Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

23 reviews

emlyn_bryn's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

A fun little episodic romp through a magical bridgerton-adjacent regency world.  It takes the time to pastiche itself.  It's an interesting style not at all hinted to by blurb, as a story being recounted by Robin Goodfellow (yes Shakespeare's Puck) in the modern day, with them holding a strong narratorial voice and presence throughout.  
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lesbrarian220's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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wjb11's review

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

MORTAL FOLLIES is a story of curses and romance, narrated by a faerie intimated to be Robin/Puck of A Midsummer Night's Dream. While it is set in 1814, Puck seems to be telling the story from some time further in the future, possibly in the 21st century. Maelys seems to be cursed, and keeps running into a woman nicknamed "the Duke of Annadale" who is rumored to have murdered her own father and brothers. She's also rumored to know magic, and seems to be Maelys's only chance at getting rid of the curse (as long as she's not really the one who cast it). 

The romance was fun, and the stakes escalated appropriately. I liked the story but found Puck frustrating as a narrator. Because they are recalling these events from so far in the future, their interjections kept me from sinking completely into the 19th century setting. It seems like these may form some overarching story which moves between books, but it happened to hit upon a style I don't personally enjoy.
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alli_gator's review against another edition

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I can’t stand Miss Bicky or Robin, the narrator, those two characters have made my reading experience horrible. They’re annoying characters with far too many plot-interrupting quips. And while I love fantasy regency era stuff and I love lgbt+ stuff, I had high hopes that this book would have been just a tad more historically accurate on the general homophobia of the time. It certainly wouldn’t have been so knowledgeable that Miss Mitchelmore would have let herself be so forward or even allow Miss Bicky to be so loud about her queerness. I was just so annoyed by how helter-skelter the plot is that I couldn’t stand to read a page more. 
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chase0w0's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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sommermeyer27's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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raptorq's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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biggshelf's review

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The third party narration was initially an interesting concept, but it was not executed well and ended up detracting from the story. The character’s decisions were so flakey that because the perspective wasn’t in their head, and context didn’t explain it, they ended up feeling annoying. Any driving action or engaging scenes were discussed for longer on-page time then they were even shown to the reader. As soon as something cool would happen, the chapter would end. 

The alternate history fantasy setting could’ve been so great, but amidst left-field mentions of slave trade and homo/transphobia and off-putting modern references, it was not nearly as fleshed out as it should’ve been to handle the topics well.  

The writing style was not for me, I understand repetition for emphasis and humor but “she drank the concoction her mother concocted”?! Like how did that get through editing. 

Believe it or not this is the abridged version of my review. This book could’ve been everything I needed in my life. Instead it became my worst enemy.
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lbelow's review against another edition

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4.0

It was a bit disconcerting to get to the halfway mark and have finished what I thought of as the plot, but the author managed to salvage the book in the end. I adored the whimsy of the tone and world building! 
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