Quality 5.0 / 5.0 (highly recommended)
Gay Inclusive? Slightly – One mention of a minor gay character
Gay positive? Very – I love how the gay content is handled

Unusually, in this case I think the sequel outdoes the first book, though it’s close. The sheer creativity, wit and cleverness in this book combined with the engaging writing style make this a pleasure to read.

The novel is a mystery or crime drama, set in an alternate reality where Dodos have been re-created and people travel internationally by means of Gravitubes that go through the center of the earth. A branch of the government deals specifically in time-travel-related crimes.

And, most importantly, books have their own reality, and it’s possible for characters from, say, “Great Expectations” to enter the “real” world of the novel, and for the protagonist Thursday Next to travel into works like “Jane Eyre” or Poe’s “The Raven.” Hence Miss Havisham from “Great Expectations” is actually a major character in Fforde’s novel.

Someone is trying to kill protagonist Thursday Next by using coincidences. Yes, you read right. Death by coincidence. Fforde injects a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor into his work, and there are several laugh-out-loud moments along the way.

The main weakness to the novel is the pacing and plotting – what is ostensibly the main plot seems to take a backseat to the many subplots, so it sometimes feels like the story is just drifting. I enjoyed reading this novel, but I didn’t find myself reading it breakfast, lunch, and dinner as I do when a book is totally gripping. Still, this is a minor complaint on my part, given that the characters are likable, the humor agreeable, and the ideas engaging, and I award the novel high scores in the “Quality” category.

As to the gay stuff…. the author mentions once that the Thursday’s brother (named Joffy, a minister in the Global Standard Deity Church) is gay, including a reference to Joffy’s boyfriend. The scene is a delightful riff, as Joffy and his boyfriend must keep their relationship secret because the boyfriend’s employer looks down on its employees associating with… clergymen. This is the only gay content in the whole book (hence the very low rating in that category), but I love the way it’s handled, so I give it full marks on the positivity scale.

Overall 3.5 / 5.0 (promising but fails to deliver a high-impact story)
Gay Inclusive? Very – protagonist is gay, and the mystery takes him into London’s 18th Century gay underworld
Gay Positive? Mostly – the era is definitely not gay positive, but the author’s treatment of the gay content is.

Set in 1757, Lord John Grey is the head of his family’s household until his elder brother Hal returns from a military appointment abroad. As a result, Grey has some responsibility to protect his cousin Olivia, who is engaged to marry well-to-do merchant Joseph Trevelyan, whom Grey believes to be “poxed” with syphilis. At that time in history, syphilis occupied the role HIV/AIDS does today. Worse, in fact: it was incurable, and contracting the illness virtually guaranteed the most unpleasant sort of death.

Meanwhile, another mystery erupts: it appears that vital British state secrets have been lost and might be sold to the French. Grey is tasked with investigating the crime to figure out what happened, who was involved and how to recover the lost secrets before it’s too late.

I enjoyed reading a gay-inclusive mystery set in a period of time about which I know little. Author Diana Gabaldon has done her research (in fact, she is well-known for her historical research), and I learned quite a bit about the history of gay people in Georgian England. She also includes a list of resources for anyone who wants to dig deeper and learn more.

The mystery is mildly interesting, but unfortunately fails to captivate. I was never sufficiently invested in the characters or events such that the story’s twists would have me on the edge of my seat.

Although generally sympathetic, the main character never comes alive. Apparently Lord John is supposed to be young and handsome, but he reads like he’s 60. Whenever his handsomeness was mentioned, it was always kind of jarring, because I had forgotten he was supposed to be young and winsome. That indicates a characterization disconnect.

Lord John is a secondary character from Gabaldon’s better know Outlander series (which I have never read). Reviewer Susan Scribner of TheRomanceReader.com comments,

I like Lord John throughout the Outlander series he has always come across as sympathetic, complex and slightly tormented, but this story doesn’t shed much new light on his core character. He’s always been a bit of an enigma, and he remains elusive.

That’s problematic when Grey is at the center of the story and occupies nearly every page of the tale. Considering Gabaldon’s exquisite attention to historical detail, I would expect a multilayered character of depth and unexpected internal contradictions. Instead, we find someone who is genteel and devoted to duty, and that’s about it. Even his gayness, which he must keep secret given the social mores of the time period, fails to render him more than mildly interesting.

At the same time, the story hints at repressed passions and an undercurrent of powerful emotions. Perhaps future stories will allow Lord John to unfold more fully as a human being caught in multiple traps: the repressive social standards of the era, the excruciating necessity of maintaining a pristine image in his social class and the painful denial of a loving, committed relationship.

In fact, I was dying for Grey to get some action! I hoped his new valet, Tom Byrd, would develop a requited attraction to his master. But no. Nothing. The most important romance in the novel – which the reader doesn’t really delve into until the end – is heterosexual.

On the whole, I find this book to be promising, but little else. I hope that Gabaldon grows into this genre, and that future volumes chronicling Lord John Grey do him justice.

Overall Quality 4.0 / 5.0 (entertaining, if light, read)
Gay Inclusive? Moderately – two secondary gay characters
Gay Positive? Very – both characters are well-rounded and important to the story

Okay, yeah, I have to admit – the plot is nothing new. Mysterious Monster Makes Mayhem; Sassy Star Saves the Day.

Specifically, the vampires are up to no good – a newly made vampire possessed by a demon begins wrecking havoc on the Mercy Thompson’s small community. It’s up to her, along with her werewolf allies and lone vampire friend, to figure out what’s going on and put a stop to it.

Once again, with textured characters and a involving alternate world, the author brings the story to life. It says a lot about the characters when they each have their own minor concerns that almost rival the main story for interest.

For example, Mercy’s gay werewolf cowboy friend (whew!) Warren returns. At one point, he’s wounded by the Big Bad of the story; and certain members of his pack – sensing weakness in a guy they never really cared for because he’s gay – try to take advantage to knock Warren from his position in the pack. It’s a relatively minor thread, but the relationships (good and bad) that exist between these characters possess a vitality that keeps me turning pages as fast as I can.

On the other hand, the fact that subplots nearly eclipse the main story doesn’t speak well of the main story. Considering Briggs’ inventiveness in her world-building, it’s a bit of a let-down to find the central plot to be relatively formulaic.

Nevertheless, Blood Bound was an immensely entertaining and enjoyable read with an exciting climax and meaty denouement (an improvement over the first book’s conclusion). A great read for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

——————-

See also my review of the first Mercy Thompson book, Moon Called.

Overall Quality 4.5 / 5.0 (fun, engaging story)
Gay Inclusive? Moderately – two secondary (but important) gay characters
Gay Positive? Very – both characters are well-rounded and fully fleshed-out

A supernatural (or urban fantasy) mystery adventure. Mercy Thompson is a sassy, free-spirited, and no-nonsense walker – that is, a shapeshifter who can transform easily from human to coyote, thanks to her Native American heritage. She lives in a world shared by werewolves, vampires, witches, and the fae (fairy spirits, ranging from gremlins to ogres to mythological monsters).

She has an uneasy but generally congenial relationship with the werewolf pack next door. In fact, she finds herself torn between the pack’s Alpha (Adam), and a former werewolf flame (Samuel). The romantic triangle is not resolved in this book – in fact, it’s not resolved until the end of Book 3.

The romance takes second place to the main story – a mysterious attack on Adam’s pack that leaves Adam on the verge of death and his (human) daughter Jesse kidnapped. Who would perpetrate such an attack? And why?

Briggs brings a lot of strengths to the book, including great characterizaton and a well-conceived alternate universe in which magic and supernatural creatures are real. The world-building (seeing how the supernatural elements fit into the “real” world) was just as interesting to me as the main plot. Briggs even manages to work a little social commentary into her world-building. The fae, for example, have recently been outed to the public, and most of them have been moved onto reservations.

Gay-wise, Adam’s pack includes a gay werewolf named Warren (who was a cowboy before he was turned), and his boyfriend Kyle. They are close friends of mercy’s, and both of them are sensible and helpful fellows with meaty parts in all three books.

A brief explanation why I included the negative stereotypes of heterosexism and gay without agency. The werewolf world is apparently even less accepting of gays than the normal world, and apparently Warren had a hard time of it until he was finally welcomed by Adam. Well, a harder time of it, because some of Adam’s other werewolves still do not deal well with him. It’s great that Adam is not prejudiced, and it paints his characters nicely, but it’s frustrating to see a gay man requiring a popular straight man’s “approval” to be accepted by the rest of the group.

I don’t weight these factors heavily, however. Yeah, I would have preferred if gayness were no big deal in the werewolf world. But even so, Warren and Kyle are two great characters, and Briggs (through protagonist Mercy) clearly cares about them. Major kudos to Briggs for writing them into the story, making them such great characters, and giving them some substantive scenes.

Story-wise, a minor complaint: the story weakens near the end. In part to increase tension, and in part to conclude the novel’s central mystery, the plot becomes convoluted and twisted as it winds to a conclusion. It’s a little hard to follow, and it throws the novel’s pacing off. Still, the author manages to end the book with a bang, and how’s this for a recommendation: I finished the book and immediately went out and bought the next two.

Overall Quality 4.0 / 5.0 (recommended)
Gay Content 2.0 / 5.0 (a couple of secondary gay characters)
Gay Positivity 4.0 / 5.0 (mostly positive)

Out of the supernatural (straight) romances I’ve read recently, Undead and Unwed is one of my favorites so far. It’s not great literature (none of them are), but all in all, it’s just a lot of fun.

Of course, it helps for me that this book has some actual gay content.

Betsy is an urban, modern, wise-cracking secretary. Until she dies. And then comes back as a vampire. In fact, she returns as the prophesied Queen of All Vampires, a job in which she is not interested. She’s an unusual specimen for a vamp – religious icons don’t affect her, sunlight doesn’t burn her, she can control her need to feed, and she just wants restore some semblance of normalcy to her “life.”

But an evil vampire named Nostro (AKA Fred), and a seductive one named Sinclair, try to sweep her into a giant vampire smackdown. Meanwhile, her sassy friend Jessica and new gay friend Marc try to help her out, but mostly just get in the way.

It’s a fast-paced and energetic story. Davidson’s take on vampires is pretty standard – everything from garlic to sunlight gets them, with the sole exception of protagonist Betsy, who’s as non-standard as vamp’s come. She’s a cool character – through her Davidson is able to spoof vampires and romances.

Unfortunately, she’s a one-note character. I liked that note – snappy, witty, and irreverent – enough to keep reading, but the book would have been much stronger if the author had imbued her with more emotional depth. Instead, it’s just non-stop sarcasm and humor.

For example, at one point Sinclair convinces Betsy to help him by bribing her with designer shoes. It’s funny to read Betsy’s shallowness play out, but it doesn’t endear her to me.

Sinclair, the romantic interest, is an intriguing character, but the romance subplot is inconsistent. (And be advised – the romance is definitely a secondary theme) A couple of scenes reveal Sinclair as a character worthy of the central romance, but other scenes do the opposite, and at the end I couldn’t tell if Sinclair wanted to get with Betsy because he genuinely loves her, or because he wants the status she conveys on him.

The central story is also undercooked. Most of the book is: Betsy becomes a vampire, and then humorously observes what it’s like to be a vampire. The central drama about the power play between Nostro, Sinclair, and Betsy is present from the beginning, but it sits on the back burner until near the end. I wish the author had introduced a few more compelling plot points, which in turn might have given the characters opportunities to reveal more emotional depth.

Over the course of the story, Betsy befriends a young gay doctor named Marc. Like all the characters, his character is not well developed, but he’s a nice guy.

It bothers me that Betsy meets Marc when he’s trying to commit suicide. It also bothers me that he seems to lack personal agency, which is the real issue underlying “The Gay Best Friend” stereotype. Within a day of meeting Betsy, he falls into her orbit. He has no personal motivation, interest, or goals. I see this less as a slur on gay people, and more as poor characterization.

In fact, particularly in this case, consider the demographic. Sure, I would like the gay character to have a beefier role and his own romantic interest, but I’m a gay guy. The contemporary woman at whom this novel is aimed, wants to see herself in Betsy’s Ferragamo’s, and probably has a close gay friend herself.

A lesbian vampire, Tina, also puts the moves on Betsy. Betsy is put off by the advance, but everything she said was in character, and overall I thought she handled the awkwardness quite well. Tina is one of the more stable characters. She has a sympathetic belief system, and I wish she had enjoyed a larger role.

Overall, a fun if fluffy, mostly gay-friendly read. I am just disappointed because it comes so close to being a really great story, but just misses the mark. Here’s hoping the series matures in the next volume or so.

Overall Quality 3.5 / 5.0
No Gay Content

Another straight supernatural romance comedy. Refreshingly, MacAlister departs from the more common realm of vampires and werewolves to deal with demons and were-dragons.

Aisling (ASH-ling) Grey is, unbeknown to her, a Guardian of a portal to Hell. She discovers this small fact after a trip to Paris to deliver a valuable statuette, which is promptly stolen by the sticky-fingered Drake Vireo, when they both find themselves at a murder scene. Drake, a wyvern (i.e., leader of a group of dragons) escapes, and Aisling becomes the prime suspect. She must clear her own name, stop a series of gruesome murders, and prevent the destruction of the world, all the while fending off her attraction to the infuriating wyvern.

On the plus side, it’s a very funny, fast-paced, and entertaining read. You know there’s some real humor in the story when the line “You are now officially a demon lord” (p. 152) makes me laugh out loud. (Another favorite line – “This place looks like a reject from a Harry Potter knock-off,” p. 143.)

The ending is a bit anticlimactic, however. I felt unsatisfied when I put the book down, like I’d tried to make a lunch of cotton candy. (This may be personal peccadilloes, however: straight romance is not a genre I read frequently. This was just a taste test for me, so to speak).

The novel’s real weak link, however, is the characterization. Don’t get me wrong, I like Aisling. She’s smart, sharp-tongued, and no nonsense. She’s also one-note. She deals with every situation with the same degree and tone of humor. As a result, she doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. One or two scenes of real, heartfelt emotion would have been well-placed.

Meanwhile, the author tries to tread a fine line between creating a believable attraction between Aisling and Drake, while maintaining a mutual disdain that promotes sexual tension. She overshoots. Drake’s an irritating character, and Aisling annoys me with her continued infatuation. Again, it’s the one-note thing. If MacAlister had given Drake one or two really good scenes to display his basic good-guy-ness instead of his arrogance and selfishness, I’d buy into their romance a lot more readily.

Overall Quality 4.0 / 5.0 (recommended)
No Gay Content

Vane is a werewolf (the author uses the term “Were-Hunter”) on the run from his pack, who have betrayed him and his brother Fang. Then he runs into a human named Bride (I’m totally not making these names up) for whom he falls hard. In fact, it turns out she’s his mate, and they either get together or Vane turns into a virtual eunuch for the rest of his life. But how can he convince a human to love a werewolf, especially a werewolf who’s being hunted by his own pack?

Okay, yeah, it sounds pretty silly, but it’s actually a compelling and well-realized story. Although the central emphasis falls on the straight romance (and trust me, we’ve got some major straight girl wish fulfillment goin’ on), the story itself has enough meat to pull even me into the story. I’d almost call it an action-adventure more than a romance. The plot moves at a fast pace, and I like the characters quite a bit. That helps involve me in the story tremendously – both Bride and Vane are likable, flawed, complex people.

I also like the fact that the book deals with a werewolf; I think vampires are overdone.

I find some aspects of Kenyon’s mythos odd, and I don’t really understand her terminology – are vampires and daimons the same thing, or sometimes, or never? Why are were-creatures called Were-Hunters? What’s a Dark-Hunter? I’ve heard Kenyon compared to Anne Rice, but I don’t find the mythology she’s created to be as intuitive.

Unless a romance makes you sick, I’d recommend this action-adventure story to anyone who enjoys supernatural fiction. Although this is not the first book in Kenyon’s series, it’s a standalone that’s easily readable out of sequence.

Overall Quality 3.0 / 5.0 (cute, but not really my cup of tea)
Gay Content 1.5 / 5.0 (minor mentions)
Gay Positivity 2.0 / 5.0 (ranges from neutral to mildly negative)

I decided to try some straight supernatural romance novels for a change of pace, so this volume is a bit outside my usual reading domain. Single White Vampire is the light-hearted story of Lucern Argeneau, a handsome if surly vampire who writes his family history as fiction novels, and his persistent editor Kate Leever, who is determined to get the reclusive Luc to do some promotional work for his books.

The humor keeps the story afloat; otherwise, I found the plot to be a bit too light and fluffy for my taste. Not enough real drama or tension to sink my teeth into. So to speak. Ahem.

The author’s take on vamps: they’re actually descendents of the technologically advanced civilization of the lost city of Atlantis. A scientist created a kind of nanite (a microscopic robot) that is so efficient at repairing human tissue it virtually stops aging and makes the person extremely long-lived. The downside is that the nanites require blood to work. The Argeneau clan run a blood bank, and they consume blood from blood bags, rather than hunting humans.

The book contains some minor gay content of questionable positivity.

• In the beginning, Kate wonders if Luc is gay. “What kind of guy wrote romances? And vampire romances at that? She had decided it was probably someone gay … or someone weird” (p. 16).
• Later, Luc wonders if Kate’s fellow romance novel editor Chris is gay. He says, “You are a romance editor. That is a woman’s job” (p. 138). The response: “Ah.” Chris grinned. “But you write them. Are you gay?” (p. 138).
• Finally, in one of the book’s funniest scenes, Luc is on a Quest for condoms, and he ends up in Chris’s room at the hotel where they’re all staying, when room service delivers the condoms. The bellhop clearly thinks the condoms are for Chris and Luc. “Chris whipped around to face Lucern, horror dawning on his face. ‘He thinks we – that you and I – he…’ He was almost incoherent with horror” (287).

The first couple of mentions don’t really bother me, even though they clearly associate gayness with weirdness and femininity. The story is too silly to take too seriously. Besides, both Chris and Luc defy stereotype by being straight.

The last scene does irritate me, however. “He was almost incoherent with horror” at the thought that some nameless stranger he’ll never see again, who was perfectly friendly, has the mistaken impression that he digs guys. Are you kidding me? That’s just plain homophobic. It’s not even in character for Chris. The author was just playing the scene for laughs. The whole thing is too inane to be offensive, but I still found that bit off-putting. (I’ll also point out that the only instances of inclusion are references; no gay characters or real content … but consider the intended demographic. I ain’t it!)

Recommended for fans of light-hearted, supernatural (and straight) romance novels.

Overall Quality 3.5 / 5.0 (recommended)
Gay Content 1.0 / 5.0
Gay Positivity 2.0 / 5.0

I enjoyed this novel, but it is not Simmons’ best work. That said, he is one of my favorite authors. If you are new to his books, start with “Hyperion” (if you like Sci-Fi) or “Summer of Night” (if you’re a horror fan).

“Ilium” stands as one of the most unusual Sci-Fi reads I’ve enjoyed in a long time. The narrative follows three overlapping threads. First, on Mars we find the Greek gods enacting or re-enacting the Trojan War (explicitly, “The Iliad” as written by Homer). These gods seem suspiciously high-tech. Unfortunately for them, thanks to our intrepid scholar-protagonist Thomas Hockenberry, events don’t go quite as planned. Second, the reader follows a group of sentient robots from Jupiter, who travel to Mars because of dangerous quantum distortions emanating from the planet. Finally, human civilization on Earth has seemingly returned to the semi-dark ages, and a group of old-style humans are trying to re-discover the universe.

The three storylines dovetail nicely with each other, and I liked the skillful juxtaposition of history, literature, philosophy, and Sci-Fi. Welcome to science fiction for college professors!

Simmons has mastered the art of raising intriguing questions while offering just enough tantalizing answers to keep the reader hooked. Who are the post-humans? Are the Greek gods post-humans, or something else? What happened to the old-style humans? What are the mysterious voynix? How is Odysseus apparently existing in two places at once? How and why can the old-style humans on Earth “watch” the re-enactment of the Trojan War? Simmons tends to end each chapter with the reader hanging on some important question or dramatic plot point; it can be hard to put this novel down.

On the other hand, I found myself skimming quite a bit. A lot of the conversations (which I assume he intended to be thought-provoking or literary) are prosaic and off-putting. I also felt strung along at times: there’s a fine line between withholding information to create tension and doing so to drag the story out. Simmons also occasionally gets lost in the minutia, for example, when the Jovian robots navigate the Martian seas.

Note that the novel ends with a cliffhanger. The story concludes in “Olympos.”

On the whole, “Ilium” presents an unusual and well-written read. I would recommend it for science fiction devotees, or fans of Homer’s “The Iliad” who are open to Sci-Fi. If you like this novel, definitely try Simmons’ stellar “Hyperion” series as well.

Regarding gay content, to my surprise the author makes several explicit references to homosexuality. Nevertheless, most of the mentions are brief: no characters are clearly gay, and there doesn’t appear to be any gay subtext in the novel, so I rated the Content Scale very low. Similarly, while Simmons never crosses the line into blatant homophobia, his comments hardly qualify as positive.

His novel involves several historical persons who are known or rumored to be gay, such as Shakespeare, Proust, and Achilles/Patroclus. In most cases, Simmons dismisses the theory. In fact, in one sequence one of the robot characters speaks with Shakespeare (don’t ask; it’s science fiction) and explicitly asks the Bard, who reacts violently. In the case of Achilles/Patroclus, the author allows some homoeroticism to exist between them but clearly (through sex acts) establishes them as heterosexual.

The overarching vibe of these mentions is that straight somehow trumps gay. His dismissive and lowbrow use of gay references disappoints me.