Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

12 reviews

merdragon's review

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

4.75

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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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kay_w's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful mysterious tense slow-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 great book but the last third started slow and then began to feel rushed towards the end.

I loved the whole concept and execution of the narrator. Without it I don’t think I would’ve have enjoyed the book as much.

I’m very keen to read more of Alexis Hall’s books.
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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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gbmillar2002's review against another edition

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

3.75

The writing of this novel is lovely, the use of a sprite as a narrator and move alonger was perfect to keep the book along. Specifcally utilising the Bordem of the narrator to remove the boring plesentaries that often plague more historical books.

The romance aspect was also beautifully written; wherein the palpable chemistry between the two characters were fiery but not unnecessarily crude. Especially as an audiobook listener the dirty talk wasn’t cringy and vulgar but tantalising and engaging.

My only issue was how lady Georgina’s emotional withholding from maylis felt empty. Especially after the reveal that her house was cursed and therefore could never truly be with her, it fell very flat for myself. And therefore the last few chapters felt drawn out. 

What I would really really LOVE is a book about the narrator, hearing about their court life and modern life and why their thrown out would be amazing
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rabblearouser's review

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adventurous emotional funny 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? Yes

4.5

Our world has been in dire need of a spritely, swoon-worthy sapphic romance– Alexis Hall has answered the call.

This journey into the fae-core romance space is an underrated, ambitious undertaking outfitted with a thoughtful and whimsical mosaic of fae & queer lore alike. As always, every character is intentionally crafted and delightful. Our love interests are a brooding Duke (f) who’s rumored to have wielded dark magic to commit grave crimes and a precious, flower-child damsel with terrible luck… or something like it. If you’re an ACOTAR stan who swooned at Azriel & Elain’s stolen moments but are impatient for Elain’s actual character development or perhaps just craving more of who she becomes when Azriel lends her some teeth (not to mention some queer characters who actually kiss), I might have a recommendation. Alexis Hall can’t help being charming and hilarious so there’s plenty of that, of course.

I imagine what puts people off is the unconventional narration. The point of view is not one of the main characters but, instead, a mischievous mythical creature who many of us first encountered when reading Midsummer Night’s Dream back in high school. Once you get past the initial novelty, this choice brings new life to some tired tropes and settings by filtering them through the scrutiny of an unimpressed and often peeved otherworldly perspective. I know it sounds odd but it works and, frankly, the book is all the better for it. Truly, what will always make a sapphic romance even more queer is an impish narrator rolling their eyes at lesbian nonsense, and perhaps, caring more than they’d care to admit by the end.

In a romance space where it can feel like we’re reading the same stories again and again, Mortal Follies is an eclectic and thoroughly queer love story that I’m proud to have on my shelf. Thank you to Alexis Hall for writing this and gifting it to the world.
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kshertz's review

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

4.0

What an interesting way to tell a story. It’s told by a fairy who is entertained by these two mortal women falling in love. You fall in love with them too. It was fascinating but I think I like hearing from the two women falling in love too. More than the omniscient narrator methinks. Also not enough smut for meee
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ladythana's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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readthesparrow's review against another edition

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

2.0

REVIEW

Before we begin, I must invoke the Muses–I call upon Thalia, and Erato, and, of course, my girl Calliope. I beg you, sing; grant me the patience (and the caffeine) to get through writing this review without being too much of a joyless critic.

Let’s begin with the positives. 

The setting is fun, if a bit sparse on the worldbuilding. It’s a very modernized (though in a self-aware way), romanticized version of 1812 Bath/London, where the gods of yore and faeries in tales are very much real, though largely not too much of a deal. The primary inspirations for Mortal Follies seem to stem from Shakespeare plays and Roman myth, with the two primary mythological figures being a Puck-ish narrator and a minor goddess local to Bath.

Prose-wise, the style is lighthearted and a bit flowery in a lively, frolicking way. The story is told in the first person from the point of view of a fae narrator, who primarily follows Miss Mitchelmore, with the occasional diversion to trail Lady Landrake or a side character. 

The characters are good, primarily because they have snappy, witty dialogue and personalities that play well off one another. My favorite, likely surprising no one, is an extremely niche side trans character who gets two-ish scenes and is the coolest character in the whole novel. Tabitha (human Tabitha, not muse Tabitha) rules and it’s a crime she didn’t get more page time.

With that, we must unfortunately pivot into the more negative of my thoughts. 

Setting was too modern at times. There’s a whole conversation about ‘tinging,’ a term coined by Miss Mitchelmore’s best friend, Miss Bickle, which is defined as her desire to see two characters–or two people–end up together. What's in a name? That which we call shipping by any other name would still be completely anachronistic in a Regency era setting, even if we call it something different. I believe it was supposed to be amusing, but it was not. It was eye-roll inducing.

There’s also the issue of swear words. I’m a great proponent of the word ‘fuck;’ it’s fun, but felt out of place in Mortal Follies, especially as it got to be used so liberally. (Yes, I’m well aware the word has been around for ages–this is a Tiffany Problem sort of issue.)

'Fuck' also just feels a bit… uninspired, in this context. I’d much prefer some more interesting, funny, or clever ways of swearing or referring to intercourse than just using ‘fuck.’ Like, come on! The narrative is drawing, at least partially, from Shakespeare. Have at least a little fun with it.

Now for my biggest issue: the narrator. In the prologue, Mortal Follies is framed as a novel written by a now-mortal fae, Robin, (who, within the lore, is actually also Alexis Hall, and maybe also Puck?). Due to a quarrel with Oberon, they have to make a living by writing books.

Robin is obnoxious. While their humor is, I admit, sometimes clever, it often isn’t. Their humor--and thus, the novel's--relies too much on the whole quirky “wow being a human is sucks, what do you mean you have to pay rent, you can’t turn into mist? that’s soooo silly” gimmick. I cannot stand it. 

They also constantly insert themself into the narrative in a way that wore out my welcome as soon as it came through the door. I'm fairly certain this is to set up later books, as I believe this is going to be a series.

While Robin does follow the characters to whom the most interesting things are happening, they do not, in my opinion, follow the most interesting characters. Outside of her misfortune, Miss Mitchelmore is, quite frankly, boring, and so is Lady Georgiana Landrake (if to a slightly lesser extent). The side characters--such as Mr. Caesar, a gay man of color, and Tabitha, a trans woman and priestess--are so much more interesting. My favorite moments in the book were Mr. Caesar's visit to Serena's, a sort of gay gentlemen's club/salon/coffee house, and his subsequent visit to Tabitha, because those scenes explored what it meant to be queer in the novel's world in a really interesting, nuanced, genuine way, something completely lacking from the rest of the book, which overall came off as quite saccharine and shallow in comparison. 

Anyway. Speaking of queerness and our leading ladies: their romance may be slow, but it does not burn. It barely sparked. I couldn’t give two hoots about their relationship and, quite frankly, do not ‘ting’ them. Especially since I'm not much of a fan of the age gap; Mitchelmore is 19, while Landrake is 24. Not the biggest age gap there is (especially in the context of a Regency era romance rather than a contemporary romance), but it's enough of a difference for me to get a little icked out. Probably couldn’t identify much of a real personality trait for either of them. There’s lots of dialogue between them that’s good but is also clearly designed to be ‘shippable,’ if that makes sense, rather than creating any real, deep, or interesting bond between them. They barely know each other, and I barely know them, either. Quite frankly, I don't really care to.

I had a fun enough time with the first half
(which focused on solving the mystery of Miss Mitchelmore’s curse).
The second half
(which sort of? focused on the romance and on Lady Landrake's backstory, which ended up being, in my opinion, boring)
felt disconnected, dragged in pace, and fell flat. An astounding accomplishment, considering it contains
an Orpheus-and-Eurydice mini-retelling.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The folklore/mythological elements and side characters, though far more interesting, were not the focus and thus did not compensate for the irritating, intrusive narrator and unengaging romance. While I’m sure others would like the humor, I don’t go for the type of quirky fandom-y humor often used. The second half dragged. And, in my humble opinion, the book had no business being over 400 pages in the first place.

Ultimately, this book just didn’t click with me. Maybe you’ll like Mortal Follies if you love Regency era romances and are itching for a sapphic one, but I’m not chomping at the bit to recommend it.

I’m not usually a romance reader, though, so it may be a matter of taste.

Thank you to Del Rey for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley. If you are interested in Mortal Follies, you can find more information from the publishers. If possible, support indie bookshops by purchasing the novel from your local brick and mortar or from Bookshop.org.

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