Rivka isn’t someone that loves a lot and she only started feeling for Isaac, I believe, only after forming a connection with him. I believe it also addresses the sexuality spectrum. There’s also a touch of biphobia in a comment meant to hurt but it’s not by our protagonists. The book subtly addresses gender identity and sexual orientation, although how gender identity is explored at one point is a bit problematic (it’s not just cross-dressing). We get to see both Rivka’s and Isaac’s past and Shulamit’s and Aviva’s and I have to say, although this book is short, the four characters are developed and human.

Rivka also lost her partner, the wizard Isaac. Rivka is a great warrior that fought to be the way she is. Since it’s in the description of the book, I can reveal that Riv is actually Rivka, a woman that passes as a man for convenience. We see how Shula is quite the detective and intelligent and acts to save herself. Shula doesn’t know how to find other women that like women, after her ex, Aviva bailed on her so she has the idea that anyone wanting to avoid a husband would probably join a religious order… and they set off to visit these orders. Riv is offered the position of head guard if Shula finds a sweetheart on their journey. Riv becomes Shula’s traveling companion along with a horse that is sometimes a dragon. The two develop a friendship based on grief, trust and in my opinion, mutual book-nerdery. Queen Shulamit is skinny, of average looks and has black hair. The rescue is the start of the book, so you can guess it was funny. The plot follows Shulamit, a princess recently turned queen and Riv, her new appointed guard – after Riv saved her from being kidnapped after she visited a bawdy house to visit willing women. The series is set in a tropical setting but within a Jewish religious background which I had never read about in such a combination before. I had forgotten what the book was about, I just knew I wanted to read it so some things came as a surprise. It felt so good to read fantasy again! Especially a book that I have been meaning to read for a while and now that the series has finished, I started. The Second Mango is the first in the Mangoverse high-fantasy series.

She also picked up a mango, and then, after thinking about it for a moment, bought a second as well.

The second mango by shira glassman