Jack

It's always hard to review a short story, because they're fundamentally different to novels. Regardless, The Yellow Wallpaper is an incredibly solid horror experience.

This is my second time reading it, and it's just as good (maybe better) as the first time.

I adore the vivid descriptions of the maddening twists and turns of the patterned wallpaper. Of the nonsensical twists and turns, and the swirls that go “round and round and round and round and round” (favourite part).

It's a brilliant social commentary that's still relevant today, done in a captivating and creepy way.

It's really not that big of a commitment to read, due to its shortness, so there's not really an excuse not to. I'd say a really solid potential entry into classic texts too.

Before writing this up, I'd like to encourage particular people whom I might know IRL, not to continue reading this coughcough.

When I came into this book, I was pretty much here for the role reversal element. I didn't really care about the fantasy part, and yet hilariously, it was what drove me from it the most. Maybe I've been spoiled a bit by Martha Wells, but I couldn't stop noticing how much of the world building just didn't work. The world this book takes place in functions so much like our own, that it doesn't make sense; there's a reason our complicated history resulted in our modern world, and not a medieval fantasy one.

The authors voice occasionally seeps into the narrative voice, with narration more belonging on Ao3 than a published work, one line that has stuck in mind is: “A robin yells loudly at them from a branch near the road, because how dare they...” which just reads as really immersion breaking.

Lucian is just so poorly thought out from the ex-cult member perspective. Immediately accepting of queer folk, and barely any inner turmoil regarding anything other than his boners. It would've been nice to see him deal more thoroughly with his upbringing, and make his relationships with those different from him feel both earned, and perhaps add some complexity and tension to them as well. I would also make a point about his naïveté feeling somewhat inconsistent, as he ranges from incredibly shy to witty through the book, all while we never get to see that development truly take place, and kinda just have to assume it as a product of time.

Glory is fine, generally speaking. I saw some comments about how her muscular nature reduces the point of her being a woman, to which I say, muscular women exist. So... huh? One thing that irked me, was it felt very hard to believe that her job was that dangerous. It didn't even need many action scenes, perhaps just a few where Lucian sees her having nightmares or something. Anything to insinuate that she has buried trauma as someone whose job involves death.

Some of the relationship writing just felt plain old bad. There's one part where Glory tells Lucian a dark secret or some such, and then instead of the author taking the opportunity for these two to bond, makes Glory ask after a secret in return instead of Lucian volunteering it himself. That was just really bad imho.

To those who proclaim this to be masked “sissy porn”, I'd say that that is more of a reflection on your opinions on men who don't fit the traditional mould that society pushes on them, and honestly? Screw you. Lucian's only similarity to a ‘sissy' is that he's meek. Calling meek men ‘sissies' doesn't make you socially aware, it just makes you the homophobic bully from a high school movie set in the 90s. I don't consider myself to be a ‘pathetic' man simply because I'm not some initiative taking, fight-clubbing, entrepreneur or something. I'm just living my life, and yeah, I kinda like imagining a strong woman swooping me off my feet. Sue me, I suppose. How about you go back to the many, many, romance books that do fit those expectations instead of coming to one that very clearly aims to subvert those tropes and trying to restrict that genre into what you want it to be when you already have so many more options than anyone who is into this sorta relationship.

I think to round this off: the book was fun, but a mix of poor pacing, lacklustre plot, a shallow world, and uncomplex characters, stunted the potential of this book massively. I couldn't tell if the story needed to be longer, or shorter, but I'd lean on former.

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Slight edit. I've begun reading “Legends & Lattes” and I think I've realised that the issues I had specifically revolving around world-building, are actually a staple of the genre.

What genre? I think this is trying to be a “Romantasy/Cozy Fantasy” book, so that's what I'll say.

I still take issues with the other elements, but considering that my disappointment for the lack of worldbuilding was actually genre illiteracy, it seems unfair to give it 1/5.