I swear, I really am capable of writing about topics other than Protector of the Small (despite recent evidence to the contrary), but the series is far more timely than I wish it were.

I was only twelve or so when I read the book for the first time. This is a little ridiculous, I thought to myself when I read it, and again a year or so later when I read the scene in the conclusion to the quartet when a man displeased with Kel’s command style implies she’s a whore. Grown adults can’t possibly act like that. It’s almost as cartoonish as when the coyote in Looney Toons doesn’t fall right away when he walks off a cliff.

Twelve-year-old me has eaten those words for breakfast after the evolution of the social internet. And as an adult, I’ve reflected on these books far more often than I wish I needed to when encountering men who think I’m unable to do a job because of my gender.

You can read the full essay, including me comparing Senator Gillebrand to the eponymous Protector of the Small, at Unbound Worlds.