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Ascension

Book Review of Ascension (The Demon Hunters, #1), by A.S. Fenichel

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AscensionI picked up a copy of A. S. Fenichel‘s Ascension from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
When demons threaten London, Lady Belinda answers the call.

Lord Gabriel Thurston returns home from war to find his fiancée is not the sweet young girl he left behind. She’s grown into a mysterious woman who guards her dark secrets well. When he sees her sneaking away from a ball, he’s convinced it’s for a lover’s rendezvous. Following her to London’s slums, Gabriel watches in horror as his fiancée ruthlessly slay a man.

Lady Belinda Carlisle’s only concern was her dress for the next ball—until demons nearly killed her and changed everything. A lady by day, and a demon hunter by night, she knows where her duty lies. Ending her betrothal is the best way to protect Gabriel from death by a demon’s hand.

Gabriel soon realizes, like him, Belinda has been fighting for her country. He joins in the fight, determined to show her that their love can endure, stronger than ever.

Review:
I will warn you in advance that this ‘review’ is going to be at least half rant, and not of the fangirl variety.

For me this book was a fail, fail, fail. It is so completely anachronistic as to be all but unreadable. Honestly, the only reason I made it to the end (and it was often in doubt that I would) was so that I could write a complete review of it.

Lets start with the sex, shall we, since there was so much more than the plot could reasonably support. It was a painful exercise in contradictions. You had the expected wide-eyed, innocent virgin who asked some version of ‘what was that?’ when she had an orgasm and inquires if a man’s will too—so, essentially the cliché, child-like lack of knowledge about her own body. Gag. But she also acknowledged and was familiar with the feelings in her stomach and loins, the pooling of heat, bla, bla, bla (this tended to happen randomly and in completely non-erotic settings, such that it felt quite jarring) and she was completely without shame, embarrassment or timidity when it came to sex. I’m pretty sure a character needs to be one or the other, both doesn’t jell.

Or how about the nude, outdoor anal play, instigated by her, on their second time together. Let me remind you, this was an unmarried, virginal member of the ton in Regency England. Even if she was a member of the Company and had accepted the equal status of men and women therein (which, lets face it, couldn’t actually exist in Regency England, as it would require an entire unlearning and relearning of gender and class norms of the time) there was still nothing in her position and upbringing that would allow that to occur with complete aplomb.

Nor his for that matter, there was no reason to think he, who’d also been raised in the same sexually repressed era, would look at his virginal (ok, they’d had sex once) fiancé and think nothing of (and expect her to think nothing of) shoving a finger up her ass. Seriously!

And even if you remove all of the issues around the time period’s insistence on avoiding temptation of all sorts (which means all of her comfort with being naked in front of him was questionable) there is still the simple human issue of doing something new and theoretically unfamiliar for the first time. Shouldn’t she be nervous or uncertain in her responses or concerned with her reputation (we’re both told and shown that she tries to maintain it outside of the Company)? Nope, not even once. Not even when (I assume) he broke through her hymn. (Not that that was mentioned or anything, wouldn’t want any realism to interfere or anything.)

And someone explain to me how her willingness to have sex with him proved to him that she hadn’t allowed herself to “be ruined” during his time in France. I don’t follow the logic.

I’m sorry author, you simply can’t write a novel with period costumes and setting but modern mores and expect it to fly. No, nope not at all. It’s painful and off-putting, to say it nicely.

Additionally, the attempt at period dialogue simply read as stiff and overly formal. Names and endearments, such as My Dear, were used too frequently and the lack of contractions chaffed. The writing itself is simplistic and not particular engaging.

Ok, so, moving past the simple fact that this book did not settle into the time period of it’s setting and thus felt arrogant and as if it was making claims moral superior, the plot itself was weak. There was little character development and the plot basically boiled down to, ‘you’ve been told Belinda is the best at everything, so obviously the demons want her.’ All that sex and relationship talk (which is about 2/3 of the book) got in the way of what little plot progression there was. And what there was was incredibly predictable.

The book was also repetitive. The reader is told the same thing multiple times and I swear Gabriel and Belinda had the marriage talk about 30 times. Lastly, the editing could use some attention.

Just about the only praise I have for this book is that Gabriel was really sweet and the author was obviously trying to create a strong female character (a fact that I appreciate).

Karen Memory

Book Review of Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear

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Karen MemortI picked up a copy of Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear at my local library (basically because I adored the cover).

Description from Goodreads:
“You ain’t gonna like what I have to tell you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery, like memory only spelt with an e, and I’m one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity Street. Hôtel has a little hat over the o like that. It’s French, so Beatrice tells me.”

Set in the late 19th century—when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen is a young woman on her own, is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable’s high-quality bordello. Through Karen’s eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, begging sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyone’s mind and control their actions.  And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.

Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper yarn of the old west with a light touch in Karen’s own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science.

Review:
This was a really quite enjoyable Wild West, Steampunk, Mystery Adventure. Yep, all those things. The narrator, Karen, has a very distinct, first person voice and I appreciated that the book even came around at the end and gave a reason for the first person narration. That’s balm to my soul that. It’s a pet peeve of mine to read first person POV and not know why I’m ‘being told the story.’

The book is also wonderfully diverse. There are characters of different races, nationalities, sexualities, and abilities. Several have prosthetic limbs, one blithely keeps a ‘pecker’ under her dress and several, despite being sorely uneducated, are still quite clever. It’s a quite endearing mix. I enjoyed this aspect of the book quite a lot. Probably just as much as I adored the fact that this is sewing machine mecha (just stop and imagine that for a moment) and that there are men and women working together without any underlying sexual tension. How rare is that?

However, I found the book quite slow. Plenty of action happens, but Karen’s narrative style means that it is all just sort of relayed to the reader in a somewhat flat manner. It mutes some of the effect, I think. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the way that same narrative tone highlighted her pragmatism about her profession and position. So, this was a bit of a double-edged sword. But it did mean there where times I found picking the book back up a bit of a chore.

Additionally, there are more than a few convenient coincidences that allow the plot to progress. Like meeting an airship pilot just hours before the characters suddenly had need of an airship. It felt contrived.

Despite my few complaints, I basically really enjoyed the characters and therefore their story. (I should probably note, just for accuracy’s sake, that the book’s description calls it a “Jack the Ripper yarn,” but other than murdering prostitutes it doesn’t have anything to do with that Jack. I might have accepted Jack the Ripper-like, but it’s not a “Jack the Ripper yarn.”)

Misfits

Book Review of Misfits, by Garrett Leigh

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MisfitsI received a copy of Misfits (by Garett Leigh) from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Restaurant owner Tom Fearnes has loved his partner Cass for as long as he can remember, but their work often keeps them apart. When he meets a striking young man named Jake on the vibrant streets of Camden Town, their heady first encounter takes an unexpected turn.

Jake Thompson can hardly believe his luck when he wakes up in Tom’s bed. Tom is gorgeous, kind, and . . . taken. Tom’s explanation of his open relationship leaves Jake cold, but Tom is too tempting, and when hard times force Jake to accept Tom’s helping hand, he finds himself between two men who’ve lost their way. 

Cass Pearson is a troubled soul. He loves Tom with all he has, but some days it feels like he hasn’t much to give. Jake seems like the perfect solution. Cass risks everything to push Jake and Tom together, but Jake resists, wary, until the darkness of Cass’s past comes to call. Then Jake finds himself the last man standing, and it’s time to dig deep and shine a light for the men he’s grown to love.

Review:   (slightly Spoilerish)
This is one of those novels I finished feeling quite conflicted about. It’s well written and, without a doubt, it’s very sweet, with relatively low angst and some satisfying sex scenes. So, in terms of feel good factor it scores high. But it fell perilously close to a ‘let’s all learn to accept and understand people with turrets syndrom’ PSA (it starts in with the TS infodrop/lecture conversations very early on) and it’s so far out in fantasy la-la land that I couldn’t at all relate to the characters or their situation.

It’s not that I have any problem accepting the idea of a stable, loving three-way relationship. I don’t and here again, it’s a very very sweet one. But these three men are each painfully earnest Marty Stues who (with the exception of Cass’ single issue) all openly communicate and revel in their mutual sacrifice and worship of one another.

Tom and Cass have been together for a decade and not once do either of them worry that bringing a third into it (the relationship, not just the sex) for the first, and presumably only time will disrupt the balance in any way. Not once does anyone get jealous of diverted attention. Not once is anyone embarrassed as they get to know each other, even with all Jake’s tics. Not once does Jake really balk at the idea of it all. It’s all just far too easy to be believable. There simply isn’t any struggle or apparent adjusting.

It also felt skewed. Eventually, the three men were meant to have settled into an equal relationship, but this is compromised by the unequal time given to each one’s POV. We get almost nothing from Cass and roughly twice as much from Tom as Jake. To me, it left Cass feeling like little more than the object Tom decides to magnanimously share with Jake, even though that’s not how it’s meant to read.

I was also a little put off by how much of the whole thing was only possible because Tom and Cass had the finances to make it so. Despite Tom being 30 and Cass 28, they are successful businessmen and restaurateurs. Tom could afford to hire Jake on a whim, allowing them to get to know each other. Tom and Cass could afford to own several properties in and around LONDON, allowing the space and time apart needed. They could afford to provide each employee a free meal everyday and open food banks and soup kitchens to feed the homeless, proving (repeatedly, like mallet to the mind) what good guys they are. They could afford to allow an unknown young man decision-making control of a new business and even to eventually give him the million dollarish (as they had to buy a building in London, hire architects to design it, builders to remodel it, interior decorators, and advertising companies. Then they had to incorporate, purchase restaurant equipment, furnishings, dishware, product, etc. Each was mentioned and it adds up) business to ensure he feels secure in their less than a year old, unconventional relationship. Sure, it’s sweet (’cause wouldn’t want to forget what good men they are) but how realistic is any of that?

All in all, it was a sweet read, especially seeing Cass and Jake get to know one another, and I enjoyed that aspect of it, but I would have enjoyed the book a bit more if it had been a little less removed from reality.