Review: The Disasters

The Disasters by M.K. England
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This ARC, I picked it up because A) I recognized M.K. England's name from the Pitch Wars mentors list; B) because of the promise of The Breakfast Club meets Guardians of the Galaxy; and C) the promise of queer content.

Those promises, England meets them and then some.


By far, this is one of the most diverse novels I've ever read. Not only because it comes from the mind of an enby author, but also because of the very inclusive cast of characters too. Starting with our protag, Nax, who is both bisexual and biracial (Pakistani and Anglo-American, to be precise) and, to my delight as a once and future bi boy myself, he has simultaneous feelings for a girl and a guy over the course of this book. More for the guy, though. Which I wholeheartedly support as much as I fancast John Boyega as Rion. (Zayn is my fancast for Nax, btw.)

Even better, England takes the time to properly incorporate elements of South Asian culture into not only Nax's life (where he has a bunch of traditional Desi aunties and uncles on his Ammi's side and gets his Carolina accent and liberal use of "y'all" from his Pa's side), but also the interstellar colonies of this world too. The place where most of the story takes place, al-Rihla, has a majority South Asian population and, therefore, largely South Asian aesthetic, with languages like Pashto, Urdu, and Bengali being common. And Arabic, of course. I swear, it's like The City of Brass in space, the style I'm picturing. Not to mention the tiny little details sprinkled in - specific mentions of garam masala, salwar kameez, etc. etc.

I can't speak to the accuracy of the Desi culture in this book, but I can speak to how rip-roaring, action-packed, and bloodydamn hilarious the book was. For sure, I'll be hand-selling it at work in December and beyond, and hoping the sequel comes sooner rather than later.

Also, who else is fancasting Zayn Malik as Nax and John Boyega as Rion? Just me?

View all my reviews