April

Very satisfying end to an excellent trilogy and a great book in its own right. Pen and Mark fall in love, and the mystery is wrapped up. My review has spoilers for the first two books, but I avoided spoilers for this one.

My cis opinion on the trans representation here: I read Pen as genderqueer and genderfluid. He never feels like a man or a woman, and his feelings about his gender presentation also change between days. He experiences gender dysphoria when people see him as male or female, and he dresses as he wants to be seen. So, he's happy as a trapeze artist, but he won't be able to live as himself if he becomes earl. Because earls are all men, people will see him as a man, and because the nobility are always under public scrutiny, he can't continue to rebel against gender norms. He is also attracted to men, and knows he'll have to ignore that part of himself as well.

One of my favorite things about this book is that Pen is quite selfish. He likes being adored, and although he does come to love Mark for who he is, he's drawn to Mark at first because Mark is drawn to him. Mark calls him brave more than once, sometimes in relation to his gender, and he is brave. But he isn't meant to be a lesson in bravery for cis people. He has to protect himself, and he isn't saintly. We know from the first two books that Pen needs to accept the earldom in order for Clem to keep his livelihood, and Justin and Nathaniel face danger because Pen has stayed hidden. So, the plot of Pen being reluctant to become earl doesn't work unless he's selfish. He does have probably the best imaginable reason to reject the earldom, but any reader reaching this point in the trilogy knows exactly what's at stake if he does that; Mark certainly does. All of this creates a very believable conflict between Mark and Pen.

Mark is also a great character. I was expecting more background about his mother, but she's only mentioned a few times. Having an anarchist for a parent turned Mark into a very practical man, because in his opinion, someone in the family needed to have their feet on the ground. He is bi/pan, and his orientation is pretty close to my own - he's attracted to certain traits in people and never concerned about gender. So I can say that this book works for me as great bi/pan representation. He doesn't struggle with accepting Pen's gender, although he has only encountered binary trans people before meeting Pen, so he does need to learn some things.

Mark's disability is also an important part of who he is, and he's modified his life to accommodate having one arm. The book sets up a parallel between Pen's gender and Mark's disability without making it seem like Pen's gender is itself a negative trait, because Mark mostly sees his own disability as a way that he's different from most people, rather than as a difficulty.

Overall I love this pairing - they have a major conflict, which we saw happen at the end of book two, but when they reunite, it's very romantic. At that point in the story, Pen really needs someone he can trust, and Mark is so solid and reliable. They laugh a lot in bed almost from the beginning, which is very funny and sweet. Clem and Rowley are still my favorite pairing from this trilogy, but Pen and Mark's bond is so natural and loving. I totally believe in their happy ending.

So, the mystery! I had no idea who the killer was until very far into the book. I think that's amazing for a three-part series. I suspected literally everyone, even the heroes from the other books! I also could not figure out how Pen and Mark were going to find happiness, but they do. So it's an exciting book, definitely gripping. There's also a nice side pairing, which I won't spoil, and all of the major characters from the previous books make appearances. Clem and Justin both play important roles, in ways that are completely fitting for them.

I don't know what's next for KJ Charles, but I'm looking forward to finding out. She amazes me every time. I also think she's elevated the whole genre by consistently writing inclusive books, and doing it so well.

If you liked Spellbound, you'll enjoy this too! I love these two together, and this plot is intriguing. The romance is in a great place at the end of the book, but aspects of the other plots remain unresolved, as they did at the end of Spellbound. I look forward to the third book.

This was a really enjoyable read. I'm not going to rate it because it's nothing I'm used to reading at all, but I want to give it 5/5.

It's in first person, in a teenage boy's PoV, and his voice is very distinct, as is his uncle's. If you've seen the movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople, you already have the basic premise here, but the plot of the book and movie are a little different. I liked both and recommend them. I do think the book is worth reading, whether you've seen the movie or not. I'm not really an adventurous person, but reading this did make me want to live in the wilderness too. I can't say adventure fiction usually has that effect on me.

I enjoyed this mystery a lot, and I'll probably continue with the series soon. Ian Rutledge is solving a difficult mystery in a quiet English village, while also trying to figure out how to live with the emotional scars of his WWI service.

I like the writing style, which is straightforward, yet gives a good sense of the setting. I didn't really feel it was a hundred years ago, but that isn't necessarily a criticism. There are a number of great characters, including several interesting female characters. The main character does not have a romance plot at all, and I enjoyed that, as a change of pace for me. In the course of solving the mystery, Ian uncovers all the other secrets of the villagers' lives. I felt emotionally invested in these plots, and none of them were boring.

The mystery's actual solution seems a little bit far-fetched and almost hokey. On the other hand, the concept of the unwanted voice in Ian's head prepares the reader for what's going on with the killer. On the third hand, I strongly dislike demonization of mental illness.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Samuel Giles, and I thought he was great. I especially liked the way that he did Hamish's voice, with a sort of bullying smugness that drove home just how much of a burden he was on Ian.

I mostly enjoyed this slightly unusual fantasy novel, although I do have some criticisms. The audiobook kept my attention pretty easily for nearly 18 hours. Since I don't have a copy of the ebook or paperback, I apologize for my inevitable spelling mistakes with proper nouns. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers.

This book would make a great movie or TV show. It has a good amount of humor; although some of it is dated cultural references like “the cake is a lie,” some of the in-universe jokes made me laugh. Beyond that, it's very cinematic. The author is talented at creating original metaphors, though, which would be lost in a different format. I didn't find the book as funny as Terry Pratchett, nor are there insightful observations about human nature. But Eames's writing style is generally clever and I liked it.

The story moves along at a fast pace, and the characters have a lot of adventures. There's a primary plot and then side plots, mostly dealing with each character's family and/or backstory. For the first third of this book, I was on the fence about continuing. But somewhere around the time when they had to fight in the arena, I started caring a lot about the characters.

All of the main characters are male, although there are some important female characters. I really didn't like the plotline of the most prominent female character, Larkspur. Part of her power is a sexual allure that makes men (I noticed no lesbian/bi women in this world) do her bidding. She's also a fabulous fighter, so I don't think the sexual allure ability was even necessary. But it needed more exploration than it got, because it's such a sexist trope. Or she could've had a mind-control power that had nothing to do with sexual attraction, like the ability to convince people to help her in whatever way she needed. I had problems with some of the other female characters, also, and with the male-gaze-y way they were always introduced.

In general, I think I would've liked this book better with multiple points of view. I don't often read books narrated by lone cishet white male characters because I personally have trouble immersing myself in that PoV. I'm not saying these books have no value or even that there should be fewer books of this kind, just that it's not my personal preference as a reader, particularly when I'm supposed to identify only with that character. But this book has more depth than that; Clay is not meant to be a generic “everyman,” although I do think the reader is usually supposed to sympathize with his reactions. He has his own problems, though, and his own character arc. The author is also very good at showing us all the characters' reactions to different situations.

Minor spoiler Here's Clay's description of a different important female character:"...and the fact that she fought like a Cascar berserker who'd walked in on her husband in bed with her sister."I think it shows a lot that Clay and/or the author described a female warrior's strength this way.

I wanted to read this book partly because I saw some one-star reviews complaining about the existence of a gay character. So I was primed to like that character, Moog, and I did! He's not flawless, either, although he is a completely good man. He is immature and nerdy, and he's the character out of this bunch I'd most want to adventure with myself. I also really liked his close friendship with Matrick. Kit was my second-favorite character, and I would've liked to see more of him.

Overall, I think if I were a different person, this would be one of my all-time favorite books. I did like it, though, and I will read the next book, which the author says will be about Rose. I'm really curious to see how that works out and if some of the qualities that make me uncomfortable about this book will still be present.

If you like RPGs, especially Bioware-type games, I think you'd probably like this. It isn't really in the same vein as Terry Pratchett, although I see why Pratchett fans might like it. I'll definitely recommend it to epic fantasy readers.