So, yes, people forget. But forgetting is dangerous.
Forgetting is how the monsters come back.
Forgetting is how the monsters come back.
Pet is a 2019 teen/YA Urban Fantasy with a teen transfemale protagonist, written by Nigerian non-binary writer Akwaeke Emezi.
Jam lives in an idyllic town Lucille, US. One day she accidentally falls onto her mother's "painting" with sharp objects sticking out. Her blood releases the painted creature — Pet. Pet's mission is rooting out a monster living in Lucille. Because history books aren't quite right — angels did not defeat all of them.
Followed by a prequel, Bitter.
Pet contains examples of:
- Adults Are Useless:
- Jam's parents urge her to banish Pet back into the painting instead of listening to it.
- Redemption's parents refuse to believe him the first time he tries explaining to them that Moss is being abused. They really regret it soon after.
- Auntie Glass knew Hibiscus is a pedophile, but believed him when he said he'd changed, and she didn't think he'd stoop so low as to molest his own nephew, so she never told anyone. Redemption's mother is livid and has to be stopped from physically attacking her in court.
- Averted by Ube, the librarian. He doesn't freak out when Jam and Redemption show up looking for information about monsters; he's a little concerned, but gives them access to the literature they need with no pushback. He also notes that some adults will really not like that he did this, but that it's important for people, especially kids, to have access to information, even if that information is scary. Pet immediately declares that he likes Ube because of this.
- Arc Words: "Be not afraid."
- Blood Magic: Pet is able to emerge from the painting because Jam accidentally cuts herself and bleeds onto the canvas.
- Broken Pedestal: Hibiscus is Redemption's Cool Uncle and a revered Angel who fought in the revolution. He's also a pedophile who has been molesting his younger nephew.
- Horrifying Hero: Pet is a faceless horned being with razor blades embedded in itself and severed human hands. It's also dedicated to finding and snuffing out monsters who hurt the innocent.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Malachite, Whisper, and Beloved, Redemption's parents, are all horrified with themselves when they realize Redemption was telling the truth about what was happening to Moss, and how the abuse would've continued if not for Pet. Glass, Hibiscus' wife, is also ashamed of herself for keeping his "urges" secret.
- No Poverty: All of Lucille's residents are well taken care of, having free access to medical care, education, housing, and food. It's unclear whether money itself still exists, but things like paid healthcare explicitly do not.
- Non-Heteronormative Society: One of the many ways in which Lucille is an improvement on the world that came before it. Being gay or trans is no big deal; Jam identified herself as a girl when she was about three, and was able to transition socially immediately with no pushback from anyone. She was also able to get gender reassignment surgery and hormones when she got older, and these procedures are implied to have been completely free. Aloe also made sure to tell her that she didn't have to get surgery to be seen as a woman; it was entirely her choice to feel more like herself. Additionally, polycules are widely accepted and are able to raise children together, the same as monogamous couples.
- Our Angels Are Different:
- The heroes of the revolution are known as "angels" throughout Lucille. When Jam checks out library books with pictures of biblical angels, she's horrified by the images and thinks at first that they must be monsters.
- At the end of the book, when Jam asks Pet if it's an angel:
Are not all angels hunters? Are not all hunters angels, when the thing being hunted is a monster? - Pædo Hunt: Implied by Hibiscus' dialogue at the climax of the book, but never explicitly stated.
- Parents as People:
- Jam's parents are largely Good Parents; they love her very much and seem to have done a great job raising her. However, they're so against the mere suggestion that monsters may not be entirely gone that they won't let Jam keep Pet around, forcing her to sneak around. They acknowledge how much they messed up in the end, and make it up to Jam.
- Redemption's parents also appear to be loving, affectionate, and supportive, but are blinded to Hibiscus' true nature and refuse to listen when Redemption tells them what's going on. The weight of this mistake hits them like a freight train, and the epilogue shows that they're working extremely hard to do better and help Moss recover from his ordeal.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Redemption and Jam are each other's best friends and closest companions.
- Polyamory: Redemption and Moss have three parents, their mother Malachite, their parent Whisper, and their father Beloved. The three are a polyamorous triad, which is apparently far more normalized in Lucille than it is in our world.
- The Quiet One: Jam is selectively nonverbal, and prefers to sign most of the time. She's more willing to speak around people she's very close to.
- Terror Hero: Determined to punish Hibiscus and ensure he sees justice, but also wishing to oblige by Jam's desire to leave him alive, Pet settles for making Hibiscus wish he were dead, and shows him its true face.
- Utopia: Lucille portrays itself as one; poverty and corruption have been all but eliminated, and children in school are taught that monsters are a thing of the past.
- Villainous Breakdown: Hibiscus' starts when Redemption calls him out for molesting Moss, ranting about how the kids will never be believed, but when he sees Pet's true face, he shatters, and starts begging for mercy.
- We Have Become Complacent: Lucille is, by and large, a wonderful place to live, thanks to a past revolution; there's No Poverty, corrupt systems have been largely dismantled, and it's a safe, seemingly crime-free community. Seemingly. While not a full Crapsaccharine World, Lucille isn't a perfect utopia, but everyone is so convinced that it is (or desperate to believe that it is) that monsters can still hide under people's noses.
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Pet specifically tells the kids to avert their gazes before it reveals its true face to Hibiscus, who goes blind upon seeing it.
- You Monster!:
- "Monsters" has become a catch-all term for people who harm others and hold up oppressive systems of the past; abusers, insurance companies, cops, and billionaires are all considered to be such.
- Pet, despite its terrifying appearance and lethal abilities, is quite firm that it is a hunter but not a monster, and bristles when Jam asks if it is one.
- Hibiscus loses it when Redemption calls him a monster.
