This novel is the first thing we've gotten from the new BL publishing company Iris Print. This book takes place in a future where most technology was lost and people are living in an ice age. The setting is the backwoods town of Moline. David is a young man who starts to fall for the new healer sent to the town. Callan is more learned and cultured than David, but he somehow sees the strength of his character and grows to love him.
“I mean it. I can tell about people, whether they are book people or not, And you are. I trust you. Go on, take one.” His slender hand traced enticingly over the spines of the books. All older than Grandmam, likely. It would be worth a fortune in the cities, this collection.
Well, of course. Fantasy novel main characters are always more into books than the average member of their society.
Initially, the book did draw me in. It's clear that the author thought a lot about daily life in her world setting. She evokes a strong feeling for the agrarian life of her characters. Each of the characters has a distinct and well expressed personality. You can tell that the author really thinks about the world setting and how her characters interact with it. We see the main character’s reflections on the world around him regularly. This really helps to set up his character. For the first couple of chapters I was very impressed with this book.
Though a fantasy in an alternate world setting, it gets bogged down in the same issues that most American gay lit does. The culture is grounded in Judeo-Christian beliefs. Once the plot got rolling it was hard to keep my brain engaged. It was all too familiar. My brain wanted to turn off the way it does when I'm watching a TV episode I've seen before. Whether it's gayness, or anything else, the oppression of that particular backdrop has been done to death. There is also a ‘coming out story’ element to this book. Again, the déjà vu is overwhelming. To me, one of the appealing things about BL and about fantasy is to not be reading these same themes over and over.
The ‘fantasy’ and ‘future’ elements just feel like seasoning to what would otherwise could be a period piece. For all that it's 'the future' it is very much like an early American society. It doesn't feel like fantasy. There are dragons, I expected fantasy.
As the book gets farther along, it gets even weaker. The action scenes (as in fighting, not screwing) are not clearly described. Also, some of the characters start acting strangely near the climax. The plot climax, I mean. Anyway, David starts to think things like ‘There is a guy 20 feet from us who wants to kill us. Let's have sex and fall asleep.’ and ‘Oh, and hey, my world's collapsed but that is no reason to not think clearly.’
Apparently, the only books that survive to the future are the same books I pretended to read in high school. While the author doesn’t spend too much time talking about David reading the books Callan lends him, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was missing something. Was there something beyond the obvious in Callan giving David Crime and Punishment? Some subtler message that I would have grasped if I’d actually read it? I will never know. All Feodor Dostoevsky and Mark Twain evoke for me is staring blankly at quizzes.
The story is told from David’s point of view. Expect the narration to be rampantly ungrammatical. The lack of grammar suit’s the book, though. The conversational writing style is generally clear and flows well.
His hand caught mine as I was moving away, and he pulled me to him. “And I need you, it seems. I never thought I’d need anyone, not like this. Want, yes. Love, oh, yes. I wanted to love and be loved, but to need someone, to be dependant on them and to know that the world is only right when they’re in it, that was something I’ve never desired. It scares me.”
While we do get some sweet moments, this is not exactly a true love conquers all tale. The sex is painfully softcore. The plot does not fully resolve. The real enemy is undefeated. I am used to a lack of resolution in Japanese manga. In an American work I do expect more resolution. The motivations of the bad guys and how the dragons came to be is never made clear.
Author: R. W. Day
Warnings: None
Disclosure: This was a free review copy from Iris Print.
