is homosexuality”. I had doubts and questions, but I was terrified of being perceived as problematic, transphobic and a TERF.

But since I actually started reading about these things I’ve pretty much changed course. Not about trans people - but about gender vs. sex. Biology vs. identity. I 100% believe that trans people exist and that they deserve proper health care, equal opportunities in the job market and to live their lives free of hate. Of course I do.

But also believe that we need to be able to distinguish between perceivable biological reality and invisible gender identity. People are born either male or female - even the majority of intersex people are either male or female with DSD, which Stock also goes in to explaining - and if we can’t acknowledge this, we erase the reality of whole concepts. These include but aren’t limited to: homo- and bisexuality, female genital mutilation, femicide, rape statistics, sex trafficking, forced marriage and, even, gender dysphoria. This book explains why, in a pedagogical manner.

It would be lovely if we lived in a world where biological sex didn’t matter. But we live in a world where women - females - are oppressed not because their gender identity, but because of their biology. Yes, trans women are oppressed too, but their oppression shouldn’t and cannot infringe on the safety of women and girls (meaning females) globally."

"if I have to read another “crooked smile” again, I’m going to DIE. "