If we could swap bodies like clothes, would we still be so hung up on gender? Would our identity still be tied to how the world perceives our body, or would we pay more attention to the essence of the person before us?

These are questions we confront while reading Queen of Faces (HarperCollins Publishers, Rs 899) by debut trans author Petra Lord. This is a fantasy novel with the most original premise we’ve seen recently: Protagonist Ana is trapped in the wrong body, and it’s literally killing her. In a world where the rich can afford to trade bodies regularly, becoming immortal, the poor simply rot away. Ana has a choice to make: die, or turn assassin with her fledgling magical ability so she can upgrade her “chassis”.