Summer of Sailor Scouts • Sailor Pluto Book Recommendations

Welcome to the Summer of Sailor Scouts! (Aka July!)

Earlier this year, Alexa of Alexa Loves Books, Cristina of Girl in the Pages, Kristin of Super Space Chick, Sierra of SDavReads, and I all discovered that we shared a mutual love and appreciation for Sailor Moon! After exchanging plenty of flailing tweets and constantly bringing up our love for this magical girl story, we felt it was only right to celebrate it, and that’s what’s happening this July! Every week will feature a brand new blog post per day from each of us, and we’re excited to be sharing the Sailor Moon love with all our readers!

This week, we are discussing our favorite Sailor Scouts as well as recommending books if you love this Scout. For me, I’ve decided to go with Sailor Pluto. Although she isn’t my absolutely favorite one (Venus is), I am fascinated by the outer Sailor Scouts (Mercury, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn)—specifically Sailor Pluto.

Sailor Pluto has always been a character of mystery and intrigue. Who is this Scout who is always on her own? She has an important job she upholds—she guards the gates of Space-Time, preventing anyone from passing through without permission. It can be a very lonely job, and it shows when you see Sailor Pluto. She has spent centuries essentially by herself, and she’s presented as this very aloof character, but underneath it all, there’s a glimmer of warmth and friendliness, and it shows when she’s looking after Rini. (I just want to hug her!) I love that she’s closely associated with everything dealing with time, space, and the underworld. It’s just so cool. Sailor Pluto needs to be appreciated more!

If you’re a fan of Sailor Pluto—from her association to space + time + underworld to her aloof personality—here are the books I’d recommend to readers who like her.

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

 
 
 
Need a book that reminds you of the underworld? The Star-Touched Queen is everything you’ll want to read. It incorporates Greek and Indian mythology into its stories—one of which happens to be about Hades and Persephone. In The Star-Touched Queen, Maya encounters a hallway of locked doors and mirrors that open into an entirely differently setting, and Amar warns her away from opening them. These locked doors are quite like the door that Sailor Pluto guards—where it’s to places nobody is supposed to enter without permission or else.

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente

 
 
 
How could a book about the disappearance of a documentary filmmaker from a deserted Venusian diving colony relate to Sailor Pluto? Well, Radiance does explore all areas of Space, and one of them happens to be Pluto. It’s a planet described to be the end of everything, full of darkness and madness, and the way it’s presented is nothing but majestic. I love seeing how this portrayal of the planet lines up with Sailor Pluto, and it rings so much truth. It’s like a performance of what must be Sailor Pluto’s innermost thoughts.

The Infinite Loop by Pierrick Colinet & Elsa Charretier

 
 
 
Because Sailor Pluto reigns over Time and Space, what better book to rec than a graphic novel about time travel and paradoxes? In The Infinite Loop, Teddy the main character’s job is to correct time paradoxes, but finds herself falling in love with a girl who’s one of those paradoxes. For Sailor Pluto, I imagine that as a guard of Space-Time, she prevents time paradoxes from happening. However, she does have her failures like Teddy; Pluto does let her guard down with Rini, when the little girl gets ahold of the Space-Time keys.

The Archived series by Victoria Schwab

Sailor Pluto guards the Door of Space-Time to keep anyone from entering; Mackenzie Bishop is a Keeper, which means she hunts for Histories (memories of the dead who take on the form of a person) and prevents them from entering the outer world through the doors. Sailor Pluto and Mackenzie hold keys that open these doors, and they protect it like their life is on the line (which it is). Both have an understanding of what it’s like to try to prevent something from entering doors it shouldn’t be going through, and how lonely their job can be keeping guard or shepherding souls/memories.

Thor • Vol 1: Goddess of Thunder & Vol 2: Who Holds the Hammer?
by Jason Aaron & Russell Dauterman

Who else would understand Sailor Pluto than Thor, Goddess of Thunder, and Heimdall? They all have quite a lonely job, where they’re essentially holding the world, space, time on their shoulders. These gods to keep the status quo and o prevent shit from hitting the fan. (Also, even though Heimdall doesn’t appear a lot in this Thor comic, he and Sailor Pluto are cut from the same cloth—both standing as guards in their respective places.)

Special Mention: Guardians of Time series by Marianne Curley. It sounds like it’s in Sailor Pluto’s domain with guarding time. (I didn’t put it officially on my Sailor Pluto rec list because I have not read these books.)

Note: I’m not entirely pleased with this list because I feel like some good books that remind me of Sailor Pluto are missing. I couldn’t find the perfect book that conveyed the aloofness or lone warrior of Pluto, or her relationship with Rini, so that really bummed me out.

Don’t forget to check out the other book recommendations:

• Monday | Mercury (Alexa)
• Tuesday | Venus  (Kristin)
• Wednesday | Pluto (Cee)
• Thursday | Saturn (Cristina)
• Friday | Moon (Sierra)

And also, the book tag, our giveaway, and what to expect next!

Now go and get reading.

Who is your favorite Sailor Scout?