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Vanity in Dust

Book Review of Vanity in Dust (Crown & Ash #1), by Cheryl Low

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I won a copy of Cheryl Low‘s Vanity in Dust through Library Thing.

Description from Goodreads:
In the Realm there are whispers. Whispers that the city used to be a different place. That before the Queen ruled there was a sky beyond the clouds and a world beyond their streets. 

Vaun Dray Fen never knew that world. Born a prince without a purpose in a Realm ruled by lavish indulgence, unrelenting greed, and vicious hierarchy, he never knew a time before the Queen’s dust drugged the city. Everything is poisoned to distract and dull the senses, even the tea and pastries. And yet, after more than a century, his own magic is beginning to wake. The beautiful veneer of the Realm is cracking. Those who would defy the Queen turn their eyes to Vaun, and the dust saturating the Realm. 

From the carnivorous pixies in the shadows to the wolves in the streets, Vaun thought he knew all the dangers of his city. But when whispers of treason bring down the fury of the Queen, he’ll have to race to save the lives and souls of those he loves.

Review:
What a lovely cover that is. I wish the book lived up to it. It’s accurate and all, there’s a well-dressed, handsome man and he drinks lots of tea and eats lots of pastries, but I didn’t love the book as I loved the cover. Now, I didn’t hate it. And for most of the rather plodding, slow book I held out hope I’d end it happy. But I did not. Mostly because a very small mystery developed toward the end of the book and it was solved, but the larger mysteries were never even touched on. Not touched on in a way that makes me doubt they’d be solved in a next book or one after that.

I thought the world was interesting. Magic is basically a drug, it suffuses almost every aspect of the wealthy citizens’ lives, making them vapid and useless. And you see this in everything from their attitudes, to their sex to the tea cakes and torts that constitute food. It was a well-drawn world. I thought the writing a little purple, but still good. The pace was very slow, but it was atmospheric and I didn’t mind until I realized it wasn’t going to go anywhere important. So, some really good points for the book, but a few demerits too.

I was annoyed that the one thing that spawned Vaun to action was his affection ( won’t call it love) for a woman. The one woman he previously has never been able to have. I HATE this plot device. You have a man who has sexual access to every woman in the kingdom practically. He’s a man-slut (they all are). But one woman won’t sleep with him. So, she’s THE ONE. So, she sleeps with him. I’m always annoyed by this.

But on a more world-level scale I was not happy with the use of bisexuality. At first I was really thrilled to see that bisexuality seemed to be the norm. But it really was just presented as a way for characters to have more sex (twice as many options for sexual partners, you see), and not explored at all. But what’s more, it was all inferred. Like, the author was willing to allow for it, but not brave enough to show it. Granted, most of the sex was off-page, but there were plenty of ‘waking up in bed together’ scenes and they were all M/F, except one, and I didn’t sense sex had been involved so much as one man coming into the room in the morning to avoid being seen elsewhere. So, it kind of felt like a cheap use of bisexuality, instead of a representation of it. Similarly, if they were all so sexually debaucherous, why was prostitution still so shamed? More so than a child-like woman who trolls the rough side of town for her rape fantasies and is still considered the only “innocent Vym.”

All in all, I had complaints, but I would have rated this quite a bit higher if I felt the overarching mystery was touched on at all, instead of set up to hover over the book like a giant spider and then ignored. I probably will give book two a chance. If it looks like it is going to move the bigger plot along I’ll finish the series. If it remains focused on the smaller dramas, probably not.

The Ravenous

Book Review of The Ravenous, by Amy Lukavics

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I won a copy of Amy Lukavics‘ The Ravenous through Goodreads.

Description:
From the outside, the Cane family looks like they have it all. A successful military father, a loving mother and five beautiful teenage daughters. But on the inside, life isn’t quite so idyllic: the Cane sisters can barely stand each other, their father is always away, and their neglectful mother struggles with addiction and depression. 

When their youngest and most beloved sister, Rose, dies in a tragic accident, Mona Cane and her sisters are devastated. And when she is brought back from the dead, they are relieved. But soon they discover that Rose must eat human flesh to survive, and when their mother abandons them, the sisters will find out just how far they’ll go to keep their family together.

Review:
This wasn’t bad, quite creepy actually, and I appreciated the way Lukavics’ teens weren’t all perfect, stereotypical angels. We had alcoholism and mild drug use and a little sexual diversity. The writing is even pretty good. But it took me forever and a day to finish it. I just never was really invested in it. So, I would read a couple chapters, get bored, pick something else up and then, when I finished that, pick this up for a couple more chapters, before wandering off again. So, not bad, but also not a big winner for me.

Thunder Hunter

Book Review of Thunder Hunter (Viking Soul #1), by Rachel Medhurst

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I won a copy of Rachel Medhurst‘s Thunder Hunter from Audiobook Access. Oddly enough, I already had a kindle copy of it and it’s included in the Bad Magic compilation, which I also happen to have. So, I have three copies of the book somehow.

Description from Goodreads:
A thousand years, that’s how long I’ve been hunting the Fallen Ones that escaped Freya’s field. One hundred and ninety five down, five to go. Just five disgusting evil spirits until I die and Thor’s thunder will be returned to him. Nothing will stand in the way of me completing my mission, not even the woman who claims to be a descendant of Freya. I will kill the next Fallen One, no matter what.

Review:
Well, I did not like that AT ALL. I have rarely come across a ‘hero’ that I liked less than Trigger Thunder Hunter. There was 100% no character development to him except that of horn-dog, sexist misogynist His constant internal dialogue about every woman he saw irritated me beyond bearability. Every waitress, female villain, club-goer and passer-by on the street had to be remarked upon. Even the ones he was actively battling to the death. I swear every single one had a pert bottom or lush lips or a pinched waist and EVERY SINGE ONE threw themselves at him. (Talk about a male gaze, geez!) He was beyond nsufferable. I hated him.

AND Here’s the thing, Trigger is said to have had sex with several of the female descendants of Loci. (You might notice him having sex to be a theme of this review. It sure was of the book.) I know the author meant this like him being so irresistible, having such machismo that any woman would want him, even his enemies. But this makes no sense to me. I could not fathom how women who had been raised since birth to believe a man evil and it their moral duty to kill him could turn around and let their guard down enough to have sex with him. So, the only way I could make the idea of him having sex with the women he turned around and killed make sense was through coercion and/or rape. And once that idea set in, I couldn’t lose it. At one point he had a little black dress from a past lover/victim in his home to lend out. But it had also been made abundantly clear that he didn’t ever bring anyone home. So, did he have sex with her, kill her and then bring the dress home as some sort of macob trophy?

Honestly, even if he isn’t a rapist (which in my mind he must be), what sort of man repeatedly, even regularly has sex with women he plans to kill when he’s finished? Not a good one, which might be fine, as the Thunder Hunter is meant to be an antihero, but he sure isn’t one I’m interested in reading about. And I was so sick of his constant commentary on women that I wanted to slap him and the author for writing him. Plus, there was just too little story around his apparent sexual irresistibility.

And just in case anyone has made the mistake of thinking this a romance, give that idea up now. It is not. The only people he was shown actually having sex with were randos in the club while he treated the female main character abominably over and over and over again.

There is just SO much sexism in this book. The whole thing is just steeped in it, and since it’s written by a woman it felt a lot like internalized misogyny to me. Should we expect to be looked at as objects that men can give out as gifts? As I hinted above with Trigger’s very male gaze, ever single women was present solely in sexual context. Even random ones like a waitresses and secretaries. What’s more Trigger, written as THE MAN is shown as so full of himself and arrogant that even goddesses kneel at his feet. What chance have mere mortal women, who must be less than him, have? I absolutely had to force myself to finish this book.

Then there is the 220-year-old virgin girl. 220-years-old and the most important things about her are that she’s small, cute, naive and innocent. Sorry, what? 220-years-old and you expect me to believe she basically hasn’t lived. What’s she supposed to have been doing for 220 years to stay so innocent and ignorant?

Then there is the uncomfortable treatment of queerness. A man who was clearly and openly bi sexual is repeatedly referred to in ways such as having a “confused sexuality.” There is more than one such comment. Trigger seems ok being hit on by men, but it’s always with a sense of making fun of the person attracted to him. There is lesbian sex directed by a man solely for the benefit of a male viewer. It all very very uncomfortable, but it’s supposed to be titillating and dark.

Less egregious than all that were the annoying flashbacks and the way information just happened to fall in Trigger’s lap just when he needed it.

Lastly, the narrator was completely wrong, or at least his portrayal of Trigger was. Trigger was Scandinavian, but Ian Fisher played him a very English. True, Trigger lived in London, but he’s not a Londoner. The very same thing could be said for Chloe, the female side character, she’s Scandinavian but played as English (even when she’s teased for sounding American). This I think is more a reflection of the author choosing the wrong narrator, than him doing a poor job. Because honestly he did a fine job with the actual narration. 

All in all, I very much disliked this book and have no desire to continue the series. The writing itself is mechanically fine, but I’m not interested in subjecting myself to more.