LRRC Week 7
The list of Nebula Award nominees came out yesterday. I haven't looked at them yet, but probably expect to see some of them on this blog eventually. Also, if you like books, I'm working on a not-very-secret book-related project.
Onto this week's reads! It's super cool that this week they're both queer ownvoices works!
#13: WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE by Tehlor Kay Mejia
I’ve been hearing some buzz for this story over the past couple of months, and it did not disappoint.
[Content warning: some allusive threats of sexual assault.]
Basically an f/f rivals to lovers sister-wives-esque situation, with a ton of very good pining - what’s not to like about this? Also, the book was written by and stars women of colour.
It’s also a story about resistance, which comes out in some very unsubtle ways. Much of the tension of the story revolves around a border meant to keep out “undesirable” people — can’t think of where I’ve heard that one before.
All in all, I really liked the characters, I liked how their development happened, and I was definitely super invested in the romance, even if certain plot twists did seem kind of obvious.
I have two mild criticisms that didn’t massively impede my enjoyment of the book, but were things to note. The first is just that the ending felt very abrupt. This is probably partially to set things up for book 2, which I am very excited for, but did just leave me feeling a bit odd.
The other criticism is that there is kind of an odd tension happening with the designated “resistance” force that I genuinely wasn’t sure what to make of. It rides a bit of a weird line between “resistance to fascism requires radical action” and “both sides are bad,” and by the end of the novel, I wasn’t sure what conclusion I was meant to have come to.
I think generally, the author was going for a complex analysis of how fighting for what’s right isn’t always easy, or pretty, or clean, which is an important note to hit, especially in a fantasy novel, which can obscure complexity. However, I’m not sure that this was quite achieved — especially because I ended up disliking the main resistance character and thinking he behaved a bit predatorily towards the main character.
In summary, though, if you’re looking for a political f/f story, I recommend this, and, like I said, am really excited to read the next in the series.
#14: THE LAST SUN by K.D. Edwards
Hmm okay.
I’m a bit on the fence about this book, to be honest.
[Content warning: book contains semi-graphic description of sexual assault — the event happened in the past, but gets discussed at length multiple times.]
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with it, I just struggled to get invested in the story and the world.
Which is frustrating! I really wanted to like this one!
It’s a fantasy m/m written by a queer man, so yay, ownvoices. It’s also got a really interesting worldbuilding set up with different houses and corresponding sets of powers - I’m into all this!
Some of my disconnect came from the worldbuilding, which I found to be a little confusing. This is DEFINITELY a book where I could have benefitted from a glossary — you know, one of those laid out ones with each house and who’s in it and maybe even what their powers are? I needed something to help me keep track of who was related to whom.
I also found it a bit odd and unsettling that this book takes place in, I think, an alternate future of our world. It’s very disconcerting to be reading a book in a setting that is almost completely alien, and then to suddenly have a character reference Darth Vader. I never quite got over this shock.
Also, the houses are based off of the Arcana from Tarot cards. I know very little about Tarot, so I won’t comment on that, but having them also be paired with various Catholic Saints (i.e. the characters from the Lovers have the surname Saint Valentine) was a little bit odd. I ended up wanting to know way more about how this set-up came to be than anything in the actual plot.
Oh, and there’s also no female characters? Like, I get this is m/m and that the romantic relationships are important, but…the only two of any importance are a) a victim b) a housekeeper. I’d ding an unqueer book for this so I’m dinging this one, too.
Like I said, the world was interesting, and I thought the characters were fine, it just didn’t grab me. I may check out the other books in this series, because I am a little curious to know what happens, but it’s not gonna be a top priority.
NEXT WEEK'S AGENDA
#15: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
#16: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates